It was hard to do anything library or book related without seeing/hearing about this Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner this past fall/winter/spring. Co-workers recommended it, celebrities praised it on social media, and I was intrigued by a story of a real Underground Railroad - historical fiction with the emphasis on fiction? Sign me up.
First thoughts: Taking the above into account, I was not as excited with The Underground Railroad as I expected to be. It didn't grab me like I wanted it to, and I kept waiting to read more about the railroad itself.
Favorite quote: "A plantation was a plantation; one might think one's misfortunes distinct, but the true horror lay in their universality."
Recommended for: adventurous readers, casual readers, anyone who likes to stay current on reading trends.
Final thoughts: While I eventually got more into the story, the story itself stayed mostly on the surface. By the end of the book we still don't know Cora, and definitely don't know Mabel, Royal, or Cesar. And there's definitely not enough detail about the railroad - Who made it? How does it work? What's the schedule? That's all I wanted to read about. Sadly, I think The Underground Railroad suffers from not setting itself apart enough from other slave narratives - and it had a real chance to do so with the "real" railroad angle. If I knew more about the story before reading I might have enjoyed it more, but I went in expecting both a great literary tale and an exciting, new, different story.
First thoughts: Taking the above into account, I was not as excited with The Underground Railroad as I expected to be. It didn't grab me like I wanted it to, and I kept waiting to read more about the railroad itself.
Favorite quote: "A plantation was a plantation; one might think one's misfortunes distinct, but the true horror lay in their universality."
Recommended for: adventurous readers, casual readers, anyone who likes to stay current on reading trends.
Final thoughts: While I eventually got more into the story, the story itself stayed mostly on the surface. By the end of the book we still don't know Cora, and definitely don't know Mabel, Royal, or Cesar. And there's definitely not enough detail about the railroad - Who made it? How does it work? What's the schedule? That's all I wanted to read about. Sadly, I think The Underground Railroad suffers from not setting itself apart enough from other slave narratives - and it had a real chance to do so with the "real" railroad angle. If I knew more about the story before reading I might have enjoyed it more, but I went in expecting both a great literary tale and an exciting, new, different story.
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