Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead
Review by Priscilla Comen
“The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead is a fascinating account filled with angst and anxiety of pre-Civil War days. Cora is a young slave woman on the Randall cotton farm. Caesar works there too and urges her to escape with him. Her mother had done it years before, but others who have tried have been caught and suffered horrible fates at the hands of their owners. Cora and Caesar flee and make it to the house of Fletcher, a kind abolitionist who takes them to the tunnel under his house that is one station for the underground railroad. They travel to South Carolina, where doctors want to sterilize Negro women and medical students rob graves of Negroes to use as cadavers for medical school. Author Whitehead describes how feelings don’t get in the way of practical grave robbing. He delves into Cora’s dreams and nightmares of the terrible fate awaiting them if they are caught.
After a while, they decide to leave South Carolina, and again proceed to the underground railroad. Caesar doesn’t show up and Cora goes alone. She’s picked up in North Carolina by Martin and his wife Ethel who hide her in their attic. She must be very quiet as the housekeeper would report her for a reward. Through a peephole, Cora can see the whole town gather every Friday to watch a “nigger” being hanged from an old oak tree. There are bodies strung up for miles along the main road. Cora and Ethel discuss the Bible and Ethel feels good about her “mission.” Author Whitehead cranks up the tension as Ridgeway, the slave catcher, comes to town. He takes Cora with him to return her to her master, Randall. Ethel and Martin are left to the mercy—or torture—of the town’s people.
Cora is shackled to the cart with another captured slave, Jaspar. When Cora is rescued by three free black men, she’s taken to a farm in Indiana, Valentine’s farm of free Negroes. She sews quilts with Sibyl and her daughter Molly, and eats barbecue pork. When Royal comes to her, she realizes she loves him. She fears this beauty cannot last. Author Whitehead writes beautifully about the trials and troubles of the African Americans who try to live peaceful lives. Will they succeed at Valentine’s farm? Will the underground railroad take them away again to the West? Whitehead was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Find this fascinating book on the new fiction shelf of your community library.
After a while, they decide to leave South Carolina, and again proceed to the underground railroad. Caesar doesn’t show up and Cora goes alone. She’s picked up in North Carolina by Martin and his wife Ethel who hide her in their attic. She must be very quiet as the housekeeper would report her for a reward. Through a peephole, Cora can see the whole town gather every Friday to watch a “nigger” being hanged from an old oak tree. There are bodies strung up for miles along the main road. Cora and Ethel discuss the Bible and Ethel feels good about her “mission.” Author Whitehead cranks up the tension as Ridgeway, the slave catcher, comes to town. He takes Cora with him to return her to her master, Randall. Ethel and Martin are left to the mercy—or torture—of the town’s people.
Cora is shackled to the cart with another captured slave, Jaspar. When Cora is rescued by three free black men, she’s taken to a farm in Indiana, Valentine’s farm of free Negroes. She sews quilts with Sibyl and her daughter Molly, and eats barbecue pork. When Royal comes to her, she realizes she loves him. She fears this beauty cannot last. Author Whitehead writes beautifully about the trials and troubles of the African Americans who try to live peaceful lives. Will they succeed at Valentine’s farm? Will the underground railroad take them away again to the West? Whitehead was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Find this fascinating book on the new fiction shelf of your community library.