Scan barcode
A review by willowbiblio
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
"That's what the school did to a boy. It didn't stop when you got out. Bend you all kind of ways until you were unfit for straight life, good and twisted by the time you left."
-----------------
This was a deeply moving book.I actually started crying at Turner's words about living for Elwood in the final pages. I truly did not see that twist coming - and it was heartbreaking. Whitehead did an incredible job of describing the terror of ongoing trauma and the deep impact it has on the rest of your life. When something that irrevocably harmful occurs to you as a child, you are forever changed by it. Whitehead absolutely did this justice. He describes trauma memory in such a precise and accurate way.
I liked that he didn't overly prescribe emotion to the reader- his characters and scenes adequately portrayed that without need to push the reader into it. The boxing fights reminded me of the Two Minutes Hate in 1984, how even if it's inauthentic an outlet is absolutely required, and institutions recognize that.
I felt like Whitehead's open was remarkably strong- we immediately know that boys were harmed. We're also shown how their lives and deaths were devalued- being thrown in a potato sack like garbage to be buried.
There were a lot of literary parallels- his use of the boxing ring followed by a different kind of violence at the iron rings, both violences ultimately being controlled by the white school masters.
That this is a true story is heartbreaking. I think this book will stay with me for a long time and I absolutely understand why it won the Pulitzer.
-----------------
This was a deeply moving book.
I liked that he didn't overly prescribe emotion to the reader- his characters and scenes adequately portrayed that without need to push the reader into it. The boxing fights reminded me of the Two Minutes Hate in 1984, how even if it's inauthentic an outlet is absolutely required, and institutions recognize that.
I felt like Whitehead's open was remarkably strong- we immediately know that boys were harmed. We're also shown how their lives and deaths were devalued- being thrown in a potato sack like garbage to be buried.
There were a lot of literary parallels- his use of the boxing ring followed by a different kind of violence at the iron rings, both violences ultimately being controlled by the white school masters.
That this is a true story is heartbreaking. I think this book will stay with me for a long time and I absolutely understand why it won the Pulitzer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse