Paperback, 224 pages
Published July 9, 2019 by Knopf, RANDOM HOUSE US.
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I recommend reading up on the Dozier School for Boys. just a note: it is very depressing
The hype from critics/awards had my expectations in the stratosphere. I loved most of this infuriating, gut-wrenching book. But I found the first few pages of Chapter 15 frustrating (not knowing who the characters are). I'm not the biggest fan of 3rd-person omniscient, so that's a personal preference, but it keeps Elwood at an unfortunate distance.
Definitely picking up The Underground Railroad.
This is a powerful, beautifully written novel that will stay with me forever. It starts during the Jim Crow era in Florida, and in the beginning, the main protagonist is Elwood Curtis, a gentle, bright young man with a bright future-- that is, until he is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reform school. This school turns out to be a violent place where the boys are trapped and enslaved until they age out, if they live that long.
The school in this novel is based on the real life Dozier School, which operated for over a century. This novel puts faces on some of the most vulnerable victims. In this novel, Elwood is befriended by Jack Turner, who has a different kind of intelligence and is a survivor. Their friendship becomes not only special, but of the utmost importance. Together, they can stay alive.
I would recommend this to absolutely …
This is a powerful, beautifully written novel that will stay with me forever. It starts during the Jim Crow era in Florida, and in the beginning, the main protagonist is Elwood Curtis, a gentle, bright young man with a bright future-- that is, until he is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reform school. This school turns out to be a violent place where the boys are trapped and enslaved until they age out, if they live that long.
The school in this novel is based on the real life Dozier School, which operated for over a century. This novel puts faces on some of the most vulnerable victims. In this novel, Elwood is befriended by Jack Turner, who has a different kind of intelligence and is a survivor. Their friendship becomes not only special, but of the utmost importance. Together, they can stay alive.
I would recommend this to absolutely anyone. It's a masterpiece.
This book is so good. Whitehead has a way of crafting a narrative that is both engaging and enlightening without resorting to any genre expectations and yet he seems to use genre as a jumping off point. My only complaint about the book is that it ended too soon. Not that the story wasn't perfectly told within the 224 pages but that I liked reading so much I simply didn't want it to end. What impressed me most of all is Whitehead's restraint in telling a focused and well researched story without careening into a dump of excess historical research.
Outstanding
