Cora não consegue imaginar o mundo que há além da fazenda de algodão ― e nem poderia. Das poucas coisas que lhe era permitido saber, ela sabia que a Geórgia não era um estado amigável para fujões. As cores do sangue derramado e o som dos gritos dos escravos eram claros na sua mente, e seus sonhos eram habitados pela angústia de suas companheiras de senzala. Em uma alma sedenta por liberdade, qualquer convite para ver o mundo além das cercas parece uma fonte cristalina. Cora não sabia dos segredos que se escondiam nas veias de seu país. Até que Caesar, um jovem escravo, contou-lhe sobre a ferrovia subterrânea que os levaria até os Estados Livres, onde não há mais escravidão. Cora terá que atravessar os Estados Unidos e enfrentar terríveis desventuras. Mas nada pode conter sua coragem para transgredir as condições que lhe foram impostas – ela fará de …
Cora não consegue imaginar o mundo que há além da fazenda de algodão ― e nem poderia. Das poucas coisas que lhe era permitido saber, ela sabia que a Geórgia não era um estado amigável para fujões. As cores do sangue derramado e o som dos gritos dos escravos eram claros na sua mente, e seus sonhos eram habitados pela angústia de suas companheiras de senzala. Em uma alma sedenta por liberdade, qualquer convite para ver o mundo além das cercas parece uma fonte cristalina. Cora não sabia dos segredos que se escondiam nas veias de seu país. Até que Caesar, um jovem escravo, contou-lhe sobre a ferrovia subterrânea que os levaria até os Estados Livres, onde não há mais escravidão. Cora terá que atravessar os Estados Unidos e enfrentar terríveis desventuras. Mas nada pode conter sua coragem para transgredir as condições que lhe foram impostas – ela fará de tudo para ser livre.
Review of 'The underground railroad' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
"[...] E a América também é uma ilusão, a maior de todas. A raça branca acredita - acredita do fundo do coração - que é direito dela tomar a terra. Matar índios. Guerrear. Escravizar seus irmãos. Se há qualquer justiça no mundo, esta nação não deve existir, pois suas fundações são assassinato, roubo e crueldade. E, no entanto, aqui estamos."
In 'The Underground Railroad', de Colson Whitehead.
"[...] E a América também é uma ilusão, a maior de todas. A raça branca acredita - acredita do fundo do coração - que é direito dela tomar a terra. Matar índios. Guerrear. Escravizar seus irmãos. Se há qualquer justiça no mundo, esta nação não deve existir, pois suas fundações são assassinato, roubo e crueldade. E, no entanto, aqui estamos."
In 'The Underground Railroad', de Colson Whitehead.
Review of 'The underground railroad' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad is a fantastical parade of horrors filled with complex characters that lay the true nightmare of American ideology bare while also exposing the force of ambition in the face of a brutal dehumanization.
Whitehead pulled no punches with Ridgeway, a slave catcher in possession of the protagonist, Cara. On page 181, Whitehead preforms what I call a brain depressurization: the author leads you to a conclusion with a such stealth that revealing the truth causes a cascading realization that leaves you gulping for air. This is Whitehead's horrifying summary of American ideology[spoilers].
“Of course not—it’s nothing. Better weep for one of those burned cornfields, or this steer swimming in our soup. You do what’s required to survive.” He wiped his lips. “It’s true, though, your complaint. We come up with all sorts of fancy talk to hide things. Like in the newspapers nowadays, all the …
Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad is a fantastical parade of horrors filled with complex characters that lay the true nightmare of American ideology bare while also exposing the force of ambition in the face of a brutal dehumanization.
Whitehead pulled no punches with Ridgeway, a slave catcher in possession of the protagonist, Cara. On page 181, Whitehead preforms what I call a brain depressurization: the author leads you to a conclusion with a such stealth that revealing the truth causes a cascading realization that leaves you gulping for air. This is Whitehead's horrifying summary of American ideology[spoilers].
“Of course not—it’s nothing. Better weep for one of those burned cornfields, or this steer swimming in our soup. You do what’s required to survive.” He wiped his lips. “It’s true, though, your complaint. We come up with all sorts of fancy talk to hide things. Like in the newspapers nowadays, all the smart men talking about Manifest Destiny. Like it’s a new idea. You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?” Ridgeway asked.
"Cora sat back. 'More words to pretty things up.”
“It means taking what is yours, your property, whatever you deem it to be. And everyone else taking their assigned places to allow you to take it. Whether it’s red men or Africans, giving up themselves, giving of themselves, so that we can have what’s rightfully ours. The French setting aside their territorial claims. The British and the Spanish slinking away."
“My father liked his Indian talk about the Great Spirit,” Ridgeway said. “All these years later, I prefer the American spirit, the one that called us from the Old World to the New, to conquer and build and civilize. And destroy that what needs to be destroyed. To lift up the lesser races. If not lift up, subjugate. And if not subjugate, exterminate. Our destiny by divine prescription—the American imperative.”
To be abundantly clear, Whitehead doesn't paint American colonization in a flattering light here.
Review of 'The Underground Railroad' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Not an easy read. Mainly because of the violence (and me figuring out that people could do to others what is depicted here), but that is not the problem. the prose is beautiful in the pages were slavery is the day to day theme, as it beauty comes only from a profound tragedy, and the "normal" way of life is just depicted as something that happens, with ease in the sentences. I don't know, for me (and a review or a comment about any work of art comes from a subjective point of view) there is more care writing in the worst days of Cora and her relatives through this story.
The characters' motivations sometimes are treated as ephemeral as their lives in this story. Only Cora guide us in the path of the underground railroad, but everyone who comes into contact with her just vanishes in a splash of …
Not an easy read. Mainly because of the violence (and me figuring out that people could do to others what is depicted here), but that is not the problem. the prose is beautiful in the pages were slavery is the day to day theme, as it beauty comes only from a profound tragedy, and the "normal" way of life is just depicted as something that happens, with ease in the sentences. I don't know, for me (and a review or a comment about any work of art comes from a subjective point of view) there is more care writing in the worst days of Cora and her relatives through this story.
The characters' motivations sometimes are treated as ephemeral as their lives in this story. Only Cora guide us in the path of the underground railroad, but everyone who comes into contact with her just vanishes in a splash of violence. Just a glimpse of their actions and thoughts can be seen, and then nothing more because, as we know it, the world just keeps on, with us on board or not.
The more I read on slavery and turn into my senses to perceive the "real world", the more I know there is work to be done, out of love and respect of each other. This is not, really, what I can say about the book, but about me reading this difficult piece of fiction.
