REVIEW: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

The Underground Railroad is somewhat of an alternative historical fiction novel—set in antebellum America, it follows a young woman in her attempts to flee slavery through the Underground Railroad. However, in Whitehead’s concept, the railroad is literally underground! Tunnels have been dug, tracks laid, and secret stations set up all over the young country.

The primary character, Cora, comes alive and struggles with her own demons: a mother who left her as a child for freedom; her own possible murder of a young white boy; her attempts not to become as sadistic as her slave master.

Other characters are varied and full, as needed. Few are one-sided, though one of the plantation masters is nothing but sadistic and evil, and a capo slave is purely selfish. However, the character of the slave tracker who hounds Cora throughout is well done—a man who both believes in his work but questions it, sees his prey as mere prey and yet sometimes as full persons—a man who struggles with life but hiding it under a guise of working with integrity for his customers.

The concept of the literal Underground Railroad is creative. However, while the story of Cora is fascinating and enthralling, there are so many excellent novels written about the period (see The Known World for another Pulitzer winner) that I hoped Whitehead would have focused on more the railroad, its builders, and its operators—their motivations, the dangers, and their sacrifices. As it is, though, an unsuspecting reader may be lead to believe the novel is based on fact, and therein lies the problem with the book.

It is not so much of a problem for the reader to suspend belief, for “alternative history” novels have been quite well done (see Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union: A Novel or Orson Scott Card’s The Tales of Alvin Maker series ). The problem with the novel is that it reads like historical fiction except for the railroad. The reader is left not knowing what else is alternative: a whole town of seemingly proper and polite whites who can suddenly turn into evil racists who delight in gruesome torture of both white and blacks? Laws that forbid blacks to live in certain counties or even states? Skyscrapers? Historical fiction can often open up our eyes to cultures and events that cannot be done merely by studying history. But alternative fiction, if not written with care, runs the risk of rewriting history for unsuspecting readers. (Some Amazon reviewers state that they never learned some of these things in school!).

I enjoyed the style, the unfolding elements of mystery (what happened to Cora’s mother), and the way Whitehead built tensions and released them, moving towards the always-in-doubt conclusion. The characters and their development are engaging. Well-done! However, the overall concept is flawed.

This novel won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and a number of other awards, and I am bit surprised—I would have chosen any of the other finalists as more deserving overall.