The Underground Railroad (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel

I haven’t read a lot of books about the slavery in the Civil War era from the slaves’ perspective. I am remedying that; but when I reflect on the books I’ve read, they’re from my church fiction days when every slave was happy to be on the plantation (gross!). I am thankful that I am finding much better books on the subject matter.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I thought it would have dealt more with the Underground Railroad than it did; where I found it focussed more on the locations. That issue could be seen as my misperception, and not the fault of the book.

I didn’t really connect to Cora, or any of the characters, really. I did like reading the almost side-bars of the characters: Ethel, Caesar, Ridgeway, etc., but as a whole, I definitely didn’t feel as immersed as I have with other books.

I found the timeline hard to follow too. This could very well have been exasperated by the fact that it was an audiobook, and though I love Bahni Turpin’s narration, I think this book is better served to be read and not listened to.

What I did appreciate was that I didn’t feel this book pulled any punches when it came to Cora’s examination of freedom. As she said (paraphrased by me), that although she was a slave on the plantation, she could walk around and enjoy the fresh air, but at one of her stops, though she was free, she couldn’t go outside, nor step foot from the small attic space that imprisoned her for months on end. There was also the topic of genocide in the form of sterilization, and experiments that reminded me of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Cora may have found themselves free in the North, but she was still subject to a different set of horrors.

Finally, some of the dialogue made me think of ancient Rome, and how fearful for the “status quo” its residents were once they found free people outnumbered by the slaves. The comparisons weren’t in your face, but they were there nonetheless.

After reflection, despite my mixed feelings as the book overall, it was an interesting read; I’ll just make sure to read Whitehead’s books in the future; as I think I would appreciate his writing style more.