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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,669
Registered: ‎06-07-2010

Has anyone read "Underground Railroad"?  I am about 1/4 thru it and don't like it.  Am not going to finish it.  It seems so fragmented to me.  The story doesn't flow right.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,512
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Hi Patriot. I read it-and it was one of THE most disturbing books I ever read. There are books I will re-read, but this is not one of them.

 

If you are stressed out easily, I don't recommend reading this before bed.

 

In spite of saying all this....part of me wants to say everyone should read it.

Poodlepet2

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,669
Registered: ‎06-07-2010

Re: Underground Railroad

[ Edited ]

Poodlepet........Maybe I should keep reading it and stay focused more Smiley Happy

Honored Contributor
Posts: 16,233
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@Patriot3I just finished the first section, so I, too, am about 1/4 in.

 

Once I realized just whether it was Cora or her mother or her grandmother who was being discussed at various times, I was not bothered by any feeling of fragmentation.  I was unsettled by the narration at first though.

 

I'm going to stick with it.  It 's a look at that culture I haven't read much about and it's Whitehead's take on the slave expThe experience that won him the Pulitzer.

 

I can tell you that you have company in giving up.  This book was the selection of my book club a few weeks back, but I hadn't gotten the novel until too late to finish it.  Among our group, those who had finished it were favorably impressed, but a similar number had not finished and I think I will be the only one who hadn't read the whole book who still will. 

 

Of those who didn't finish, no one mentioned being bothered by the writing style -  they had been unable to cope with the raw ugliness of many of the descriptions in that first section. 

 

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,512
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Hi @millieshops. The ugliness gets worse: this book was not boring whatsoever, but the inhumanity of man is what made it so hard for me to read to be honest.

Poodlepet2

Honored Contributor
Posts: 16,233
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@Poodlepet2That's exactly what several of my bookclub friends who finished the book reported.  It's a tough read because of the ugliness. I suspect that one of the reasons I just couldn't read the whole thing in a few days was that I just had to put it down occasionally.

 

I had just finished reading Jodi Piccoult's The Storyteller and some of the scenes in that book regarding the Holocaust were like that -  small doses were enough. 

 

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,707
Registered: ‎01-02-2015

It was a tough read ... but what book about slavery isn't .....

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,928
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

I waited a long time to get the eBook from my library. I started to read it, and decided this wasn't for me. At least not at this time.

 

Thanks for your posts. I guess I wasn't alone.

"That's a great first pancake."
Lady Gaga, to Tony Bennett
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,279
Registered: ‎05-15-2010

OT, when I see the words "Underground Railroad" I think of Porsha from RHOA.  Wonder if she has bought tickets for a trip.  lol

Honored Contributor
Posts: 11,776
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

This is OT but did you all know that in SF during the Viet Nam war that there was an UG railroad going to Canada. There was an Ironside sgment about it and I'm guessing it is true.

When I lose the TV controller, it's always in some remote destination.