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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
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
slow-paced
Slow but the very ending was a good twist
dark
emotional
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
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
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:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
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:
Yes