Book Review of The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Southern Road | To Make Much of Time travel blog

UPDATED: 2/5/2023

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(click the image above to purchase the book through Amazon)

208 pages, published in 2019

YOU MAY ENJOY THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE:

literary fiction * novels about the American south * novels about social justice

TRAVEL INSPIRATION:

The Nickel Boys primarily takes place in Florida with portions set in New York City. As with any book that sheds light on iniquities or abuse of the powerless by the powerful, it doesn't really whet the appetite for a visit. For a place called The Sunshine State, this novel shines a blinding light on a dark part of Florida's past.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Colson Whitehead

This is Whitehead’s ninth book, which won him his second Pulitzer Prize in 2020. His prior novel, The Underground Railroad, also won him a Pulitzer, and was also a great read.

Whitehead has taught at multiple colleges and has been a writer-in-residence and has also periodically worked in journalism; his first job after college was as a writer for The Village Voice.

REVIEW OF The Nickel Boys by colson whitehead

You would be choosing words poorly if upon reading this, you called The Nickel Boys an enjoyable read. The writing style is all Whitehead’s own voice; his descriptors, his characters’ reflections, and his characters’ intermingling of their own struggles juxtaposed against Civil Rights icons are memorable and moving. The story itself is painful, and that isn’t a criticism.

Whitehead was inspired to write this novel after becoming aware of a real-life ‘reform’ school for children that ranged in age from 5 to 20 that operated in Florida for over one hundred years. In 2009 Tampa Bay Times journalist Ben Montgomery began his first article (which you can read here) in a series detailing the abuses and horrors of The Dozier School, which was still in operation at that time. By 2011 the school was shuttered, and in 2014 Whitehead became aware of the school’s past and used real findings - including unmarked graves discovered on the school grounds - as the basis for his novel.

Whitehead creates riveting characters through which he explores how such horrors can be hidden in plain sight - in real life and in the novel, the local townspeople visit the campus each Christmas for holiday decorations - and the lasting impact of such depravity. Whitehead names his fictional version of the school Nickel, which is divided into a segregated experience for the white and Black students. While there are some references to varied experiences of the white students, the novel is centered around the Black half of the campus.

From ‘students’ of the school seeking escape through swamps or across fields with dogs in pursuit to excessive physical abuse, this is a perfect example of the adage: “History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”

This novel follows the life of main character Elwood. In Elwood’s early childhood, he followed his grandmother to work and learned some tough lessons from adults, and he found his life-long inspiration through the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. that would motivate him to seek justice no matter what situation he found himself in. Elwood’s justice- and equity-seeking bent is integral to the novel in many ways, and he is confronted with the world as it is, not as it should be, setting him up for some battles between morality and survival. Through the eyes of Elwood and some of the characters he meets at The Nickel School, readers are presented a stark picture of life for those who have minimal agency in society.

DISCUSS The Nickel Boys

If you have read the book yourself, what were your observations and the moments that stuck with you the most? I’m definitely interested in reading more by Whitehead in the future, so leave your recommendations for the next book of his I should add to my reading list!

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