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waffel113's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If he had been less tired he might have recognized the name from a story he heard once when he was young, about a boy who liked to read adventure stories in the kitchen, but it eluded him. He was hungry and they served all day, and that was enough.
In 2022 I took a flyer on Colson Whitehead's then-most recent novel, Harlem Shuffle and was instantly won over by his prose and unshaking command of character and place. That was a crime novel set in 1960s Harlem, focusing on a striver who gets wrapped up in the underworld and grapples with the repercussions of his crime-aided climb up the ladder and having wicked fun with the genre's conventions. By sharp contrast, 2019's The Nickel Boys - Whitehead's second Pulitzer Prize winner, soon to be released as a major motion picture - is a stark, primal howl into the void that is the legacy of American racism. Based on the true story of the Dozier Academy for Boys, the novel is a confirmation of Whitehead as one of our greatest, most vital living authors, a prodigious talent no matter the environs he situates himself in.
In the 2010s, Elwood Curtis is a successful business owner in New York City who finds himself confronted with his past when archaeology students in Florida unearth a hidden cemetery with dozens of unidentified bodies on the grounds of Nickel Academy, an infamous reformatory school in Florida, and finds himself compelled to confront his past. In the 1960s, Elwood was sent there after hitching a ride to college with a man who had stolen a car, and the bulk of the story details his life in Nickel, trying to retain his dignity in the face of the injustice inflicted on him in the example of Dr. Martin Luther King. There, he meets another young man named Curtis who challenges his principles; to Curtis, a second-time inmate of the Academy, Elwood is worse than naive. It's the friendship and tension that develops between the two that drives the book towards a shocking climax that reframes everything we thought we knew beforehand.
The thing that's going to haunt me the most about this book, I think, is how pervasive the aura of sheer dread that Whitehead conjures is. You know that horrible things are going to befall Elwood as soon as his ride is pulled over, and he spares very few details once he's inside the Academy's walls. And what makes it all the worse is that Whitehead didn't invent a thing: every single horror he depicts in the novel is torn straight from the history books, from the White House on down. There was one chapter that unsettled me so thoroughly I had to set the book aside until today, where I finished it all in one go on my flight to Dallas. The cumulative effect of this is twofold: the cruelties that are inflicted on Elwood are compounded and amplified by the knowledge that, while Whitehead's plot is an invention, all of this really happened to countless young boys in the not-too-distant past. I don't mean to be flippant, but especially after the events of this past Tuesday, a book like The Nickel Boys, on top of being a brilliant work of fiction, is a visceral reminder of how deeply racism is woven into the fabric of American life. The proof of that is just beneath our feet, but novels like these give the dead a voice. We would do well to listen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, and Torture
amyjo25's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
karyzi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Murder
Moderate: Pedophilia
Minor: Vomit
marie's review against another edition
informative
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Murder
Moderate: Abandonment
cbbenton's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, and Torture
ashsparrow's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, and Alcohol
drymice's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Rape, Slavery, and Torture
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia
bootsmom3's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Murder, and Abandonment
anntrautmannm's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This book was another incredible, extremely well-written book about a horrible subject. Another book that makes me cry and wince and shudder with the shame of this country's past lack of humanity. That is all true, and despite the horror of it all, the book was great, with a (semi-spoiler) twist near the end, and the lovable character Elwood, who had me rooting for him all the way through.
I think I would have liked the hard copy version more, but was grateful to be able to listen to this during free time and a long solitary drive, which allowed me to shed my tears privately. I hope (and believe) our country is getting better, albeit too slowly, and can't wait to read more Colson Whitehead.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Torture
carojust's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
This is difficult story, especially knowing it's based on the real-life Dozier School for Boys and its hidden past. The backdrop is a racist, segregated South, as Black men, women and children endured unjust, fatal circumstances, while the civil rights movement began to find footing. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words are weaved throughout this book, as a guiding moral compass for Elwood, the young protagonist, who reminds himself that only love can root out hate.
Colson Whitehead writes beautiful characters, ones that you love and mourn as if you've known them. While their time in an abusive, corrupt, and terrifying reform school is somber reading, Whitehead offers moments of hope through Elwood's friendships, and a peak into his future. There are repetitive themes, but I believe purposefully so, to reiterate the lasting trauma of a "prison within a prison" created by generations of racial violence, discrimination and hatred. Assaults and murders that escape justice for lifetimes. Poignantly, the characters talk about the free world and their world at Nickel, how there was no fence that kept them imprisoned.
I grew up in Tallahassee, and it was my first time reading a book set in my hometown and the Florida panhandle.
Give this a read if you're interested in Black history, plot twists, and characters you can root for.
Colson Whitehead writes beautiful characters, ones that you love and mourn as if you've known them. While their time in an abusive, corrupt, and terrifying reform school is somber reading, Whitehead offers moments of hope through Elwood's friendships, and a peak into his future. There are repetitive themes, but I believe purposefully so, to reiterate the lasting trauma of a "prison within a prison" created by generations of racial violence, discrimination and hatred. Assaults and murders that escape justice for lifetimes. Poignantly, the characters talk about the free world and their world at Nickel, how there was no fence that kept them imprisoned.
I grew up in Tallahassee, and it was my first time reading a book set in my hometown and the Florida panhandle.
Give this a read if you're interested in Black history, plot twists, and characters you can root for.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail