What We're Reading: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

This book was read by Meredith Lewis, Orange County Campus Librarian. 

Title: The Nickel Boys

Author: Colson Whitehead

Genre: Historical Fiction

#ReadGreatThings2019 Category: A book suggested by a Durham Tech librarian

Also Ekpe Udoh's October 2019 Book Club pick! 

Why did you chose to read this book? 

I read a Time Magazine interview with Colson Whitehead and had also read an article about the boy's school in Florida on which he based the book. The final quote from a man who had been there really struck me [bolding is mine and not from the article]:

“Why would you make a fiction book — this is just me — out of something so horrible?” asked Jerry Cooper, 74, of Fort Myers, Fla., who served time at the reformatory school in 1961 as a teenager and says he was once whipped with the strap 135 times. “But I will get the book. I am going to read it. No matter how the word gets out about what happened at the school, it should just get out. I appreciate [Whitehead] doing the story.”

Overall, it seemed like an interesting book on a horrible topic.

I've also enjoyed Whitehead's writing before in Underground Railroad [available in the Main and Orange County Campus Libraries]. And it was short, which sometimes ups the appeal for me, especially for a heavy topic.

What did you like about it? 

I'm not going to lie-- this book was brutal at times. Elwood is such a good kid and it's so deeply unfair how he ends up at Nickel Academy, but the strong, supportive friendship that's at the center of this book between Elwood and Turner, two boys in terrible circumstances, is incredibly touching. I also liked that the book switches back and forth in time (clearly and in a well-organized way, if you care about that detail structurally). It wasn't a hopeful book, but it does highlight the long-standing impact of trauma, even in people who are successful. 

Did it remind you of any other book or movie?

If you're looking for similar fiction stories, I'd recommend either Tommy Orange's There There or Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing-- both excellent books about how history ties into the present. 

 If you're looking for something similar of the nonfiction variety, I'd recommend Killers of the Flower Moon or Radium Girls-- this story is at its heart about bringing to light cruelty that was allowed to go on far too long by people in power. 

I enthusiastically recommend all four of these books.