The Underground Railroad (Television Tie-In)

by Colson Whitehead

Book Overview

Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning, National Book Award-winning, Oprah-anointed, #1 New York Times bestselling novel that explores America's troubled racial past as only he can--now an original Amazon Prime Video series directed by Barry Jenkins.

Cora is a young slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. An outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is on the cusp of womanhood--where even greater pain awaits. And so when...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 059331476X
• ISBN13: 9780593314760
• Release Date: May 2021
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.1" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Reimagining a Life-Saving Reality

Colson Whitehead lays out the brutality of slavery and racism, while kindling the light of hope, as a literal underground railroad transports an escaping slave - a brave and bruised young woman - through multiple states and harrowing experiences that wound but never extinguish her remarkable spirit. The author deftly employs irony and feigned objectivity while taking us deep into the heart of compassion. Do not deny yourself this journey.

I wish I had the two day back that I spent reading this.

The name of the book is misleading. It’s like sci-fi meets lynching. A waste of my time

Interesting, but not amazing

As an avid reader of historical fiction, I was eager to pick up this book. However, once I did pick it up, I struggled to find the enthusiasm to finish it. I was not surprised by anything that happened until past page 100. I also thought Whitehead spent too much time developing certain secondary characters' stories, like the doctor's past life, and not enough time developing significant plot points like the big reveal regarding South Carolina (which, for me, was the first seriously jolting and interesting reveal in the book). And I was a bit jarred by Whitehead's literal interpretation of the Underground Railroad, and his stretching the truth to say that the railroad extended so far South. Overall, though, I am happy to have read a popular book that so many people I know have also read.

Amazing writer

Cannot wait to read more by this author!