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The Underground Railroad

Colson Whitehead

Finish date: May 17, 2017

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Jan 25, 2017 Kristel rated it really liked it

Shelves: f2f-bookclub-books

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is the winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction, and the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence and the book for my f2f bookclub in July. It is the story of mostly Cora's bid for freedom from a Georgia Plantation.

This book really does contribute to literature, the use of the subway train as an actual method of escape, the telling of the many ways besides slavery on a plantation in which blacks have be The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is the winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction, and the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence and the book for my f2f bookclub in July. It is the story of mostly Cora's bid for freedom from a Georgia Plantation.

This book really does contribute to literature, the use of the subway train as an actual method of escape, the telling of the many ways besides slavery on a plantation in which blacks have been enslaved. The historical context for then and now gives this book relevance for past and present. The plot is mostly about Cora but there are some side stories such as the story of Caesar and Ridgeway and Mabel. The structure as interesting and contributed to the whole. The characters and scenes were well crafted. The story was readable and I enjoyed it.

Achievement: This is the author's 6th book. He has won both the Pulitzer and the National Book Prize and the last book to win that honor was The Shipping News in 1993. It was also shortlisted for the shortlisted in May 2017 for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction literature. This book lives up to its reputation as a great book.

Thoughts after bookclub;
Most people liked the book but did not find the book very readable. Few had finished it before the meeting. After rethinking the book, I decided I liked the book, I felt the magical realism is more than the actual underground train but also the different places where Cora emerged. I felt that South Carolina was more modern with it's sky scraper. I also felt that there was reference to Tuskegee Syphilis experiments that was conducted between 1932 and 1972. I felt the message was about more than the slavery of the south but about the many ways that blacks have been deprived of basic human rights. Therefore I rate the book 5 on Legacy, capturing the spirit of the age and mood and relevance to now. I will drop the score for plot and characterization. I will also drop the readability score. I listened to it and I do think that can give an unrealistic picture of readability.

Rating 3.85 ...more

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