The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead

This winner 2017 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and a firm favourite of Barack Obama was an interesting, if rather harrowing read.  This is the story of attempted escape routes from slavery through underground support, described metaphorically in terms of a railroad train.  The group praised the writing style but had issues with the number of characters, particularly at the start of the book. Along with the voice of the slaves on the run, Caesar and Cora, we have the voice of the slave catchers.  We had an interesting discussion on the motives of those helping the slaves to escape, these may not all be altruistic. Some of the group had issues around the allegorical aspects of the work. It was interesting to note the writer refers to parallels with the indigenous population and the removal to other lands. The book has strong female characters and we particularly admired Cora’s determination.

It scored 8