From the Bookshelf of The Roundtable…

The Underground Railroad

Colson Whitehead

Start date: June 1, 2026

Finish date: July 15, 2025

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What Members Thought

Jun 05, 2017 Petra rated it did not like it

I could not connect with this book.
If one is going to name a book a fictional object, that object has to be the focus, especially when one is changing the historical object into something so completely different from reality. In this case, the underground railway was a background story. What truly irked me about this physical steam engine of an underground railway is that it glosses over the realities, fears, dangers of the real underground railway. In this book, when one is on the cart, one is ...more

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Jan 23, 2017 El rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: biddles, 21st-centurylit, american-civil-war

I had the opportunity to see Colson Whitehead give a talk this past fall, and yeah, I have a bit of a crush on him, I have to admit. I had read Zone One in preparation for that event, even though I knew the majority of his talk would be about this book, his award-winning The Underground Railroad. I always worry in those cases of being spoiled, and have learned to carefully tune out conversation if it appears a spoiler is about to spring forth from one's mouth, but in Whitehead's case, he didn't I had the opportunity to see Colson Whitehead give a talk this past fall, and yeah, I have a bit of a crush on him, I have to admit. I had read Zone One in preparation for that event, even though I knew the majority of his talk would be about this book, his award-winning The Underground Railroad. I always worry in those cases of being spoiled, and have learned to carefully tune out conversation if it appears a spoiler is about to spring forth from one's mouth, but in Whitehead's case, he didn't spoil anything for me. In fact, he made me want to get a copy of his book right away.

But I also hate crowds, so there was no way I was going to wait in line after the lecture in order to buy one of his books and have him sign it, as much as I would have loved that.

So instead I took the introvert path and asked for a copy of this for Christmas, and my brother, luckily, came through for me. Hooray!

One of the things that sticks out the most from Whitehead's talk was that as a young student hearing about the Underground Railroad in school, he thought that the Railroad was just that - an actual railroad. And as an adult, he always remembered that vision and then started wondering what it would be like to write a story with that in mind. And what came out of that brilliant head of his was this.

No story about slavery in America is going to be a warm-fuzzy story. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is full of shit. There is nothing pretty about slavery, no matter the time, the setting, the purpose, whatever. It's all bad. So it's difficult to take a book like this, which I consider to be extremely well-written, and say "Yeah, I enjoyed The Underground Railroad."

There's nothing to enjoy here. It's awkward saying that. One needs to recognize that if slavery never occurred (cough-still occurs-cough), there wouldn't be this book, or other books on the topic. Colson Whitehead would never have written this book. And we would miss out! This isn't saying that I am glad we have this horrible fucking history, don't get me wrong. But you should be aware of this when you read really anything. Recognize that a lot of what we read, especially nonfiction or historical fiction, wouldn't exist if these horrible things hadn't occurred, right?

As a child, I also envisioned a true railroad underground, with an actual conductor. As I got older and understood what the real history was, I was ashamed, thinking that because I was white, that's probably why I didn't really understand what an underground railroad was. This is unfair to young-El, but I have to admit that I felt a little better when Whitehead admitted that he also had the same idea in mind when he learned about it in school. And then my book club also said the same thing, so I feel a lot better overall - that's a common misconception, I see.

This is not an easy read. Things happen to these characters that are difficult to read, and upsetting. We wish the characters would behave differently, but that would be unrealistic.

We did also agree in my book club that it is unfortunate that Whitehead chose to write about a female character, Cora, but still managed to make it about Cora getting help in one way or another from various male characters. It was an opportunity to portray a strong female character, and he almost managed it! But this was an oversight that it was difficult for many of us to overlook.

I know Oprah has talked this book up and everyone is raving about it. It's a great book, it really is, and we should all read it. Just please don't read it and then actually think that the Underground Railroad truly was a railroad. Because we're all old enough to know better now. ...more

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Jun 15, 2018 Irene rated it really liked it

I feel guilty when I realize that I am shying away from novels of the Holocaust or slavery or other well-mined historical horrors of human cruelty. I don’t want the ugly brutality to touch me, even if for a few hours muted by the virtual presence of a story. Millions of people lived these horrors day after day, year after year with nothing to mute the pain. This is one of those novels that depicts the most awful truth of America’s original sin. Cora runs from a sadistic Georgian plantation via t ...more

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Dec 13, 2016 Heather(Gibby) rated it really liked it

This is a much hyped book that is is making its way to the top of this year's "Best Of" lists.
On the surface it is the telling of Cora's escape from slavery using the device of an actual underground railroad, and side stories of those people in Cora's life who she meets in her life.
There is also a bigger picture commentary on the American history, and how different events in American history have shaped its society's values. The writing quality has a magical feel to it, and the subject matter ...more

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Aug 16, 2019 Pamela rated it liked it · review of another edition

Escaped slave Cora leaves the plantation and takes the Underground Railroad - transformed in this novel to a physical entity with stations and trains that take travellers to different parts of the US - and her journey shows her the legacy of slavery and its impact on black people across time and space.

The concept of this novel is original and imaginative, and enables Whitehead to explore his themes in a way that adhering to a single chronology and setting would not allow. Cora's journey illustr ...more

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Aug 18, 2019 Janice (JG) rated it liked it

3 1/2, sometimes 4.

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Jun 12, 2017 Erika rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction-general, fiction-historical

Wow. Reviews seem awfully mixed, but I think he nails it perfectly. Brutal, unflinching, and yet a compelling read. His writing is pitch perfect, and there is so much packed into the narrative that deeply engages the reader. If life were not so short, this might be a read-twice book.

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