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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
informative
sad
tense
fast-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
This is a horribly sad book. It is. The lives these boys lived in a racist, abusive, hellish institution like Nickel were peppered with the optimistic joy only a child could find, if briefly, if infrequently, but those lives were still unequivocally painful, tortured, forever bruised, forever altered for the worse, all in the name of crime and punishment.
Yet Colson Whitehead manages to write this tragedy with journalistic diligence and poetic flourish so adeptly that page after horrifying, eye-watering page turns without notice.
Multiple times every chapter I found myself stopped cold to admire a sentence, an aside, a turn of phrase, a bravely explicit metaphor employed to perfection, a blindingly smart observation on life, so obvious that it felt like he’d just pulled it out of the ether, out of that Platonic realm of thoughts and true things.
I couldn’t even begin to tally up my favorites, this review would just be a parade of quotes from the novel to the point that it’d start to border on plagiarism, copyright infringement, piracy.
I’ll just finish by saying that Whitehead’s greatest skill, beyond all those mentioned above, is the way he makes it all seem so effortless. None of it seems hard. None of it seems overlabored or all-too-considered. The genius of his work is that you start to feel like there’s no other way to have gotten these ideas across than for him to have rendered them as beautifully as he does in THE NICKEL BOYS.
The novel starts to feel inevitable, in the way all classic works of art do. They’ve always existed, their spot on the walls of the hall of fame were always reserved, it’s just that a plaque, a banner, a showcase now hangs where the spotlight once illuminated a conspicuous circle of empty wall.
I’m glad to exist here, at this point in the timeline of the universe, where Whitehead’s already written this masterpiece and his accolades have already been hung up for all to see.
I can't wait for the next one. I've heard that UNDERGROUND RAILROAD jawn is pretty good, too…
5/5, of course.
Yet Colson Whitehead manages to write this tragedy with journalistic diligence and poetic flourish so adeptly that page after horrifying, eye-watering page turns without notice.
Multiple times every chapter I found myself stopped cold to admire a sentence, an aside, a turn of phrase, a bravely explicit metaphor employed to perfection, a blindingly smart observation on life, so obvious that it felt like he’d just pulled it out of the ether, out of that Platonic realm of thoughts and true things.
I couldn’t even begin to tally up my favorites, this review would just be a parade of quotes from the novel to the point that it’d start to border on plagiarism, copyright infringement, piracy.
I’ll just finish by saying that Whitehead’s greatest skill, beyond all those mentioned above, is the way he makes it all seem so effortless. None of it seems hard. None of it seems overlabored or all-too-considered. The genius of his work is that you start to feel like there’s no other way to have gotten these ideas across than for him to have rendered them as beautifully as he does in THE NICKEL BOYS.
The novel starts to feel inevitable, in the way all classic works of art do. They’ve always existed, their spot on the walls of the hall of fame were always reserved, it’s just that a plaque, a banner, a showcase now hangs where the spotlight once illuminated a conspicuous circle of empty wall.
I’m glad to exist here, at this point in the timeline of the universe, where Whitehead’s already written this masterpiece and his accolades have already been hung up for all to see.
I can't wait for the next one. I've heard that UNDERGROUND RAILROAD jawn is pretty good, too…
5/5, of course.
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Plenty of boys had talked of the secret graveyard before, but as it had ever been with Nickel, no one believed them until someone else said it.
I literally just set this book down and I have so. many. EMOTIONS.
This is the tale of Elwood Curtis, a young black boy living in Jim Crowe era Florida, whose decision to hitch a ride lands him a reformatory school called the Nickel Academy. Elwood believes the world is changing and believes in the words of Martin Luther King Jr. Unfortunately, the Nickel Academy is a den of nightmares that will put that belief to the test.
So. Let's talk about these emotions. Jesus, this book packs a punch. I alternated from being incredibly sad to blindingly outraged and everything in between in just over 200 pages of literature. To think that something like what is described in this book actually happened made it 1000x more intense. I felt Elwood's sense of helplessness and defeat. I can never feel it as acutely as someone who has actually lived through that situation, but it is a testament to this author that I felt it as deeply as I did. My heart sank the longer he stayed in Nickel Academy and with every new injustice he and his fellow "students" were forced to suffer at the whim of some Good Ol' Boy.
I went into this book knowing it wasn't going to be an easy read, but still... oof... This hurt.
Yet, this book was an incredible read and something that should be experienced. I'm going to be thinking about this book for awhile and I think that's a very good thing.
I literally just set this book down and I have so. many. EMOTIONS.
This is the tale of Elwood Curtis, a young black boy living in Jim Crowe era Florida, whose decision to hitch a ride lands him a reformatory school called the Nickel Academy. Elwood believes the world is changing and believes in the words of Martin Luther King Jr. Unfortunately, the Nickel Academy is a den of nightmares that will put that belief to the test.
So. Let's talk about these emotions. Jesus, this book packs a punch. I alternated from being incredibly sad to blindingly outraged and everything in between in just over 200 pages of literature. To think that something like what is described in this book actually happened made it 1000x more intense. I felt Elwood's sense of helplessness and defeat. I can never feel it as acutely as someone who has actually lived through that situation, but it is a testament to this author that I felt it as deeply as I did. My heart sank the longer he stayed in Nickel Academy and with every new injustice he and his fellow "students" were forced to suffer at the whim of some Good Ol' Boy.
I went into this book knowing it wasn't going to be an easy read, but still... oof... This hurt.
Yet, this book was an incredible read and something that should be experienced. I'm going to be thinking about this book for awhile and I think that's a very good thing.
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
My second Whitehead book, and both are great books, but each time something stalls in me regarding his storytelling form. His themes are hugely important testaments to African American history, his prose is fluid and evocative, his voices authentic, his storylines engaging. With The Underground Railroad, his blending of reality and fiction, fantasy and historical brutality, sat uncomfortably with me. I couldn't reconcile the form and its subject.
In the Nickel Boys, that conceit/concern is not there, but there is a freedom with narrative voices that jarred me. The narrator shifts several times as the novel progresses, and while he employs a third person narrator throughout, it is always heavily invested in one character, for the most part being Elwood. Later, the story of a previous runaway is introduced as almost folklore, yet we have again a narrator who knows deeply the thoughts, feelings, and events connected to Clayton's flight from Nickel available to none. Back to Elwood, and finally on to 'new' Elwood who has no knowledge of the young Elwood's life, yet we have been privy to it all. It is this blending of omniscient and limited omniscient (almost first person) that feels odd to me, but perhaps I am not flexible enough a reader.
Also, I felt this novel too abrupt to easily command full engagement with the characters. The pace is unnecessarily brisk to fit its plot to its covers, and its subject. I wanted to feel furious or heart-broken at the end, and instead felt like I had been led to a clever plot denouement/twist just in time for the framed finish.
The plot precluded a first person narrative, but I feel it would have given a far more powerful punch that way (or even a loyal limited omniscient pov). And this subject matter certainly demands a powerful vehicle.
In the Nickel Boys, that conceit/concern is not there, but there is a freedom with narrative voices that jarred me. The narrator shifts several times as the novel progresses, and while he employs a third person narrator throughout, it is always heavily invested in one character, for the most part being Elwood. Later, the story of a previous runaway is introduced as almost folklore, yet we have again a narrator who knows deeply the thoughts, feelings, and events connected to Clayton's flight from Nickel available to none. Back to Elwood, and finally on to 'new' Elwood who has no knowledge of the young Elwood's life, yet we have been privy to it all. It is this blending of omniscient and limited omniscient (almost first person) that feels odd to me, but perhaps I am not flexible enough a reader.
Also, I felt this novel too abrupt to easily command full engagement with the characters. The pace is unnecessarily brisk to fit its plot to its covers, and its subject. I wanted to feel furious or heart-broken at the end, and instead felt like I had been led to a clever plot denouement/twist just in time for the framed finish.
The plot precluded a first person narrative, but I feel it would have given a far more powerful punch that way (or even a loyal limited omniscient pov). And this subject matter certainly demands a powerful vehicle.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated