#42 in Historical fiction
The Underground Railroad
- 378
- Pages
- about 7 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 17 weeks on the list, peaked at #3
- Arthur C. Clarke Award
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
- National Book Award for Fiction
- Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
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Our view
“The Underground Railroad” turns a historical metaphor into a literal railway and uses the conceit to show slavery without softening anything. It is harrowing, but the cruelty is rendered with precision rather than excess, and glimmers of kindness and hope keep despair at bay. Cora’s flight alternates with short portraits of other characters, and some readers admire that design more than they are carried away by it. Demanding, and worth the effort.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Underground Railroad is a historical fiction novel by American author Colson Whitehead, published by Doubleday in 2016. The alternate history novel tells the story of Cora, a slave in the Antebellum South during the 19th century, who makes a bid for freedom from her Georgia plantation by following the Underground Railroad, which the novel depicts as an actual rail transport system with safe houses and secret routes.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.0 across 767 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 84% of the weight and the score stays at 8.2 — the Historical fiction average of 8.0 barely moves it. A further +0.20 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.9 | 52 | 7% |
| Hardcover | 8.0 | 715 | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Underground Railroad?
It has 378 pages — shorter than 64% of the ranked books in Historical fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Historical fiction — and a score of 8.2, the closest to this book.
