The Underground Railroad and Underground Airlines – February CC Book Club Selection

[Mary13]

Our February selection will be a duo of bestselling novels, both of which made NPR’s list of the best books of 2016. In addition to having similar titles, the books share thematic similarities in their depictions of slavery in an alternate reality. We are pairing the National Book Award winner The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead with Underground Airlines by Ben Winters.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is my pick for the book of the year. When Whitehead made his debut in 1999 with The Intuitionist, he was praised for his ingenuity: After all, who thinks up a novel about elevator inspectors and race? The Underground Railroad, set in antebellum America, is every bit as imaginative, while its vision of the surreal insanity of racism is even more devastating. – Maureen Corrigan, NPR

[A] book that resonates with deep emotional timbre, The Underground Railroad reanimates the slave narrative, disrupts our settled sense of the past and stretches the ligaments of history right into our own era…The canon of essential novels about America’s peculiar institution just grew by one. – Washington Post

Underground Airlines was listed as one of the best books of 2016 by Amazon, Publishers Weekly and Goodreads and, for you “listeners” out there, it is Audiophile’s Best Audiobook of 2016 for Mystery & Suspense.

Not to be confused with Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, Ben H. Winters’ Underground Airlines approaches the topic of slavery through the genres of alternative history and noir suspense. Winters’ novel imagines the Civil War never happened and that slavery still exists on corporate plantations in some Southern states called “The Hard Four.” The other states in the union have agreed that any escaped “Person Bound To Labor” must be captured and returned. That’s where a bounty hunter named Victor comes in… Victor’s voice–melancholy and wry–leads us through the hunt for fugitives, as well as through the puzzle of his own identity and deeper purpose. – NPR

An immersive thriller as well as a provocative alternative history, Underground Airlines showcases a fully realized central character who believes his own disturbing past can be kept safely buried. But history has a way of bubbling to the surface of the present.― New York Times Book Review

Discussion begins February 1st. Please join us!

[NJTheatreMOM]

Yay! I’m already reading Underground Railway and it’s terrific. I love the NPR description of Underground Airlines.

[jaylynn]

I’ve read (and loved) them both! I will lurk as usual in February!

[rebeccar]

Both of these are really excellent books, looking forward to seeing the discussion!

[exlibris97]

Brilliant books. Loved them.

[NJTheatreMOM]

Report from the field:

Not long ago, I reported that Steinbeck’s <journal of="" a="" novel:="" the="" east="" eden="" letters<="" i=""> was a great book to finish up, slowly, as I approached the end of a hospital stay because of the interesting emotions that Steinbeck experienced as he approached the end of writing his magnum opus.

Well, it turns out I just completed yet another hospital stay – in the nick of time for Christmas, yay!

This time, I read Underground Railroad during part of my time I was in hospital. My choice of reading again seemed somewhat appropriate, this time because if was very intense. (It was also brilliantly written, and a beautiful book in many ways.)

I do have to report that Underground Railroad was NOT really an excellent book to finish up at the end of a hospital stay.

Very happily, I do NOT anticipate more hospital stays, any time in the near future!!

Warm best wishes for the holidays to my dear CC book club friends. All the best to you and yours.<3

[NJTheatreMOM]

• Sorry for typos in Post #5.

[mathmom]

So sorry about the extra hospital stays. Here’s to a healthy 2017! I haven’t gotten either book, because I am hoping to get a Kindle for Christmas.

[NJTheatreMOM]

Mathmom, from what I understand about Underground Airlines, it is probably the better of the books to read second, as I plan to do.

[jollymama]

I’ve read Underground Railroad and can’t recommend it highly enough. I’m on the waiting list at my library for the audiobook version of Underground Airlines. I’m #5 – it’s popular.

[VeryHappy]

Finished The Underground Railroad a few days ago (enjoyed it very much) and just picked up Underground Airlines from the library. I’ll read it this weekend.

[Mary13]

@NJTheatreMOM, so glad you’re on the mend!

I am happy to read all these excellent reviews of The Underground Railroad. I plan to begin after the chaos of Christmas has passed. @mathmom, I hope Santa is good to you.

[MommaJ]

I was quite disappointed in The Underground Railroad, so can’t wait to spout off about it!

[NJTheatreMOM]

That’s interesting, MommaJ. My own feelings are not entirely unmixed, but I don’t know whether my reactions will prove to be similar to yours. It’s an unusual book.

[mathmom]

I got my Kindle and The Underground Railroad came free with it. I scored!

I wasn’t overwhelmed with the excerpt that appeared in the NYT a month or two ago, but I’m willing to read it.

[ignatius]

I’m starting Underground Airlines today. I have The Underground Railroad on hold for me at the library - to be picked up Jan. 3. Let’s just say I’m settling in for some quality reading time (or so I hope).

[VeryHappy]

I just started Underground Airlines yesterday and so far (page 35 or so) I’m finding it riveting.

[NJTheatreMOM]

Good to hear, VeryHappy! I have it and will be starting it in a couple of days.

[mathmom]

I just started Underground RR. Not very far along. Not riveted! (But I do have my new Kindle, yay!)

[NJTheatreMOM]

I’m finding Underground Airlines yo be engaging, so far. I usually don’t read alternative history, so it is intriguing to be exposed to it. There are suspenseful “undercover agent” themes to the story that feel familiar but are still pretty fresh, at least to me.

I am only about 50 pages in, and am looking forward to the development of certain mysterious elements of the story.