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Colson Whitehead: The Underground Railroad (2018) 4 stars

The Underground Railroad is a historical fiction novel by American author Colson Whitehead, published by …

Review of 'The Underground Railroad' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Not an easy read. Mainly because of the violence (and me figuring out that people could do to others what is depicted here), but that is not the problem. the prose is beautiful in the pages were slavery is the day to day theme, as it beauty comes only from a profound tragedy, and the "normal" way of life is just depicted as something that happens, with ease in the sentences. I don't know, for me (and a review or a comment about any work of art comes from a subjective point of view) there is more care writing in the worst days of Cora and her relatives through this story.

The characters' motivations sometimes are treated as ephemeral as their lives in this story. Only Cora guide us in the path of the underground railroad, but everyone who comes into contact with her just vanishes in a splash of violence. Just a glimpse of their actions and thoughts can be seen, and then nothing more because, as we know it, the world just keeps on, with us on board or not.

The more I read on slavery and turn into my senses to perceive the "real world", the more I know there is work to be done, out of love and respect of each other. This is not, really, what I can say about the book, but about me reading this difficult piece of fiction.