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The June book selection for the library reading group I attend is Colson Whitehead's novel, The Underground Railroad. I chose to listen to it on audio and the narrator did an excellent job. The story is on the surface the story of a slave named Cora and her escape from slavery. The author uses a lot of allegory and symbolism. In this book the underground railroad is actually a series of tunnels that run underground and have train tracks and trains instead of the series of safe houses along a path to Canada that was reality. Cora comes up above ground at various stations in various states and has experiences that mirror various times in the experience of black Americans. Even though the book is set pre-civil war the experiences Cora has may not have been an event until later in American history. For example when she surfaced in South Carolina the pre WWII beginnings of eugenics was presented. Icons from history can be recognized in the book but they have different names and locations. The result of this mixing of fact and fiction is that the reader pays very close attention as he/she tries to figure out who or where the character or place in the story represents. This book will be a classic if it is not already considered one. By clicking on the book title above the link will take you to an article to explains some of the symbolism of the book. By clicking on the author's name above the link will take you to biographical information on the author. By clicking on the video below the video will explain the author's motivation behind writing the book. Don't miss this book. It is a must read.
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