Big Reads: The Underground Railroad

Ya'll.

This book.

It was... hard to read. But very, very good.

Let me begin by saying that I'm not an Oprah fangirl. I don't love Oprah. I don't hate her. I nothing her, so the fact that it was one of her book club selections did not influence me to pick up this book.

You know what did?

There were two copies of it sitting on the very empty new release shelf at my library. My library, where I hardly ever find new releases. So I grabbed it. I didn't have time to read it, but I checked it out anyway. (New releases are only for a week at my library.) I didn't finish it in time, of course. And I had to physically go back to the library to renew it. But I did and it was worth it.

The Underground Railroad was a very challenging read due to the subject matter, so there was no breezing through this book. But it is pretty darn unputdownable. The twists and turns and surprises keep coming up until the last few pages.

The Underground Railroad centers around Cora, a slave on a plantation in Georgia. Her mother was the only slave to ever escape the plantation. As you might imagine, plantation life is horrible. After a particularly terrible beating, Cora decides to flee the plantation in search of the underground railroad, which in this story is a real live locomotive train that runs underground. From there the story is a non-stop, can't relax for a second, keep you on the edge of your seat, peek into the worst of humanity. There's a slave catcher named Ridgeway, a couple of friends along the way, and too many people out to get her.

If you've read this already, when we finally learn Mabel's story, I was heartbroken. Also, tell me what you thought about this book - I'd love to discuss.

If you haven't read this yet, pick it up and read it asap. You won't regret it.