A Goodreads user asked Colson Whitehead:

Hi! Just finished your book, and loved it. Why did you decide to have a woman as your main character? Did you feel this allowed you to do something special with the character? What would have been different - if anything - if the hero was a man?

Colson Whitehead Over the years I kicked around the idea, the protagonist has been a man, a man looking for a child, a man looking for a lost spouse...I hadn't explored a mother-daughter relationship before and I thought it would feed the book in an interesting way. Obviously, there are many points in the plot that would be different if we were following a dude.

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Did you find it a challenge to immerse yourself in subject matter that is so heartbreaking and horrific? How did you maintain emotional and psychological balance during the research and writing process?

Mary asked Colson Whitehead:

Was Valentine Farm based on a real place? ( Just finished UR and loved it...and The Intuitionist, and Sag Harbor, and John Henry Days...)

Anatole asked Colson Whitehead:

Was it a conscious decision to begin The Underground Railroad in a more realistic style and only introduce the fantastical elements later, or did that develop organically as you began writing the novel?

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Colson Whitehead

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Hi! Just finished your book, and loved it. Why did you decide to have a woman as your main character? Did you feel this allowed you to do something special with the character? What would have been different - if anything - if the hero was a man?

More Answered Questions

Did you find it a challenge to immerse yourself in subject matter that is so heartbreaking and horrific? How did you maintain emotional and psychological balance during the research and writing process?

Was Valentine Farm based on a real place? ( Just finished UR and loved it...and The Intuitionist, and Sag Harbor, and John Henry Days...)

Was it a conscious decision to begin The Underground Railroad in a more realistic style and only introduce the fantastical elements later, or did that develop organically as you began writing the novel?

About Goodreads Q&A