Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

27 reviews

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

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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

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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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Murder, and Abandonment

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. 

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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

marisample's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism

mle11's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Dementia

skyroxy's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Death, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment

banned_book's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

tigertheory's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Excrement, Death of parent, and War

graceesford's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail