NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this Pulitzer Prize-winning follow-up to The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel … juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood’s ideals and Turner’s skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.
Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers and “should further cement Whitehead as one of his generation’s best” (Entertainment Weekly).
Look for Colson Whitehead’s bestselling new novel, Harlem Shuffle!
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I read this book for my neighborhood book club. I was a little worried about it at first knowing it was based on true events of unbelievable abuse at a reform school for boys. But once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. Yes, it was a story about unbelievable abuse but the author wrote it in such a way that told the story with great compassion and respect for the victims/boys. The character development was rich and made me sad to think boys like these were so horribly mistreated. Such failure in the care of young boys really demonstrates the systemic problems steeped deep in our governments and judicial systems. This is a book that reminds us that what we see on the face of things is never the full picture. We have a responsibility to look deeper, especially when the most vulnerable humans (children) are involved.
I was surprised at how quickly I read this book. The writing is so well crafted that it just carries you through the story. It is understandable why it won the Pulitzer Prize.
Great historical novel.
Based on real reform school in Northern FL — The Nickel Academy is a juvenile reform school that claims to be an institution that will transform delinquent boys into honorable men. Far from reality these boys/young men experience very limited freedoms and pretty much unlimited abuse.
Searing, tragic and incredibly timely, Nickel Boys is a must read.
This is a powerful gut-punch of a story, and at times my soul ached as I read it, but I would definitely recommend reading.
This is a shocking and deeply disturbing fictional read that takes place in the Nickel Academy in Tallahassee, Florida in the early 1960s. It is based on the happenings of the Dozier School for Boy also in Florida.
Elwood Curtis worked for a number of years in a tobacco/candy shop to help pay for a college education. Elwood was looking forward to going off to college but he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up being sentenced to the Nickel Academy. At the academy, he meets Turner and they become fast friends even though Turner is the exact opposite of Elwood.
This was a very hard book to read at times and I had to put it down several times. I think this is a really good book and Author Whitehead did an excellent job writing it and I look forward to reading his other works.
Two boys at a Florida reformatory school, just trying to survive. There’s no room for justice–or is there?
Based on a true story. Although the name of the school has been changed, I remember when they started digging up bodies on the news.
I wasn’t sure what I was getting into when I picked this up, but I’m at the point now where I’ll read anything with Colson Whitehead’s name on it, because I’ve yet to be disappointed. This also was not a disappointment. When I realized what was going on, I expected a more difficult read, but he balanced reader discomfort to a nicety. I *think* that people who would normally be triggered by this sort of thing should be pretty safe, and find this cathartic rather than a gore-fest.
I am sorry this book had cause to be written. Highly recommend.
I have heard so many good things about this book. It is a very disturbing story about a topic I knew nothing about. The idea that this book is based on true events is very disturbing to me. There really was an excavation of a site filled with human bones (opening scene, so no spoilers), and that makeshift gravesite was really connected to the type of facility Colson Whitehead has brought to light. I cared about the characters all the way through and became completely invested. The ending was different than I envisioned, but it was because of skillful storytelling that made it all the more impactful. I listened to the audiobook which did detract from the story a little bit in my opinion. There was a lack of inflection sometimes so that I found myself getting distracted. Otherwise, this is a story well-worth reading, and I’m really glad I was able to learn about a topic I didn’t know much about in a way that was engrossing and made a lasting impression. If I had read a physical copy of the book, I’m sure I would have been able to give this a full five stars. Either way, I strongly recommend it.
Colson Whitehead is one of the best writers I have ever read. His writting is not pompous and easy to read, especially considering his wide range of vocabulary throughout his books. Its truly a great fiction book based off of a tragic true story. I urge everyone to read this and learn from it.
One of the greatest books I have ever read. Compelling. Masterful. Thoroughly engrossing. Comparable in significance to the best of John Steinbeck or Toni Morrison.
There are certain words that are thrown about in book reviews, words that are overused and become meaningless: Haunting, Powerful, Memorable. I am not going out on a limb when I employ each of these words to describe Colson Whitehead’s novel “The Nickel Boys.”
The novel traces the paths of two Black teenaged boys through the dark times of the Jim Crow era in the United States. Based on the true and horrific stories of the Dozier School for Boys, Whitehead crafts a dark and ugly hellhole: The Nickel Academy. The face the ‘Academy’ presents to the outside world is a reform school dedicated to turning young delinquents into upright citizens. The true face of The Nickel Academy is one of abuse, beatings, tortures, and of young men ending up in unmarked graves.
The characters in this story are finely crafted, well developed, and memorable. Two boys struggle to survive, struggle with conflicting beliefs, struggle to maintain the hope that someday things will change. There is danger in hoping, danger in believing. Their struggle in powerful and, yes, it is memorable. As a reader, I cared very much about the fate of the protagonists. The author’s words drew me in immediately and held me in thrall.
Mr. Whitehead is a fine writer and a fine crafter of story. The tale cuts from present to past and back again, yet the shifts are not jarring. Each piece of the story builds on a preceding episode, adding layers of insight and plot twists. The final twist is beautiful, ironic, and deeply moving.
Colson Whitehead has won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. My little review does not do justice to his work. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Read it!
It’ll come as no surprise to Colson Whitehead fans that this is yet another spectacular piece of narrative. It’s been named one of TIME’s best books of the decade, which speaks for itself. Not for the faint hearted, frankly, but only because of the emotional punch it packs, telling the story of a Floridian Reform School that devastated so many lives over such a long period of time. Take a deep breath, brace yourself and head on it. You won’t regret it – one of those books that will stay with you forever. Whitehead is a genius.
Sadly realistic for the times.
Colin Whitehead sheds light on the darkness of Nickel Academy school in Florida which served as a chamber of horrors to punish young boys.When Elwood Curtis accepts a ride from a neighbor in a car he does not realize it is stolen and is promptly sent to this reform school To keep his sanity he repeats Dr. Martin Luther Kings words Throw us in jail and we will still love you.The author serves as a reminder as much as racial inequality changes it still remains the same .
We must bear witness to some of the horrendous truths of our past. The Nickel Boys is not an easy read. Indeed, at times, it’s unbearable but, read we must. It tells the tale of two black youths placed in a “reform school” in Alabama (one for a crime he didn’t commit) and their tortuous treatment by the bully “managers,” aided and abetted and covered up by the community power brokers; the lies, the perversions committed, the brutal inhumane abuse — all in the name of education. “The state allowed dark cells and sweatboxes in juvenile facilities after World War II. It was a time of high-minded reform all over, even at Nickel.” What sustained and informed one boy, was the words and thoughts of Martin Luther King. “Throw us in jail and we will still love you…But be assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves, we will so appeal to your heart and your conscience that we will win you in the process and our victory will be a double victory.” I read and wept. And you will too.
The Nickel Boys, a compelling and tragic story of a Florida reform school by Colson Whitehead, is incredibly well written. Although drawn into the story, there were moments that I had to sit back and admire what he accomplished in a phrase or a sentence. Wow. Colson Whitehead deserves every accolade and more.
I thank NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing me an ARC copy of this book, which I freely chose to review.
In brief, this is an extraordinary book. Beautifully written, haunting, it vividly portrays and era and a place (the early 1960s in Florida), and illustrates the very best and the very worst of human beings and their behaviour. Although everybody should know about the true story this book is inspired by, my only hesitation in recommending this book to all is that it is a tough read, and one that could upset people who have experienced abuse or violence or prefer not to read graphic accounts of those topics. (It is not extreme, in any way, in its depiction of violence and abuse, and much is left to the imagination of the reader rather than being unnecessarily and openly graphic, but then, my level of tolerance is quite high, so it might not be an indication of other readers’ opinion. On the other hand, it is emotionally harrowing, as it should be).
I had not read any of Whitehead’s books before but had heard and read many comments about his recent success with The Underground Railroad, and was keen to see what he would write next. Although I can’t compare the two, based on how much I have enjoyed this story and the style of writing, I am eager to catch up on the author’s previous novels.
I went into this book not having read reviews or detailed comments about it, other than the short description on NetGalley, and I was quickly drawn into the story. After the brief prologue, that sets up the scene and introduces what will become the main setting (and a protagonist in its own right) of the story, The Nickel Academy (previously, The Florida Industrial School for Boys, created in 1899, a reform school in serious need of reforms), we get to meet the two protagonists, first Elwood Curtis, an upstanding boy, determined to make his grandmother proud, a firm believer in Martin Luther King’s philosophy and speeches, a hard student and worker, and later Jack Turner, a boy with a more difficult background whom we meet during his second stay at Nickel. The interaction between the boys, the differences between them, the unlikely friendship that develops, and the ways their lives influence each other, not always evident as we read it, form the backbone of this novel, whose action is set mostly in a momentous era, the 1960s, and with the background of the Civil Rights Movement at its heart. Elwood’s determination to follow King’s dictates is sorely put to the test at Nickel, but he does learn much about himself and about the world there, including some things that should never happen to anybody, no matter their age or colour. Turner, a survivor who has been exposed to a much harsher reality than Elwood from the beginning, learns a new set of values and much more.
As I mentioned above, the story, narrated in the third person but mostly from the point of view of the two main characters (the novel is divided into different parts, and it is clearly indicated which point of view we are sharing), is beautifully written. It lyrically captures the nuances of the period and the place, using a richly descriptive style of writing that makes us feel as if we were there, experiencing the oppressive heat, the excitement of being a young boy going in his first adventure, the thrill of joining a heartfelt protest, the fear of Nickel, the dashed hopes… And later, we also touch base with the main character’s life at different points after Nickel, including the present, when he hears about the unearthing of the story, and we realise that, for him, it’s never gone away; it’s never become the past. The author intersperses the words of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches, of James Baldwin’s stories, and, as he explains in the Acknowledgements’ section at the end, he also quotes from real life accounts from survivors of the Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida, whose story inspired the setting and much of the story this book narrates. Although I didn’t know the story was based on a real place, I kept wondering about it as I read —it felt true, for sure—, and I was not surprised when my suspicions were unfortunately confirmed at the end. (The author provides plenty of links and information about the real story of Dozier and also includes a bibliography of the other sources he has used, which will prove invaluable to researchers and readers eager to find out more). The author’s use of quotes adds to the true feel of the novel while establishing a clear connection between this story and the troubled history of race (and to a slightly lesser extent class) relations in the USA. Although based on a real reform school, Nickel is a microcosm, a metaphor for the abuse and corruption that has marred not only the United States but many other countries, and a reminder that we must remain vigilant, as some things and behaviours refuse to remain buried and keep rearing their ugly heads in more ways than one. I, for one, will not hear talk about the White House and not think about quite a different place from now on.
The characters are compelling, easy to empathise with, and one can’t help but root for these young men who find themselves in impossible circumstances. Some are complicit in the abuse, some mere victims, but most are just trying to survive. As for the perpetrators… There’s no attempt at explaining why or how it happened. This is not their story. Their story has been the official History for far too long.
Apart from all I’ve said, there’s quite a twist towards the end of the story, which casts a new light on some of the events and on the relationship between the two boys, clarifying some questions that are left answered as the story progresses. This is not a mystery or a thriller as such, but the twist introduces an element of surprise that, at least for me, increased the power of the narrative and the overall effect of the story. The compelling plot of the novel is perfectly matched by the masterly way it is told.
I highlighted a lot of passages from the novel, but I thought I’d share the opening, and another paragraph from the preamble, to give you a taster. (As I mentioned, mine is an ARC copy, so there might be some changes to the final published version).
Even in death the boys were trouble. (A fantastic opening line that will become one of my favourites from now on).
When they found the secret graveyard, he knew he’d have to return. The clutch of cedars over the TV reporter’s shoulder brought back the heat on his skin, the screech of the dry flies. It wasn’t far off at all. Never will be.
A great novel, inspiring, appalling, tough, lyrical, fitting homage to the victims of a corrupt, merciless, and racist institution, and an indictment of the society that allowed it to exist. Highly recommended, with the only reservations mentioned above about the subject matter.
For me, this was the best book of 2019. It read like a book that had always existed and that somehow Colson Whitehead just found it and put it into book form and it was born to be timeless and enduring. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The author does an excellent job of describing the Jim Crow era in the South in the 1960’s. You really feel what it must have been like to be unjustly put in a juvenile detention facility while not feeling overwhelmed by an overwritten plot line. He adds perspective through Elwood (the idealist) and Turner (the realist). It was clearly still a terrible time to be black in southern America. Hopefully, by reading about our real history, we can learn from it and make sure nothing like it ever happens again.
This is a great book. It is fiction but it is based on a true tragic story that will break your heart. The cruelty discussed in the book is almost unbelievable however, Mr. Whitehead has the skill and talent to write a book that is inspirational!