A different kind of Christmas Book

My first impression on seeing this book was that it was the kind of book that bestselling authors often release during the holidays and that are seen near the registers at bookstores, Hallmark shops, and Wal-Marts. Such books tend to be attractively bound and sized to fit in stockings. In most cases they are short, shallow and saccharin sweet. Having read it, my first impressions were borne out. I suspect that Alex Haley took advantage of his success when sales of Roots took off and whipped off a holiday book. It's hard to blame him. Such books probably require little effort and enjoy brisk, albeit brief, sales.

Simply put, this is a Christmas story about the Underground Railway, the network of safe houses and volunteers that worked to assist escaping slaves on their flight to freedom. The protagonist is Fletcher Randall, the southern scion of a slave-owning senator. Fletcher's family has sent him north to Princeton University to obtain an education and with the assistance of a family of Quakers, he does just that. On learning, apparently for the first time, that slaves are mistreated while in bondage, Fletcher experiences an epiphany, decides that slavery is bad, and throws himself heart and soul into the struggle by volunteering to work for the Underground Railway. What happens after that, well, that's the story, isn't it?

If you gather from my tone that I wasn't very impressed with this book, you would be correct. It isn't that it is a bad book, it just isn't a very good one and Haley, who had already exhibited what he could do when he put his mind to it, appears to have just phoned this one in. The book shows little serious research and is liberally sprinkled with anachronisms. For example, a gang of fellow students who don't like their southern classmate refer to themselves as 'Rebel-haters'. Considering the story was set in 1855, five years before any southern states rebelled, there is no logical reason for the use of that particular epithet. In addition, Haley used the word redneck on more than one occasion although there is no known use of the word prior to 1891. My biggest complaint, though, is that the story just doesn't ring true. Fletcher's conversion from slavery defender to rabid abolitionist seems highly implausible. In addition, the other characters appear more like caricatures than real people.

One of the reasons that I may be particularly harsh in my judgement of this book is that I was reading it concurrently with Between the World and Me, probably one of the best books written on a black man's view of the world we live in. Next to Ta-Nehisi Coates' incredibly profound memoir, A Different Kind of Christmas comes across as almost cartoonish.
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
*5 Stars - Nothing at all. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
*4 Stars - It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it's pretty good as it is.
*3 Stars - A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
*2 Stars - This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
*1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.