Cover Image: The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

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Member Reviews

A boys’ reform school in Florida is at the heart of this novel, based on a very real school that existed there. It took me much longer to read this book than it should have. It packs a gut punch to anyone with a conscience and was impossible to read at bedtime. Should everyone read it? Absolutely. Just be ready to process another look at how our society systematically robs young men of any promise they might have.

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Colson Whitehead masterfully brings to life a little-known piece of American history in the Jim Crow south. Based on true events at the Dozier School for Boys, which came to light after archaeology students from the University of South Florida discovered a secret graveyard full of the dumped bodies of unremembered boys, the horror is how clearly this story shows that Jim Crow is not limited to the distant past: it is set in 1963, and the school didn't close until after the turn of the 21st century.
Elwood and Turner are fully developed characters. I appreciated the significance of the quiet cover of the book, which doesn't become fully apparent until the end of the story.

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We realize as we get older that what we don't get taught about in school is endless. This novel is eye-opening to the Jim Crow era and what it really was. It has been reduced to different water fountains and sitting in the back of the bus when really it was terrorism, humiliation, and inhumane.
At this moment in time, the issue of reparations for black people is back in the news and on the Capitol floor. This book, and the nonfiction work that Whitehead references at the end, are reasons why reparations are necessary. Way too often white people try to tell black people that things have been over and equal since slavery ended and to get over it. This novel powerfully tells the story of Elwood and other boys at the Nickel Reform School and what life was like in the recent past, and what it is still like now. This novel introduces you to these boys and makes you care for them and love them. Now that I have read this novel, I want to educate myself even more.

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Based on the actual events that occurred at a Florida boys reform school during the Jim Crow era, Whitehead’s latest is a powerful testament to the pervasive evils of racism long after the abolishment of slavery, as well as the strength and perseverance of those boys who survived and went on to tell their stories. I found the wording to be a bit clunky at times, but this did not detract from the overall message of a story that was desperately waiting to be told.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Doubleday and Colson Whitehead for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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A devastating fictionalized account of a grim corner of American history, from the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award- winning author of The Underground Railroad. The matter-of-fact style of the deeply intelligent narrator belies the horrors of his experience in a “reform school” for young black men in 1950s Florida.

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Oh my. This was excellent but absolutely heartbreaking. This book is very well written and very important... but... . it is HEAVY. My heart hurts.

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Colson Whitehead has written an important book that explores the atrocities perpetuated by a reform school during the era of Jim Crow. Turner and Elwood are opposites but become good friends and rely on one another to survive in this hellish environment. Whitehead is a masterful storyteller. The reader naturally connects with the goodness in Elwood and wants him to overcome the injustice. Turner is street wise and knows how the system works. The ending is a surprise but not unexpected.
I highly recommend this book.

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Colson Whitehead brings Jim Crow-era Florida to life through the real story of a reform school in Tallahassee that claimed to rehabilitate delinquent boys and instead abused and terrorized them for over one hundred years. Elwood Curtis is bound for a local black college when an innocent mistake lands him at The Nickel Academy instead. Elwood finds comfort in Dr. Martin Luther King's words and holds to his ideals, whereas his friend Turner believes the world is crooked so you have to scheme to survive. All this leads to a decision with harrowing repercussions for their respective fates. I recommend this book on Modern Mrs Darcy's Hot Summer Books list.

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An impactful work made even more heavy once I discovered it was based in fact.
This story is about a young man of promise who is unfortunately sent to a“reform” school for boys after hitchhiking a ride with a man who had stolen the vehicle.
The reform school thrives off of the fear and flesh of the young men and never lets up.

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“The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead exceeds expectations. It is a haunting and disturbing exploration of the horrors of a segregated Florida reform school during the civil rights era. The story is based on the Dozier School for Boys in Florida where an estimated 100 boys died and 50 unmarked graves were discovered in 2014. The story follows two young black Nickel boys. Elwood Curtis is an exemplary student with a promising future. He ends up at Nickel Academy because of a miscarriage of justice. Nickel’s friend, Turner, is a street-smart skeptic. The story tells of Elwood’s struggles as an adult dealing with his past experiences and with the boys’ struggle to survive horrendous experiences at Nickel Academy. The apt title refers not just to the Nickel Academy but also the young boys whose lives are deemed worth so little. Whitehead, the acclaimed author of “The Underground Railroad,” again presents the reader with new and enlightening ways of looking at the African American experience. It is a masterful book with an inspired and rather shocking end.

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Chilling and fascinating. Whitehead takes on another tour through a brutal world but introduces us to characters and families that we care about.

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Goodreads ate my long review, so I'll keep it brief. The Nickel Boys of the title are boys who attended the Nickel Academy, a reform school near Tallahassee, Florida (based on the real story of the Dozier School for Boys). The story begins and ends in the present, but most of the action takes place during the 1960s, with Jim Crow segregation very much in full effect. Elwood Curtis lives in the segregated Frenchtown neighborhood in Tallahassee, and is a textbook "good boy:" studious, hard working, and a student of Dr. Martin Luther King. When he takes a ride in a stolen car while hitchhiking he finds himself on the way to Nickel, despite the best efforts of his grandmother and a hired lawyer. It is only the first random event life deals him, for Nickel is a violent, corrupt place, with staff who steal from the school and punish students severely for the smallest infraction. Elwood has faith that good will prevail, while his friend Turner is convinced that the world is a crooked place. Their friendship becomes the core of the novel, even more so when the surprise twist is revealed near the end. This was my first Colson Whitehead novel, but it won't be the last. Thanks to NetGalley for a prepublication proof.

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I am going to go out on a limb and say that I believe this book to be Colson Whitehead's best work yet. His prose is tight, the story is complete, and the characters are so incredibly real that I could easily have met them on the street. The story is about a young black man who is living in Florida and seems to have a successful life ahead of him. He's an excellent student and is enrolled in college courses when he is sent to the Nickel School for a crime that he did not commit. From there, the story follows his struggles at the school in which the boys are beaten, raped, and killed. Interspersed are vignettes about the main character in the 2014. It is a strong commentary on Jim Crow, segregation, and the ongoing and ever-present violence against African Americans. This is an absolute must-read and I would be SHOCKED if it didn't win every reward.

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This is honestly a perfect book. I hesitate to write anything right now because my mind is still reeling from this story. There were moments that really felt like this book suckerpunched me in the face. In a good way. My best book of 2019 so far.

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Moving story of a boys reform school in the 60s, told by one of its survivors. My first Colson Whitehead book and I will definitely read more of his books. Incredibly well written. The flash forwards are effective and intentionally jarring, with a shock near the end. Based on a horrifying true story.

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I hate to say that I loved a book that is so depressing, but I did. Sadly, while the story is invented, there existed, apparently, an institution similar enough that the author based the setting on it. But having a good story is not enough. It has to be well written. I recently read a book that , while the story was decent, the author’s ability to write was comparable to eating white bread. Mr. Whitehead writes whole wheat. Do me, this book was better than Underground Railroad.

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Absolutely outstanding. Whitehead has the transcendent ability to make a work both historically concrete and up-to-the-moment relevant at the same time. The brutality of Jim Crow existence is conveyed with devastating power, juxtaposed with the beauty and strength of a young man pursuing Martin Luther King Jr’s dream. The United States of America needs this book. Right now.

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Based on the true events of Florida's infamous reform school!
Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for the opportunity to read and review The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead!
Historical fiction novel based on the real reform school that horribly mistreated the boys who resided there. Traumatized young men were left to deal with the abuse on their own. The story focuses on Elwood and we learn about other boys’ stories through his eyes as he witnesses them. The prevalent racism harbored hatred to the point of punishing innocent people and sending them to this terrible reform school where even harsher acts of racism occurred. The abuse went on for decades and through several headmasters. After reading this novel, I felt compelled to research the truth behind the story and was sickened at the amount of violence and abuse that young boys had to live through. Some didn’t survive. I truly don’t understand how the adults took part in or witnessed and kept quiet about any of the abuse. What’s their excuse? The Nickel Boys is tremendously powerful, enlightening and tragic, 4 stars!

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This book was amazing. I have already recommended it to patrons, coworkers, and friends. It is the story of a reform school for boys in Florida that operated for over 100 years and one boy's experience there. It follows Elwood from the early 1960's until 2014 and describes what his life was like in the school and beyond.

Colson Whitehead was inspired by the Dozier school, a real reform school in Florida. He includes information so the reader can learn more about the school.

I can definitely see this being read in a book club. I read it in two days and cannot say enough about The Nickel Boys.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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This is a gripping story of a juvenile detention facility in the 1960s, just as the civil rights movement is getting underway. Elwood Curtis is a smart, curious young man destined to go to college and become a leader. All of that is snatched away when he is implicated in a car theft by merely hitching a ride. Rather than being able to lead in the civil rights protests that are exploding all over the country, Elwood finds himself in a place that remains steadfastly untouched by the the trends of history. He and his classmates are actually inmates in a prison that only purports to be a reform school. Colson Whitehead once again delivers a vivid historical narrative that speaks so easily to contemporary themes that will make the reader wonder what, if anything, has truly changed in our society. While the story does not contain the same magical qualities of The Underground Railroad, this realism makes for a stronger story, in my opinion. Readers might want to brace themselves: there are no easy answers, and little in the way of hope and redemption in the pages of this story. It is still very much worth the read.

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