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Colson Whitehead

The Underground Railroad (Canceled): A Novel Hardcover – January 1, 2035

by Colson Whitehead (Author)

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The Underground Railroad (Pulitzer Prize Winner) (National Book Award Winner) (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel
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From prize-winning, bestselling author Colson Whitehead, a magnificent tour de force chronicling a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.
In Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor—engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar’s first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.
Like the protagonist of Gulliver’s Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey—hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre–Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Doubleday
Publication date

January 1, 2035
Dimensions

6.13 x 0.88 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

0385537034
ISBN-13

978-0385537032
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Stolen bodies working stolen land. It was an engine that did not stop, its hungry boiler fed with blood.
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In another country they would have been criminals, but this was America.
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The Great War had always been between the white and the black. It always would be.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Nothing, not one thing or activity, can replace the experience of a good read—being transported to a different land, a different realm, through words and language. I just finished an advance copy of Colson Whitehead's new novel, The Underground Railroad. Every now and then a book comes along that reaches the marrow of your bones, settles in, and stays forever. This is one. It's a tour de force, and I don't say that lightly."
— Oprah Winfrey, O Magazine

"Whitehead, whose eclectic body of work encompasses novels playing fast and loose with 'real life,' both past and present, fires his most daring change-up yet. . . . Imagine a runaway slave novel written with Joseph Heller's deadpan voice leasing both Frederick Douglass' grim realities and H.P. Lovecraft's rococo fantasies…and that's when you begin to understand how startlingly original this book is. Whitehead continues the African-American artists' inquiry into race mythology and history with rousing audacity and razor-sharp ingenuity; he is now assuredly a writer of the first rank."
--Kirkus (starred review)

"[A] magnetizing and wrenching saga. . . . Hard-driving, laser-sharp, artistically superlative, and deeply compassionate, Whitehead’s unforgettable odyssey adds a clarion new facet to the literature of racial tyranny and liberation."
--Booklist (starred review)

"[S]pellbinding and ferocious.... The story is literature at its finest and history at its most barbaric. Would that this novel were required reading for every American citizen."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About the Author

Colson Whitehead is the New York Times bestselling author of The Noble Hustle, Zone One, Sag Harbor, The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, Apex Hides the Hurt, and one collection of essays, The Colossus of New York. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and a recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, he lives in New York City.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Doubleday; 1st Edition (January 1, 2035)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385537034
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385537032
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.44 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 0.88 x 9.25 inches

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Colson Whitehead

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Colson Whitehead is the author eight novels and two works on non-fiction, including The Underground Railroad, which received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Carnegie Medal, the Heartland Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Hurston-Wright Award, and was longlisted for the Booker Prize. The novel is being adapted by Barry Jenkins into a TV series for Amazon. Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys received the Pulitzer Prize, The Kirkus Prize, and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.

A recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a MacArthur Fellowship, he lives in New York City.

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Ronakk Saini

Informational Yet Entertaining!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 13, 2022

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The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is a heart-wrenching historical fiction based around slavery. The novel takes place in the 1850s, set just before the Civil War, when African American slavery was at its peak in the south. The novel details the journey of Cora, a fictional slave who escapes her master’s cruel slave plantation, located in Georgia, in the pursuit of freedom in the north. The story displays all the tough, realistic moments of her life: from being abandoned, left fending for herself and her property as a child on a farm of predominantly adult slaves to fighting off slave catchers while under an alias deep in the south.

Throughout Cora’s adventure through the south, Whitehead does a fantastic job at keeping the reader entertained while still providing them with information about the life of a slave in the south. A great aspect of the novel is that Whitehead uses a third person limited point of view. The point of view results in very thorough, deep explanations of Cora’s encounters in the south. In addition, the point of view means that the reader is always in tune with Cora's emotions and physical condition, allowing them to be in Cora’s shoes while also knowing what is going on in the rest of the world.

A shortcoming of the novel is related to how fiction is depicted by Whitehead. Some events in the novel simply feel too superhuman and end up taking away from Cora’s character and blur some nonfiction details. The ending specifically was very confusing as to factual versus fictional events.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in a unique point of view on the issue of slavery in the south during the mid 1800s. Whitehead’s writing allows the novel to be a page-turner while also exhibiting reality.

–Ronakk

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Brandon Simpson

A Contemporary Masterpiece

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 12, 2019

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When I first came across Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, I honestly wondered what a contemporary writer could add to the canon of antebellum literature. Could a Harvard graduate born after Dr. King’s assassination really provide any insight beyond that which had already been provided by many who had actually lived it? Contemporary African American writers have shown a tendency to delve into the psychological and spiritual lives of African Americans during slavery, and this novel is certainly a reflection of that trend, as Whitehead’s portrayal of a slave escape (an unfair shortening of what the novel truly is) is not only riveting storytelling but also a take on the psyche of the American slave that is fresh and different.

When I say it is different, I hesitate: It is, in many ways, a tale of the deplorable conditions of slavery that are all too familiar. The difference is the absolute bleakness with which Whitehead overwhelms the reader in a setting that gives birth to both his narrative and the psyches of his characters. Largely told through the limited third person perspective of the protagonist Cora (though other characters’ perspectives are also employed), the bleakness of her and her people’s lot emanates from the pages: bleak circumstances, little hope, and only momentary rests in a landscape rife with violence, danger, hate, and darkness. Indeed, Cora’s notion that the world seemed “As if… there were no places to escape to, only places to flee” is a notion the reader retains throughout this work.

What Whitehead has done is recreate a landscape similar to the one found in Zone One, a zombie tale that, like the novel reviewed herein, defies the conventions of its genre. The barren and bleak wasteland containing the possibility of danger at every turn, with only moments of rest in between episodes of danger, is reminiscent of The Underground Railroad. Such a world is expected in a zombie tale, and yes, dangers were possible at every turn for escaped slaves, but Whitehead brings them to life so masterfully that it is sometimes gut wrenching to turn the pages. Just as in Zone One, we know any respite or peace found in The Underground Railroad is, as its main characters also are, in constant danger. “Sometimes a slave will be lost in a brief eddy of liberation,” the narrator remarks, and time and again, the reader gets lost in the same reverie, only for the ugly horror looming in the background to intrude upon both the characters’ and the reader’s respite.

Whitehead’s prose is refreshing in its descriptiveness. His focus on darkness, blackness, and barrenness in many of his scenes adds to the suspenseful effect of ever-present danger. His haunting description of burned fields and mountains in Tennessee is among the most vivid and undeniably memorable of the novel. The biggest complaint by negative reviewers on Amazon is that it is “poorly written,” mostly referring to Whitehead’s tendency to use sentence fragments within his prose, yet these are typically well-placed and rhythmical, adding a verse-like effect and sometimes adding the effect of fragmentation of thoughts, speech, etc. Human beings often think and speak in fragments, and these seem fitting for Whitehead’s chosen point-of-view, making his characters more authentic. The technique also emphasizes the fragmented society about which he writes. In short, everything Whitehead does works together masterfully towards a single effect even Poe would admire, and the chilling horror in the aforementioned mountainside scenes even rivals Poe’s masterful descriptive powers.

There is yet another similarity to Zone One: the idea of “otherness.” In Zone One, Whitehead “challenges readers to think about how we dehumanize others, how society tramples and consumes individuals, and how vulnerable we all are" (from the Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Vol. 2, "The Contemporary Period.) The Lieutenant, a character in Zone One, says of zombies, “Mustn’t humanize them. The whole thing breaks down unless you are fundamentally sure that they are not you." Clearly the whites depicted in The Underground Railroad, save the ones involved with the railroad itself, had applied that logic to African Americans. Accepting such a lie not only condones but also encourages the horrific violence Whitehead describes, violence with an unfortunate historical basis.

In short, The Underground Railroad is a contemporary masterpiece. Whitehead’s “Acknowledgements” section references several works to which he feels indebted; it is doubtless that he could have added hundreds more. While indebted to slave narratives, Whitehead has the ability to describe the realities of slavery with its ugly and naked truths woven into a nightmarish reality that is perhaps closer to depicting the psyche of enslaved men and women who longed for freedom than those primary sources whose audience shaped their purpose and limited their range of expression. Whitehead resists employing flowery prose and cliche figures of speech to attempt to depict what his setting, a claustrophobic nightmare characterized by darkness and ugliness and dotted with people just as ugly, does for him. The story is breathed forth from this setting almost effortlessly.

To call this a bleak book without hope, though, would be misguided. At one point, during an exploration of a library, Cora finds many stories of her people, “the stories of all the colored people she had ever known, the stories of black people yet to be born, the foundations of their triumphs.” The Underground Railroad is an important and significant contribution to these stories of the African American experience -- a story of struggles and triumphs, nightmares and dreams, hopes and fears. The Underground Railroad, like numerous other important African American works, makes room for hope and endurance in the midst of adversity and a universe that, though it may indifferently overwhelm its inhabitants, is still one in which we must live.

7 people found this helpful

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Lost in Books

ESTEEMED AS THE GREAT NOVEL, THE GREAT STORY

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 28, 2017

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THE WINNER OF NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2017, PULITZER PRIZE 2017, ESTEEMED AS THE GREAT NOVEL, THE GREAT STORY, THE GREAT PORTRAIT OF THE DARK SIDE OF AMERICAN HISTORY – SLAVERY. IS IT HONESTLY THAT GOOD? OR MAYBE A PART OF ITS GREATNESS RESULTS FROM THE CONTEXT OF THE TIMES WHEN IT WAS PUBLISHED?

C olson Whitehead’s “Underground Railroad” is a story of the dark side of history – slavery, the costs people had to pay for being “alive,” the longing for freedom of those who imagined this possibility, and eventually of escape from the South northward to freedom of one’s dreams. The underground railroad in the novel is an actual one, a real path to one’s liberation from the chains of slavery. Established by the white activists, risking their own and their families’ lives in the name of their beliefs.

The main axis is the escape of the two protagonists Cora and her friend from the plantation Ceaser for the North by underground railroad. Desperate for freedom and quality of life they decide to take their future into their own hands. Well, at least regarding the making of the decision.

Their path to freedom turns out to be rather a bumpy one. Following the protagonists, we encounter, as they do, all the horrific, humiliating and terrifying reality of those times. Further, Whitehead interposes in their journey passages about Cora’s grandmother Ajarry who was brought to America on the ship with other slaves. He begins with portraying the context and the impotence of enslaved to find their way out of it. First, by erasing their identity and heritage, they could have brought to American soil.

THEY HAD BEEN STOLEN FROM VILLAGES ALL OVER AFRICA AND SPOKE A MULTITUDE OF TONGUES. THE WORDS FROM ACROSS THE OCEAN WERE BEATEN OUT OF THEM OVER TIME. FOR SIMPLICITY, TO ERASE THEIR IDENTITIES, TO SMOOTHER UPRISINGS.
Those raised already in the slavery don’t know any other world. They were born into the white men’s world. Since they are illiterate, with no other heritage than slavery and subjection to the white race, that obviously (in their views) is the superior one, the plantation was the only known world. The world where the rules and boundaries are more than clear and probably, regardless of how ridiculous it might sound, thus the only “comfort zone” to live.

KNOW YOUR VALUE AND YOU KNOW YOUR PLACE IN THE ORDER. TO ESCAPE THE BOUNDARY OF THE PLANTATION WAS TO ESCAPE THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF YOUR EXISTENCE: IMPOSSIBLE.
Since the characters of Whitehead’s novel, at least most of them, have no other experiences outside the plantation, no knowledge of words, have never made any significant decisions in their lives they naturally become incapacitated, incapable of not only making any change but even thinking of it.

“I CAN’T DECIDE FOR MYSELF,” CORA SAID. “WHY CAN’T THEY? ON THE PLANTATION, MASTER DECIDED EVERYTHING FOR US. …”
Cora and Ceaser while moving northward with the underground railroad, eventually become aware of how deceptive is their liberation. On the one hand, as a result of Ridgeway, slaves hunter, desperate to seize the two fugitives, following their every step. On the other, by confronting with the dissonance of their vision of what they would encounter on their way to the North with the reality they have to face: racism, hatred, disgust with black people and in a result brutal and barbarian murders. Whitehead portrays the brutality with a precision giving us all the horror and repugnance that the events could arouse in us.

The endeavor for freedom seems to be in the novel unattainable for the protagonists. Wherever they go and try to settle within the groups or communities that are in favor of equality, they eventually have to leave and start their chase for freedom once again. There is always some tension, some boundaries that make their liberation quite illusory.

“AND AMERICA, TOO, IS A DELUSION, THE GRANDEST ONE OF ALL. THE WHITE RACE BELIEVES – BELIEVES WITH ALL ITS HEART – THAT IT IS THEIR RIGHT TO TAKE THE LAND. TO KILL INDIANS. MAKE WAR. ENSLAVE THEIR BROTHER. THIS NATION SHOULDN’T EXIST, IF THERE IS ANY JUSTICE IN THE WORLD, FOR ITS FOUNDATIONS ARE MURDER, THEFT, AND CRUELTY. YET HERE WE ARE.”
“The Underground Railroad” takes on fundamental issues that have never been dealt appropriately. As I see it, it is crucial nowadays to dedicate literary novels to matters that are critical in our history. We all shall learn a lesson from stories like this one, told by Colson Whitehead. Although I find this novel of a great importance there is this thought that I had, reading the book, that I couldn’t stop thinking about. Is “The Underground Railroad” honestly that good as almost everyone praise? Is it that innovative and literary master crafted?

As far as I am concerned, no, it’s not. When I was reading it, I couldn’t help myself thinking “well, I’ve already read that.” Obviously, one can say that there is nothing wrong about it. Eventually, that’s how it all happened. Thus you can’t rewrite the events. However, as I see it, it’s rather a case of how you portray those events. I found the novel quite schematic and repetitive concerning the states of characters, the problems and the emotions Whitehead presents. Then again, it’s more about how you do it than what you do. Let me invoke here just three great novels for my argument.

First, “The Known Wolrd” by Edward P. Jones, who amazingly portrays the longing for freedom, the absurdity of slavery as well as its brutality. When I read the first part of Whitehead’s novel, I had in my mind pictures that rendered from Jones’ book and honestly couldn’t resist thinking that the latter one is much more emotional, innovative regarding the way it represents feelings, characters, and their struggles.

Second, “The Black Boy” by Richard Wright that takes a stance on how important and essential role in one’s freedom plays words and knowledge of them. The book also portrays the journey that the protagonist takes toward freedom in the North of America and how illusory it actually is on the way. Then again, personally, I find Wright’s novel much more credible and sensitive and further, much better regarding literary art.

Third and the last I want to invoke is “Beloved” by Toni Morrison. Most of the reviews say that Whitehead’s novel is so moving, so emotional that you sincerely can’t resist it. It definitely is repulsive concerning all the brutality and horror it describes in the lives of its characters. However, is it honestly as profoundly moving as Morrison’s passages in “Beloved?”

“The Underground Railroad” is a good book, but it’s not, in my opinion, an extraordinary one. Whitehead took on a complicated task – to write a novel that would not only tell the story that has already been told so many times (and I’m not saying too many times!) but would be able to stand in line with some great pieces of literary art like Morrison’s or Wright’s. The way I see it, he did not quite manage to do this.

32 people found this helpful

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Ian Thumwood

An American classic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 9, 2018

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For the first 50 or so pages this book seemed like it would be a difficult and uncomfortable book to read. Sometimes American literature seems too self-conscious and feels it needs to prove itself insofar that it does not have the long heritage of many other European countries. This makes American writers come across as impenetrable to me. I was not enthused with this book to begin with but my the time the principle character Cora had escaped the style of writing became much lighter in style and the book was transformed into something hugely compelling and indeed remarkable. If you stick with this novel I think you will be richly rewarded.

Whilst the novel does have literary pretensions, the story ultimately becomes an edge-of-the seat page turning thriller. I can understand why some reviewers found the initial chapters difficult but the book evolves into something that is hugely descriptive and with a sense of danger and menace which permeates the novel like nothing else I have ever read. Whilst the whole concept of an actual underground railway is an elaborate twist on the name given to a network dedicated to rescuing escaped slaves, there is a lot of historical research which has gone in to this book as well as references to later incidents such as the notorious Tuskegee Experiment.

The book is often uncomfortable and there is an underlying and understandable resentment of the racist nature of America and the battles it's black population had to overcome to assert themselves. This is a novel that does not withhold it's punches yet offers up a mirror to American society today. I would have to say that the novel is like a tapestry where the various elements eventually coalesce and you are taken on a journey which is often fascinating, repellent and rewarding depending upon which chapter you are reading. The villains in the piece are repugnant and menacing. Ridgeway is one of the most believable villains I have encountered in a book. Not all the white characters are bad and it is nice to see that things are so nuanced. The detestable Homer is scary because his motives are never really explained. Not sure why a macabre black boy should work for a slave catcher.

I am usually quite negative about American literature. In the past I have been disappointed by writers such as Scot F Fitzgerald who are deemed to represent the "American experience." As a rule, I avoid American writers due to these feelings. Having said this, I would have to say that this book represents exactly how I feel about America. The white characters are especially well drawn in this novel and this appertains to both the liberal characters and racists described within this book. Even those who appear to have good intentions transpire to be misguided.

At the end of the day, what sells this book for me is the fact that you want to talk about it and tell everyone how good it is after you have finished it. It really sticks in your mind, If it has a flaw, it is that there is a sense of foreboding throughout the book which makes you rush through the pages. This means that you sometimes miss the beauty in the language. Deemed a "science fiction " novel, this is somewhat of a miscasting as I feel this is a book that everyone needs to read. This would make a terrific film but I would urge anyone who loves books to pick this novel up and give it a try before it hits the big screen. Thoroughly recommended.

45 people found this helpful

Norman Housley

An exceptional novel on a hugely important topic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 19, 2017

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Books as good as this one come along rarely, in my experience just once a year or so. It radiates intelligence and has some marvellous characterisations, above all Cora and Ridgeway: pursued and pursuer are equally well depicted. The writing is superb, with some piercingly beautiful turns of phrase. I admired the structure, and including short chapters on individuals enabled Whitehead to introduce a dazzling revelation towards the end about Mabel.
The narrative of Cora's escape across five states becomes a sombre and nuanced exploration of the toxic effect of slavery, especially plantation slavery, on the whole of American society, with figures like Martin and Homer serving to illustrate the diversity of human responses to the enveloping nightmare.
I had a mixed reaction to the magic realism of the railroad and to a lesser extent the South Carolina sequence. It was daring on Whitehead's part, because he ran the risk of destroying his book's credibility. I can understand why some readers abandoned the novel at that point. But on balance I thought it worked, adding an invigorating extra dimension.
The only flaw was the rather muted ending, which lacked the self confidence and panache of the rest of the novel.

30 people found this helpful

Janie U

Unengaging and needed more context

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 26, 2019

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I've had lots of recommendations to read this book and it has had huge amounts of media attention so I come to it with big expectations.
366 pages, split into 12 chapters, the titles of which show the progression to The North.
Disappointingly, I found this book to be really hard going. There is no doubt that it is a worthy subject and it is well written but I found it very difficult to connect with anything at all in the novel.
It almost feels shameful to not want to read about the terrors of slavery but it seemed that the author was writing for literary praise without concentrating on engaging with the average reader.
The parallel world was a bit odd and gave the novel a disjointed impression which did not flow well at all. I'm sure there was something deep going on but it passed me by and I won;t recommend this book to anyone else.
This period in American history is unfamiliar to me and I needed more context to be able to place the characters. Here we are thrown into a situation and expected to work everything out which lessened the powerful effect of the story.

9 people found this helpful

CJC

Outstanding, poetic and powerful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 10, 2017

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This is a breath-taking read; it's destined I am sure, to be a classic.
The writing is lyrical and poetic and crafted with care and a real sense of artistry. The story is utterly compelling and takes a real grip early on and never lets it's tightness ease. The characters are crafted with care and loving attention and their stories draw massive emotional responses. It's hard to fathom the evil and totality of the Slavery Experience, it's savagery and ruthlessness and the way it pock marked itself so deeply into the culture of The South-and beyond. It's impact reasonates today causing a torrent of complex problems & challenges for modern day America.

This is a bleak read but it also inspires as the central characters try to retain their dignity and Hope in a period of unrelenting primeval savagery.

The pace of the book is fierce and you root for the Slaves. There are one or two moments of exhilaration amidst the despair and murderous culture.

Parts of the book ride a rocky road in trying to stretch the debate between the protagonists and for me the weakest section is in the interchange between the Slave Catcher ,Ridgeway, and Cara. That part just doesn't work.

But it's a rare moment in an otherwise superlative read. This is a simply magnificent book which is beautifully written, imaginatively constructed and powerfully realised.

Highly recommended and one of my Books of the Decade.

20 people found this helpful

Judy M Ford

I really wanted to like this book - but I didn't.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 16, 2022

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This book was a big disappointment. I hadn’t twigged that it was a fantasy novel. I had assumed that it was historical fiction. I like both fantasy and historical genres, but I didn’t like this weird combining of them. As fantasy, it wasn’t a patch on Terry Pratchett or Tolkien. As historical fiction, it was too far from the reality of that period to feel plausible. As I read on, I found both the characters and the situations less and less convincing. Then we got the sudden jumps back an forth in time and between different minor characters. The only one of these deviations that seemed at all useful to the plot was a short section in which we discover what really happened to Cora’s mother. I worry that the vivid depiction of the actual underground stations and tracks and of life and regimes in the different states are just about believable enough to be confusing to readers who lack real historical knowledge of the era. For me, the huge inaccuracies simply spoiled the book and I couldn’t understand what readers were supposed to take away from it.

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