The Underground Railroad
by Colson Whitehead · first published 2000
60% recommend40% neutral
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted. In Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metapho
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Fiction: "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead (now a well-reviewed series on Amazon) A fantastic book that lingered with me for weeks after reading it. Non-fiction: "This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends" by Nicole Perlroth If…
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗…discovered from a digitized copy; having a record of the digitized copy encourages researchers to come in and see the real deal * Maybe scholarship doesn't have to happen IRL? See Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad: a fantastic novel that was researched primarily online [0] 0. https://newsandfeatures.uncg.edu/grant-expand-digital-librar...
on “Digital Strategy for the Library of Congress” ↗…recommendations: - A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. This book absolutely wrecked me emotionally (in a good way) for weeks after reading it - The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. I enjoyed this even more than the Underground Railroad, which was also great. Both also won a Pulitzer for what it’s worth. - The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea. This book gave me a glimpse into what it’s like for Mexicans who immigrate to…
on “Good Books for a Lousy Year” ↗…recommendations: - A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. This book absolutely wrecked me emotionally (in a good way) for weeks after reading it - The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. I enjoyed this even more than the Underground Railroad, which was also great. Both also won a Pulitzer for what it’s worth. - The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea. This book gave me a glimpse into what it’s like for Mexicans who immigrate to…
on “I'll pay you to read my book (2013)” ↗There is some remarkable fiction coming out this season by some of the best: Jonathan Safran Foer's Here I Am Zadie Smith's Swing Time Ian McEwan's Nutshell Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad Carl Hiassan's Razor Girl Alan Moore's Jerusalem Jonathan Lethem's A Gamber's Anatomy Ha Jin's The Boat Rocker T.C. Boyle's The Terranauts Michael Chabon's Moonglow Cormac McCarthy's The Passenger…
on “Ask HN: What good books have you read lately?” ↗For those of you who didn't read to the end: > Nobody finds Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad in a Little Free Library—much less Wi-Fi, college counseling, or jobs services. A well-funded library system has little to fear. "Little Free Libraries" have nothing to do with public libraries, and…
on “Against Little Free Libraries (2017)” ↗