A review by meadowlarked
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

4.0

This is a very good historical fiction novel, set in the 1960s, about a black teenager who is unfairly thrown into a racist reform school and the horrors he faces while living there. The prose is well written, but in a quiet way — it’s simple without coming off as juvenile, which isn’t an easy balance to strike. Elwood and Turner are interesting foils of each other, though I almost wish I could have seen them butt heads a bit more over their different perspectives on life, survival, and the civil rights movement. Overall, this was a good read and I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to read more about this period of US history.