Legend combines with reality in this visceral and hard hitting novel.
Cora's strengths as a character really becomes the anchor of this tale as we follow her from slave to freedom. And there's a lot of horrors and hardships brought to the page with powerful details from Whitehead.
Whitehead's prose really keeps the book from falling into misery porn and the inclusion of the actual underground railroad allows metaphor to make way for the more cruel truths that the people of this country, the US, have committed.
For all the horrors presented to black people in these lands, it's what's "underground" "under the surface" that have provided a respite and power to those escaping it. Stories, community, and hope, taking them and riding them off to something that can resemble life.