A review by sellnow_hannah
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book is hard to rate. I think I was hoping for a little more magical realism given the reimagining of the Underground Railroad as an actual railroad, but that reimagining didn’t seem to add as much to the plot as I’d hoped. The story is a heart breaking and a brutal look at slavery and the many abuses Black people have endured in this country (taken with a grain of salt as it’s not 100% historically accurate). But the pacing of the novel was clunky and in each new setting there were many new named characters to keep track of with very little character development. Overall for me it was just ok. 

Satisfied the StoryGraph 2024 genre reading challenge prompt for a historical fiction set before 1900.
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