Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Nickel Boys

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

125 reviews

mollief's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

5.0

Oh boy, my heart. This one is a doozy, but I think I need to read everything Colson Whitehead writes.

Content Warnings

hollydyer328's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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? No

5.0

This was impressive. I'm still musing over Elwood and Turner, the kinds of Black boys they were, the choices they had to make, and what that says about survival as a Black man in the America. All of the choices Whitehead made have so much intention behind them, I don't even have my head wrapped around everything. Definitely warrants a re-read. This book is based off of the true story of a reform school for boys which is tragic and devastating, but also not surprising that something like this happened. I wasn't expecting to be impressed while I was reading it at the beginning, but MAN! the ending hit! Can't wait to see the movie adaptation!

Content Warnings

karyzi's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

nadia's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

This, my first Whitehead, is a really good book, covering harrowing subject matter. I'm not sure the narration style was my favourite though. While it started strong, I ended up finding it a little dull at times, and I often had to reread sentences/paragraphs, thinking I'd missed something. Overall, the writing quality was great and towards the end of the book the pace picked up and I was swiftly turning those pages!

Content Warnings

jaaay_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This was a good book. It has many topics that can be hard for some to read so definitely look up content warnings.

I think Elwood is a character that in this story is actually served by not really having a character arc. It was his sturdiness in all that was happening that was really admirable.

Maybe it was because I was listening to an audiobook, but my only real critique was that there were times when we changed scenes, and it was a different character or plotline being talked about, and it took me a moment to understand what was happening. Nothing terrible, but I wish there had been some smoother transitions between the changes in perspective.

Content Warnings