Michael Finocchiaro's Reviews > The Underground Railroad

Hi Michael -- the addition of a genuine "underground railroad" is Whitehead's invention. This is a sort of alternate history.

Ah, thanks for telling me. Now I feel kinda dumb :-/

Michael, it's one of the things I didn't like about the book- it's a very realistic book and the literal train might be taken for truth, or the reverse, the fake train might make people think the very realistic depiction of slavery is not realistic because of the train. (There are so many deniers of the true horror of slavery throughout the American South.)

It would have been hard to keep an actual train hidden. It was one of several alterations of the facts that I didn't like about this book.

Yeah, I was wondering how they would avoid getting asphyxiated by the exhaust of the train in the tunnels but I guess I allowed too much suspense of disbelief

And I am quite aware of the slavery denier pbm believe me

I only learned about the deniers 2 years ago. I was shocked! It never occurred to me people would think like that with so much evidence everywhere.

Well, 36% still support Drumpf so racist and ignorance are unfortunately still scarily present

Michael wrote: "Ah, thanks for telling me. Now I feel kinda dumb :-/"

It is a thought. There was no real underground railway in the sense that it was a machine. It is a way to make people who have not studied history (and that does not include you Michael) understand what happened. It is another example of man's inhumanity to man. I think the preservation of history as it occurred is essential. If anything leads to that it will be possibly helpful. I thank you for your review as this is a topic that will never die. It appears that people are trying to change history a lot. I imagine that is the sources of the quote that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it so to speak. There is so much propaganda about history and so much emotion and so much pain that we have to fight to keep it from the viewpoints of those who experienced it and those who have the guts to research it. I applaud your interest and investigation into this horrid part of American history and I suggest that there is more to it than is available to you. You always write reviews that are valuable and I thank you for that. Best to you
MJ

Thanks M J. Speaking of investigating to horrors, next book is Hitler Ascension. To fight fascism, better to understand its origins and its icons

Thanks for the review Michael. Great to hear another perspective on a remarkable novel. Not only did Underground win the Pulitzer, but it also won the National Book Award. It's rare for a book to win one, let alone both. I believe it was Colson Whitehead's ability to take the subject matter of slavery and make it accessible to the masses that drove the acclaim.

For a lot of people, this might have been the most they've ever read about slavery. From a purely aesthetic perspective, I'm with you; the book is not a masterpiece. It read episodic to me and somewhat distant from the protagonist. Colson Whitehead has said the book was painful to write, to inhabit Cora, perhaps so painful that the literary closeness to the protagonist was too much. Who could blame him? I read somewhere he tried to watch 12 Years A Slave and turned it off after half an hour. It was too painful.

I'm an optimist but also a realist. Optimistically, I don't think that everyone that voted for Trump or still supports him is a racist. I know a couple, and I'm sure they aren't. Are they are proud of their vote? I don't think so. But I'm not blind. Our institutions, both private and public, are racist--many people too. Unfortunately, this issue transcends our current political climate. If only it didn't, we could just wait for the inevitable impeachment, and all would be well. Alas, racism will still be here.

Reading Hitler next? I'd drive myself into a depression reading books like that back to back. We're here if you need to check in.:)

Thanks! I'll take a breather after that with the Tim Weiner books about the CIA (Pulitzer winner if memory serves) and the FBI.
Not all Drumpf supporters are outright racists but to vote for someone that schpeiled racist, sexist, homophobic, hateful rhetoric from the campaign trail belies a moral blindness to the violence to which those reprehensible ideologies lead inevitably so I'd have to say they were guilty of willful ignorance which itself is a subtle but real form of racism.

Will look up Tim Weiner books. Sounds interesting. Look forward to more reviews.

Rachel Maddow interviewed Weiner two evenings again and he sounded incredibly knowledgeable.

Thanks.

If you are ever (for some strange reason) in Cincinnati, Ohio, the National Underground Railroad Museum is worth seeing. It is not an easy museum to visit without tears and rage.

http://www.freedomcenter.org/

A couple hours north, near Columbus, is the city of Westerville where I grew up. There you can visit some sites associated with the underground railroad.

https://otterbein.digication.com/otte...

http://www.westervillelibrary.org/und...

Thanks Mark! I was unaware of that museum. I had that tears and rage reaction to the Resistance Museum in Amstersam

We just got back last week from Amsterdam. We ran out of time for that museum but were able to get tickets into the Anne Frank house and a program about her. Same tears and rage.

Agreed :,(

One day I will have the balls to go to Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and more
Importantly, Auschwitz

In the early 80s I had the opportunity to take part in a remembrance ceremony in Japan. I will never forget the feeling of shame and horror I felt as I talked with people who had survived the atomic bombs.

Amen brother

It is a sad commentary on our educational system that anyone would think that the Underground Railroad was an actual train. This book is magic realism at its best. Fortunately some of the lack of knowledge about African American history is being remedied by the creation of fine museums. The National African American Museum in DC; the almost brand new Legacy museum in Montgomery and the Underground Railroad museum in Cincinnati.

Such a mistake to portray it as a literal train. I had to double check Wikipedia to ensure, as I previously thought, that it wasn’t. As a result, other historical "facts" in the book became questionable. When I read historical fiction, I like it to be historically accurate. If not, I expect a disclaimer by the author.

Totally agree with you Verne

Just like taking the railroad literally was a mistake, taking the lefty media’s assertion that this President is racist (or made any racist statements) literally is a mistake. Up to you whether you want to revel in this lie or look at reality with a minimum of common sense.

@Tom LA https://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/1227088...

@Tom LA https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...

@Tom LA https://www.npr.org/2019/07/15/741827...

So, I don’t know what planet you are living on, but on planet Earth, Dump has a long documented history of racism in both his acts and his words.

I suppose Tom LA will contest that these aren’t racists either: https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/proud-...

I have Republican friends who refused to vote for Trump and have been pushed left (hopefully permanently) by this administration. It’s confusing to me whether people who speak positively about Trump are deluded or just trolling the left. He’s not just racist, he’s actively attacking all of our democratic norms, on a daily, impossible to refute, basis. Also, what on earth does any of that have to do with this book? I’m leaning towards the trolling explanation.

I think so too Ericka. Got similarly trolled on a review of Their Eyes Were Watching God as well. Too many syllables drives the trumpers crazy

Hahaha thanks for confirming what I already knew about the type of media you get your information from ! And dear Erica, I came here looking for a book review and found a political rant instead. So I’m not trolling but simply stating that Michael is repeating lies told by the lefty media. Speaking not as a Trump supporter (in the least) but as a lover of truth. Use your own brain, guys.

Tom LA, I'm so often curious as to what conservatives and Trump supporters think the definition of "lies" is. When there is a plethora of audio-visual and written evidence to support every single one of those complaints about Trump, I don't see how anyone can continue to defend Trump, unless it's the old conservative stand-by: "Well, he may have said it, but he didn't really mean it..."

Last time I checked, Twitter isn’t a “lefty” media and one only needs to actually read his garbage to know what a racist thug dump is.
There were several paragraphs of actually literary criticism vs the one paragraph of political invective. Perhaps you skipped over those parts of the review?

First, as an Italian living in the US I did not vote, and I have eyes to see how bad Trump looks and sounds as a President. But Trump did not say anything racist because he is not a racist president. “A totally broken and crime infested country” is NOT a racist comment. Guys, maybe it’s time to pick up your old dictionary?

Shithole countries was a racist comment. Among many, many others

Re Indiana. I spent a summer in Bloomington. Someone told me the KKK was born there. Whether true or not, the southern parts of the northern states had a history of racism. Same goes for southern Illinois, my home state.

Good point Ms.pegasus, my friend Andrew Diamond’s book Chicago on the Rise, talks about the history of racism and segregation in neighboring Illinois (Chicago specifically) and its origins during the Underground Railroad, the aftermath of the Civil War, etc

Getting back to the book ... many of the other "things" in the book were also made up by the author. For me it was a head-scratcher as to why he did it. I can't see the point. Still fun to read, however.

I think all the made up stuff kind of took away from any literary value the book may have had. I mean, if I want made up crap, I can read Dan Brown or Clive Cussler but this is a Pulitzer Prize novel...

When I was teaching I took my students to a church in my area on the Ohio river every year. In the basement were little crannies in the ceiling where slaves would be hidden. And there was an underground tunnel that traipsed several blocks to the old hospital in town, now blocked of course. The children were fascinated. It really brought the lesson to life.

@bam wow, that is amazing! Truly!