Source: David Livingston / Getty
Get ready, readers. There’s a brand new selection for Oprah’s Book Club.
Oprah’s latest pick is The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead. This novel, inspired by real-life events, tells the gripping story of a female slave on a heroic quest to escape captivity, via a literal railway system. It’s so imaginative and vivid, and yet so brutally real that Oprah says it took her breath away.
“This book has kept me up at night, had my heart in my throat, almost afraid to turn the next page,” she says.
The Underground Railroad isn’t Whitehead’s first book ―the Pulitzer Prize finalist has published five previous novels and two works of nonfiction ― but it is the author’s first one taking on race and slavery. Whitehead tells Oprah that it took him 16 years to complete, as he wanted to really “get it right.” From the first page to the last, Oprah says the book sparks not just deep personal reflection, but also a truly multifaceted conversation.
“You are definitely going to want to talk about this with somebody once you read that last, heart-stopping page,” she says.
Read Oprah’s interview with Whitehead, then pick up the September issue of O, the Oprah Magazine for more about the new book club pick.
Source: Huffington Post-Lisa Capretto
