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A review by thedailydiva
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
5.0
My first introduction to the horrific story of the Dozier School for Boys in Florida was through the fictionalized telling in The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. Due’s book catapulted me into a deep dive into this nightmare of a youth prison. Her tale, markedly different from Whiteheads, allowed me to take in Nickel Boys unscathed.
These boys’ stories deserve to be told. Reading them is brutal, but they ought not be forgotten. The boys, their lives and stories, for me, are honored within these pages and the pages of Due’s Novel.
This is a story wrought with so much tragedy, the small redemptive plot points we receive are small bulbs of light that allow you to keep reading. But Whitehead is vicious. He presses home the idea that there are no happy endings. This is not a happy tale. Even the survivors are not entitled to a HEA.
Whitehead received the Pulitzer for this story and understandably so. Whitehead spins a bleak and heavy story, but doesn’t glorify the violence and trauma we know to expect. He tells his tale unflinchingly, but leaves room for our imaginations and knowledge of history to fill in the devastating blanks. For those of us afflicted with vivid imaginations, I’m unsure if this is a gift.
A story I’m not likely to forget and I look forward to its film adaptation. Recommended!
These boys’ stories deserve to be told. Reading them is brutal, but they ought not be forgotten. The boys, their lives and stories, for me, are honored within these pages and the pages of Due’s Novel.
This is a story wrought with so much tragedy, the small redemptive plot points we receive are small bulbs of light that allow you to keep reading. But Whitehead is vicious. He presses home the idea that there are no happy endings. This is not a happy tale. Even the survivors are not entitled to a HEA.
Whitehead received the Pulitzer for this story and understandably so. Whitehead spins a bleak and heavy story, but doesn’t glorify the violence and trauma we know to expect. He tells his tale unflinchingly, but leaves room for our imaginations and knowledge of history to fill in the devastating blanks. For those of us afflicted with vivid imaginations, I’m unsure if this is a gift.
A story I’m not likely to forget and I look forward to its film adaptation. Recommended!