The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
I did this on audio, which I don’t think did it justice. It’s too easy to lose track of a non-linear narrative. Maybe it’s just the subject matter but I kept thinking of Faulkner. The prose and the characters are engaging, the subject obviously important, especially now–but in the end I think I just don’t care for fiction, especially historical fiction, that literalizes a figurative struggle. It’s ultimately the same beef I have with Toni Morrison (to whom I have heard him compared). So Oprah notwithstanding, it just isn’t my style, but that doesn’t diminish its accomplishment.
Amy P. Knight 