Whitehead writes with such precise and restrained prose it is easy to make a lot of assumptions in anticipation of the story as it unfolds. I'm guilty of that. Also guilty of being confused by his actual project as it emerged. In this novel, which I feel is less accessible than The Nickel Boys, the conceit that the underground railroad was an actual railroad running underground led me to assume this would be a fanciful tour of unrestrained wish fulfillment. I don't know why I assumed this but for some reason I expected Whitehead to use his powers as an author, descend on the plantations of the south, and save everyone, sort of like Tarantino murdering Hitler in Inglourius Basterds. This is not the project of The Underground Railroad, which is a serious story without any easy solutions, despite the extraordinary railroad.

The more I consider this novel, the more I'm surprised I expected anything different. Not only does the story of American slavery not have a happy ending, it doesn't really have an ending at all.