Reviews

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

katykelly's review against another edition

5.0

Wow. Hard to hear, but important to know.

I've avoided books like this in the past. You know it's going to hurt to read them, it's going to be upsetting. I do try to make myself read books that discuss our shared past, the worst bits as well as the best. As a parent and educator in my own way, I need to be able to share these things, as my way of making sure we learn from them but don't let them reoccur.

And this won the Pulitzer. It's not a long book, and flew by rather fast as an audiobook. The story deals with the life before, during and after a young black man is sent to a juvenile detention facility, the Nickel Academy. Elwood is set for college, he's done the right thing all his life, respected his elders, worked and studied. But one incident sees him shipped off for 'moral training' (among other things) to a segregated and brutal institution, where years later bodies are uncovered and the truth about the methods comes out.

It's gonna upset you. It did me. But it's within living memory, a true story sadly, and I am a big believer in not covering up or hiding distasteful acts and stories from the collective conscious.

The ending absolutely got me. I hadn't expected the about-face I experienced and I think I even cried while walking along the street with my headphones in.

It's powerful and so very very sad to read, but the story needs to be told.

rhianh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

devonmaureen's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Based on a true story and harrowing history. Finely written. But it felt distant and didactic. Conveyed, not personally known.

lillieht_4's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

efecaulfield's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

sophierebecca98's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I’ve only just put this book down. It took me a few weeks to read it, despite it being short because the content is painful and brutal. 

The horrors described are unimaginable, it is awful to think about the evil people that flourished in these environments as supervisors with all that power. The pacing of this book is slow but I also found it hard to pick it up, like I didn’t want to know what happened - I knew it would be hard. I was dreaming about the twist at the end last night, because I knew something was going to happen, but not that.

Elwood was the epitome of hope throughout so it really was a punch in the stomach.

I liked that Colson Whitehead’s writing was unpredictable. I felt as though he really thought about every single word used, his writing was purposeful. Whitehead created characters that are really special, this book has brought the history to life of the people who did live through similar experiences in these reform schools. It has enlightened me about a part of history that I needed to know.

icoltman7036's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Really fickle ideas in this one. Literally boils down to a gesture towards the past, almost like a ritual, a need to recognize the evils of racism and the US, without much discussion as to how that history can inform changing the future. Where MLK saw history as a spiritual process that directs towards a just future, Whitehead takes a different point of Christianity-- the reason to look back at history is to atone. To recognize sin for sin and to not rewrite the past as better than it was. There's a lot of focus here on who tells history, it emphasizes the importance of the Nickel Boys telling their story, which is shown from the prologue. Yet at the end of the day all the boys are doing is archaeology-- digging up the past, yes, but a dead past. There's no life-force in that history to change the present, it's just left there, waiting to be recognized.

Very strange treatment of racism from this book. Anyways I didn't like it goodbye

lrooks98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I gasped while doing the dishes there at the very end. 

This is my first Colson Whitehead novel, and I loved every second of it. Every word is moving, with a Hemingway-esque ability to pack a punch into very few, and you can't help but connect with each of the boys. It also hit a soft spot for me of books about boarding/reform schools, and the ways that we pass down trauma. 

0124eliza's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

lfraczek's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5