The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Amy   


historical fiction

This is the story of a young slave woman named Cora who was born and raised on a plantation in Georgia and, particularly, the journeys of her older teen years. I nervously began listening to this audiobook, fearing that it would be too violent and raw for me. I needed an audiobook and this was the only one of interest immediately available at the library (I had it on hold for a while), so I decided to take a chance. I was encouraged by the fact that the narrator was Bahni Turpin whom I really enjoyed in both of the Nicola Yoon novels she had narrated.

First, yes, there are the terrible stories I knew I would read about. But, thankfully I was able to persevere. I do think Ms. Turpin’s familiar voice likely helped. But, the most amazing thing to me wasn’t the story or the characters or the writing (which all held my interest and made me want to keep reading). No, it’s the fact that there is literally an underground railroad in this novel--like a subway! I was shocked! I mean, I’d learned about the Underground Railroad in school and understood it to be a secret network of brave, humane people who were able to move slaves to safer environments. I’d always thought of the actual name—the Underground Railroad—as a metaphor and never considered that there would actually be a train underground aiding those efforts to free the slaves from their captivity. So, I asked my husband if he had understood there to be an actual train and he also felt it was a metaphor. So, I asked my daughter (who was a history major for 2-1/2 years) and she also felt it was a metaphor and went the step further to look it up online and verified that there was no actual train nor actual underground passages. Whew! I had started to feel really stupid. Colson Whitehead made the concept of underground trains completely believable but it was all just a creative fiction. He described all the stations, the tracks, the different train engines and conveyances on which the slaves rode. He described the feeling of riding the train. He totally “took me for a ride”! To me, that is the biggest takeaway I’ll have from this novel. I’m not sure that was the author’s intention and I doubt it’s the reason it’s won so many awards, but the railroad itself certainly stands out the most to me. Heck, that’s the title of the novel!

Mr. Whitehead’s writing is genuine and really takes you to the time and place of the novel. (Ms. Turpin’s narration with her accents and attitudes really helped with this too—her interpretation seemed perfect. I give her an A+.) However, while the novel did not jump around in time too often, it sometimes did so in a confusing manner. That may have been a downside to hearing the audiobook version—perhaps it was clearer to follow in print. The characters were all realistic and the story itself was engaging and included satisfying explanations for mysteries raised during the story.