"The Underground Railroad," Colson Whitehead, 2016

This is a powerful novel about the adventures and travails of a young slave named Cora as she seeks out the Underground Railroad in an effort to escape the horrors of her life. 

Casual, gut-wrenching cruelty of slave owners figures prominently in the story, as does the overall depravity of an economy (and the society it supports) that is based upon stolen lives and appropriated labor.  Slaves are beaten down, fed poorly, and forced to live in horrible conditions for no sensible economic reason.  “Examples” are made of slaves who flee but are recaptured.  The fear and unhappiness Cora experiences is palpable, both in her life on the Georgia plantation and during her harrowing escape.  

Because she is the storyteller, the “Point of View” character, we infer that she survives to tell her story.  That takes away nothing from the suspense.  This book grabs you and won’t let go.

This book was a #1 New York Time bestseller.  It won the Pulitzer Prize.  It won the National Book Award.  It won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.  I think it should’ve won at least a hundred others.