REVIEW: COLSON WHITEHEAD BRILLIANTLY REIMAGINES THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead Doubleday Books 320 pp.

In his latest literary tour de force, The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead reimagines the network of routes and hiding places for escaping slaves as a literal railroad under the ground. He also returns to a narrative with a daring black female protagonist — something he has not undertaken since his first novel, The Intuitionist, which introduced Lila Mae Watson, a barrier-breaking elevator inspector. In his new work, set in the antebellum South, the heroine, Cora, escapes slavery and searches for freedom, in a society that presents considerable obstacles...Continue reading