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Feb 28, 2019
At turns both beautiful and brutal, The Underground Railroad is the story of slaves in Georgia as they struggle to escape to freedom. We follow Cora, a young slave escaping from a horrible life at a Georgia plantation, and the characters she meets along the way. Cora’s encounters reveal to the reader the lasting impact of slavery. What makes this book different from similar stories told of the same time period, is that Whitehead made his Underground Railroad a literal railroad, with trains, tracks, and stations. I think this twist may appeal to fans of magical realism and speculative fiction, as well as historical fiction. A powerful and important read.