The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

A Novel

By: Colson Whitehead

Narrated by: JD Jackson, Colson Whitehead

Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • This follow-up to The Underground Railroad brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. • "One of the most gifted novelists in America today." —NPR

When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood’s ideals and Turner’s skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.

Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers and “should further cement Whitehead as one of his generation's best" (Entertainment Weekly).

Look for Colson Whitehead’s new novel, Crook Manifesto, coming soon!

©2019 Colson Whitehead (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION • New York Times Bestseller • Longlisted for The National Book Award • Winner of The Kirkus Prize • Winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction • One of Publishers Weekly's 10 Best Books of the Year

"A necessary read." —President Barack Obama

"This is a powerful book by one of America's great writers. . . . Without sentimentality, in as intense and finely crafted a book as you'll ever read, Whitehead tells a story of American history that won’t allow you to see the country in the same way again." —Toronto Star

"Colson Whitehead continues to make a classic American genre his own. . . . The narration is disciplined and the sentences plain and sturdy, oars cutting into water. Every chapter hits its marks. . . . Whitehead comports himself with gravity and care, the steward of painful, suppressed histories; his choices on the page can feel as much ethical as aesthetic. The ordinary language, the clear pane of his prose, lets the stories speak for themselves. . . . Whitehead has written novels of horror and apocalypse; nothing touches the grimness of the real stories he conveys here" —The New York Times

Who spoke for the black boys?

“If it is true for you, it is true for someone else, and you are no longer alone.”
― Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys

I'm absolutely sure that there is something beautiful about losing a limb; a leg or arm. This book is beautiful too, but on the first read I'm still just bent over trying to handle the hit in the cut, the pain and the blood. Maybe, if I read it a second time I could experience it without the horror and the pain. But, all of that is necessary, and because of my privilege temporary. Many Americans experienced/experience this book without the ability I have to exit the experience and 'close the book.'

Whitehead is an amazing writer. He is clever, funny, and writes amazing prose, but behind that is an axe and a steamroller. He destroyed me. Sorry if this is disjointed. I'm trying to piece myself together after. Obviously, the Nickel Academy can stand for a lot of things. It can be a metaphor for how we treat black men and boys. It can be a metaphor how we treat minorities in America. It can be a metaphor for our prison system (6 times as many blacks are incarcerated in America than whites). It is all of these things. The horrible thing is this isn't a metaphor. It happened, or something close to it happened, at Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, FL.

It is hard too not to love the two main characters who take two different approaches to the experience of racism and the experience at Nickel. Elwood Curtis is an idealist, raised on an MLK record, who feels like doing the right thing is important, despite the consequences. Turner, his friend, is a skeptic and a survivor. He will shift and move AND survive. Nickel Boys shows how these two friends experience the abuse and power of a racist, white Florida.

This is a story that, like many James Baldwin and Toni Morrison novels, MUST be read.

The Social History Beats the Narrative

Important and interesting social history and a fine and unexpected ending make this book worth listening to even though the narrative and the narration are a bit dull.

Reform School Horror

Based on the true stories of boys living through the horrors of a reform school in 1960s Florida. Heartbreaking and frustrating that humans suffered like this. Whitehead's depictions provide clear images.

captivating

Captivating!

Invoked deep emotions within you. Hard to comprehend this could occur in America

Excellent

Engrossing. Sometimes even a work of fiction feels painfully true. I felt connected to all of the characters.

Wow!

This book will stay with me for a long time. The story is as captivating as it is horrifying and the narration was absolute perfect.

Tragic from Start to Finish

Mistakes of our past must guide our future. Elwood & Turner are fine examples for us all.

amazing!!

absolutely love this, sad but eye opening!! an incredible story about life and its troubles

Now what I expected

This book was good. So, good. It did not end the way I expected. Whitehead tells the story and has you so engaged and then hits you right in the gut with a twist.

History of a Tragic Place

Being from Tallahassee, I enjoyed the references to familiar places. But knowing the suffering and murderous acts held within those walls makes my heart ache for true justice for every child who lived a story of such shame and abuse. A hard listen, but well worth it.