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Loading... La ferrovia sotterranea (original 2016; edition 2017)by Colson Whitehead, Martina Testa
Work InformationThe Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (2016)
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Great writing, interesting story, a little too abstract for me but still. ( ) An intriguing and frequently horrifying look at the experience of slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War, from the point of view of the slaves, with an interesting fantastical spin. In reality, “The Underground Railroad” was a metaphor for the chain of sympathisers and safe houses who conveyed escaped slaves from the South to the northern states. In this book, that metaphor is imagined as reality — literal underground rail lines and steam engines carrying escapees north. Though this award-winning book is definitely well worth reading, at the end I wasn’t entirely sure what this fantastical premise adds to the human story of the slaves and the appalling treatment they had to endure. It made me wonder, in fact, how much of the story was based in actual fact and what was part of a dystopian historical fantasy. I’m tempted to say most of it is based on solid, sordid fact, but without doing more research I don’t know. Certainly on its own terms, the novel is heartbreaking as we follow the fortunes of Cora and Caesar attempting to escape from a plantation in Georgia. The chapters are interleaved with actual historical advertisements placed by slave-owners seeking the recovery of their escaped ‘property’. And there’s nothing more chilling than the way the slave-hunter Ridgeway continually and casually refers to an escaped slave as “it” rather than “he” or “she”, the same way as one might refer to an escaped horse. An interesting, brutal and heart breaking book. I’ve seen some other reviews that call Cora unlikable or cold. Just don’t get it. She survives , and somehow, despite rape and torture, still cares if a child trusts her and rejoices in an almanac. Be prepared for a difficult journey, it is not sugar coated, but it is worth it Extraordinary, horrifying and compelling and necessary. Thinking about the sort of sub-genre of works that this feels part of or adjacent to, books like Confessions of the Fox (fiction) and Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments (nonfiction) that address directly the tangled relationship of history, the inherently political nature of documentation or lack thereof, and the task of telling true and necessary stories. This has been setting the Internet all abuzz and to a certain degree I understand it. It was in parts absolutely riveting, and endlessly dull. Well-written but a little too detached for my personal preference. I wavered between giving it a 4 or 3 star rating. I ended on 3 stars purely because it lacked the ability to generate depth of feeling in me. I just didn’t care enough about the characters, and I hated the abrupt ending. I wanted the main protagonist’s, Cora, story to end... if not happily then at least in a satisfactory manner. In short, a good book but I wanted more... MORE.
Der Roman des afroamerikanischen Autors Colson Whitehead über die Sklaverei in den USA des 19. Jahrhunderts kommt in deutscher Übersetzung nun gerade recht, um auf den heutigen Rassismus zu verweisen. Is contained inHas as a supplementHas as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted. Their first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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