The chapters alternate – first a chapter about a particular character other than Cora, then a chapter more focused on her set in a particular location.

The main character is Cora, but we aren’t always looking at the world from her viewpoint. Like the best literary fiction, there are layers upon layers of meaning beyond the action and vivid characterization. I ended up at this (debatable) classification because this novel is like an onion. In the end, I would peg this as literary fiction. Whitehead uses elements of many different genres, including historical fiction, adventure, science fiction, magical realism, and realistic fiction. Going into the read with low expectations definitely helped this novel blow me away. Finally I saw this at Target and decided to use it as one of my targetpicks selections. I’d seen a lot of mixed reviews, and in general I’m not a fan of magical realism (which is what most people were calling this). It took me a good while to get to this one. Only one slave has ever successfully escaped the Randall plantation, but Caesar believes that if they run together, they’ll make it to the elusive Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead.Īnchor Books, Penguin Random House, New York, 2016.Ĭora is a young woman on a Georgia plantation when a new arrival asks her to run away with him.

The underground railroad full book