Elwood Curtis has done everything right: he is diligent, reliable in his after school job and he eagerly follows this charismatic preacher named Martin Luther King. When his teacher recognizes his intellect and promising future, he helps him to attend college courses. Yet, fate didn’t want his life to turn out like this and being black even after the Jim Crow laws meant that there are certain roads not to be travelled. Thus, instead of learning for college, Elwood find himself in Nickel Academy, a juvenile detention centre. He doesn’t fit in the group of delinquent and illiterate boys but he has to be what the supervisors see in him and either he plays by the rules or he gets to know the other side of Nickel, the one that is hidden and buried and will only be excavated half a century later.

“The Nickel Boys” undoubtedly is one of the most awaited novels of 2019. After his tremendous success with “Underground Railroad” and winning the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, expectations ran high for his next book and there is no denying: Colson Whitehead surpassed what I had anticipated. Another tragic story that needed to be told, narrated in a gripping and heart-breaking way that leaves emotionally exhausted.

Institutions like Nickel Academy were a reality not only in the US but also in Europe. Establishment for boys whom nobody cared for or missed were the ideal place for abuse and maltreatment of every kind and where, under the disguise of pedagogy and good-will, the most horrible atrocities took place. It is not only the fact of bringing this piece of eagerly forgotten history back to our mind why Whitehead’s novel is so important and relevant, first and foremost, he masterly narrates how a young boy could become an innocent victim of the circumstances without the least hope of every getting justice or at least an apology for the wrong that has been done to him.

Apart from this, this story – even though it is fictitious – underlines that it takes people who stand up for their ideals, who endure hardship and injustice in order to make a change. We can see these people in the news every day and all of them deserve our support. Taking into consideration the current state of the world, we surely need more Elwoods who fearlessly fight for the right cause.

How can Colson Whitehead follow the marvellous award winning “The Underground Railroad?" Well in my opinion he has surpassed it with this memorable, elegiacally written and in places heartbreaking account of the Jim Crow era.

Based on a true story the book recounts the appalling racism and suffering which was a daily occurrence at a hellish reform school where young black children were sent in Florida.

Set in the 60s this is a microcosm of the race wars when prejudice and violence were the rule rather than the exception.

The book deals with the relationship of two youngsters, Elwood and Turner and how they cope and come to terms with the brutal regime they have inflicted upon them.

I found myself fascinated, horrified and angered and then deeply moved by what I read and this is an important book by a master of his craft at the top of his game.

Another great book by Colson Whitehead, and this is also based on a real story, without the railway..... The lives of the black boys could take a wrong turn in that time, a wrong turn that ended deadly. We see the life of Elwood Curtis in Tallahasee (Florida) just at the beginning of the ´50, where the young boy grows up with his granny listening to Martin Luther King but asks for a lift to the wrong person.

Un altro grande libro di Colson Whitehead, anche questo basato su una storia vera, ma senza la ferrovia....Le vite dei ragazzi neri potevano prendere una brutta piega in un attimo nella Florida degli anni '50, talmente brutta da finire al cimitero dei senza nome. Leggiamo la storia di Elwood Curtis, che cresce dopo la seconda guerra mondiale con la nonna a Tallahasee in Florida ascoltando Martin Luther King, ma che purtroppo chiede un passaggio alla persona sbagliata.

The Nickel Boys is a book that was not easy to read, but Colson Whitehead's writing is so flawless that I read it in a breeze.
This book is about the shortcomings of segregated America, about the unjust system that would punish young boys, especially the black ones, even if they hadn't done anything wrong: Elwood is a studious boy who hitch hikes a ride to his college class, not knowing the person driving the vehicle had stolen the car. He gets accused of the crime as well and is sent to Nickel, a reformatory. Here the reader soon discovers the place is corrupt and the children get beaten, and the black ones even "taken out back" (which means killed), after being physically (and sometimes sexually) abused.
This book is based on a true story, which the author provides the details to at the end of the book.

This book is heartbreaking in so many levels, especially when comparing it to today, and seeing that injustices not unlike the one done to Elwood, are still in order.
I highly recommend this book, not only for the themes, but also for how beautiful the writing is, making Colson Whitehead one of the most talented writers I've encountered in a while.

Too real and too sad to read it all! The minute I read the first chapter I was worried that I might be too much of a wimp to read the whole book, but.....the writing was beautiful, Elwood the main character, such a beautiful soul....I did continue, until Elwood got beaten at Nickel....I really could not read any more.

So all I can review is the little I read, so brave reader continue where I couldn’t and justify the work of a talented writer....and thank you Netgalley/publisher/author for the opportunity to read this...I think...in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book gives you the biggest slap in the face reality check you’ll ever want to experience.

This is fiction based on fact. I really don’t think I’d have survived for long in these times of black (coloured) vs white folk. I just see people. I don’t see race, creed, religion or any diversity. Just people.
Good or bad and indeed in this book.....darn right evil.

Based around 2 people primarily .

Elwood is a kind ordainary guy. He’s clever, he’s smart and a hardworking guy.

But one day, wrongly, he gets arrested for stealing an already stolen car.

He’s sent to Nickel Academy.
There is segregation between whites and blacks.
Abuse, sexual abuse, torture in the most inhumanly way.
Elwood is quite naive until he meets a person who will help him, actually they help each other.

We all know the history of racism but we don’t actual “know” it and even if we did through family or books etc did we pain over it afterwards? You definitely will do after reading this.

It’s as hard hitting as walking on a bed of nails.

The writing is superb. The events are difficult to read.

I was left with the ending being a blow, it knocked my socks off.

I sat ages talking about what I’d just read to my hubby. I needed to ‘get it out there’ to hear myself talk about what I’d jus read. To clarify and to clear my mind.

Incredibly powerful, and not to mention beautifully written, The Nickel Boys is a compelling novel. The author captures the spirit of the time perfectly, and while the subject matter doesn't make for an easy read, it is an important one. I did find some of the scenes harrowing and difficult to get through - but in a good way.

A relevant and timely release for the current era.

With thanks to Little Brown and Netgalley for arc.

The Nickel Boys is a skilful blend of fact and fiction that does exactly what historical fiction is meant to do, which is to put you in that period of time and inside the characters lives. It is an exceptional book telling a story that has largely been buried. Set in 1960’s America it tells the horrors of segregation and the staggering layers of abuse meted out to young boys in the care of the state.
Elwood is a hardworking student, in awe of the teaching of Martin Luther King, who through no fault of his own, ends up in The Nickel Academy. It is heart-wrenching and anger-inducing and extremely well written. The Nickel Boys is an excellent read which deserves to be read widely, not only in America but worldwide. Every country has something in their past that shames them, but we cannot hide from it. We cannot learn from the mistakes of our past if we do not talk about them.
I would highly recommend this book.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

An intense and harrowing story. Very well written and heartfelt. Well done to Colston Whitehead for another powerful novel highlighting the injustice and suffering that occurred in America in the 60s.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication in return for an honest review.
This book is a force to be reckoned with. A tale of the brutal treatment of coloured boys in a detention facility, and a glimpse of the aftermath as one of the boys carries his experiences into adulthood.
I took longer than usual to read this book because I had to keep taking a break from the powerful and upsetting storyline. I have read other books by this author, but this is by far his greatest work. Well written and with an honesty regarding the treatment of coloured people in some parts of America in recent history.
I recommend this book to everyone, it should become a classic in the way of “To Kill a Mockingbird “.

This was such an exceptional book that was wonderfully accessible, beautifully written, rage inducing in content and absolutely heart breaking. It tells the story of Elwood, a young black teenager in 1960s Florida who, through no fault of his own, finds himself sent to the Nickel reformatory. What follows is an exploration of race relations in America, both in the sixties and in the present day, along with a searing critique of the prison and judicial systems that consistently punish black youths. Whitehead is a master of the craft, holding a mirror up to the world and pointing out both its beauty and all of its flaws in detail and in Elwood he has created another protagonist of emotional depth and warmth who instantly takes firm hold of your heart strings and proceeds to swing them around his head with abandon. The layering of narrative is exquisite, as is the prose with sentences on almost every page written to punch you in the face as a reader. The relationship between Ellwood and Turner is pitch perfect and completely believable, allowing both boys a period of grace in an awful situation. Overall, this was just breathtaking and everyone should read it immediately!
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. The story is heartrending and the writing is superb. I expect this one will be as popular as his last book and on all the award lists .

This is the type of book you want to savour even though you can read it all in one sitting.
Colson Whitehead has done it again, The Nickel Boys is a gritty and horrifying story based on real events. Truth and fiction blend seamlessly in Whitehead's prose and the duel narratives force the reader to question their perceptions of the characters and their own preconceived notions about histories malleability.

Some of the smaller things I enjoyed:
•The callbacks to events at the very beginning of the book being shown in a new light (but in a way I would never have thought)
•The relationships between the boys
•How realistic the characters were
•The ending
•And that twist. I didn't see it coming...

I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a heartbreaking book, that is made all the more terrifying by the fact that it is based on a real place. Elwood is sent to the 'Nickel Academy for Boys' after being arrested in a stolen car (he simply accepted a lift from a passing stranger). He was a promising young student who had his life taken from him in a prison of horrors, learning quickly the scale of punishments that face the boys there if they stepped out of line. Although graphic, much is left unsaid and when your mind fills in the gaps it is even more powerful. Beautifully written, this is a story of courage and hope - the characters will stay with me for a long time.

This is an important book but one which feels deeply and horribly familiar. Injustice, racism, corruption, sadistic cruelty, abuse of the disenfranchised by the powerful all exist in myriad contexts and there's perhaps no way of making them feel fresh or unique any more. Whitehead states in his afterword that he's telling the stories here of the real-life boys who couldn't tell them for themselves or weren't believed when they did - and that's justification enough.

As a novel, though, I found this flawed: the protagonist Elwood Curtis is little more than a cardboard cut-out, earnest, humourless, idealist and predetermined to suffer for the colour of his skin in Civil Rights-era USA. More interesting is his cynical friend Turner who is clued up on the system but has enough heart to make him the moral centre for me. And I *hated* the 'twist' at the end!

“He couldn’t explain it, even to himself, until At Zion Hill gave him a language. We must believe in our souls that we are somebody, that we are significant, that we are worthful, and we must walk the streets of life every day with this sense of dignity and this sense of somebody-ness.”

Colson Whitehead’s 2017 Man Booker longlisted The Underground Railway was notable for its formal inventiveness but rather let down by too much exposition. My review concluded: “A novel clever in its inception and powerful in its themes but disappointingly flat in its prose and with a rather limp conclusion.”

His latest (and next) novel The Nickel Boys is rather different in style.

It shares, indeed builds on the powerful theme with a lightly fictionalised rendering of the the real-life, but still not well known, story of the Arthur G Dozier School for Boys. That these awful events happened within the last 60 years, and indeed the lifetime of the current President, rather demonstrates how the excesses of his regime (including the modern day equivalent, are perhaps less of an exception than it seems in US history, a point also made by the author in this Guardian interview: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/20/colson-whitehead-reality-is-kids-shot-by-racist-cops

The prose here is also more powerful, although it only really soars when Whitehead openly builds on that of Martin Luther King, whose speeches are frequently cited (see eg the opening quote).

The novel is perhaps at its best - and has its most pertinent and challenging message for readers - when contrasting (but understanding both) the attitude to racial injustice of the two main characters: Elwood, from a relatively (at least relative to the other inmates in the “colored” part of the reform school) privileged background, idealistic, but prepared to make personal sacrifices, even put his life at risk, to achieve his ideals; and his friend Turner, who has very little and simply wants to survive:

“The law was one thing—you can march and wave signs around and change a law if you convinced enough white people. In Tampa, Turner saw the college kids with their nice shirts and ties sit in at the Woolworths. He had to work, but they were out protesting. And it happened—they opened the counter. Turner didn’t have the money to eat there either way. You can change the law but you can’t change people and how they treat each other.”

But whereas The Underground Railroad was formally inventive, The Nickel Boys is a rather more conventional historical novel. The story even has a rather unnecessary “twist” (albeit one, that in contrast to most Hollywood movies, at least makes parts of the novel make more sense).

Overall an important political message but perhaps more a book for historical fiction fans and less impressive than its predecessor in pure literary fiction terms.

3 stars

"There are people who trick you and deliver emptiness with a smile, while others rob you of your self-respect. You need to remember who you are".

The Nickel Boys is beautifully written - using prose and the extracts from MLK speeches to disclose uncomfortable truths. In this age when racial prejudice and racism seems to have found a strident voice, novels such as these are crucial in showing us the destruction caused when the people who are supposed to defend and protect the innocent turn a blind eye. What made it even more heartbreaking is the knowledge that this tale is grounded in reality, being set in Florida's Dozier School for Boys.

.. A devastating must-read.

I'm really sad that I didn't like this as much as I thought I was going to. It's an important and timely novel, but I just could not push through it to get to the end. Whitehead writes with such tact and delicacy that it makes the horrific things feel even more so, and I was just not in the frame of mind to follow a story like this. I may return to it in the future, but for now, I'm going to put it aside.

The Nickel Boys is an historical novel based on Dozier reform school for boys. It was chosen, handed out as a punishment alternative to prison, yet often it proved to be worse for its captives and inmates left broken, shadows of their former selves. Here the perpetrators of the most violent crimes were the jailers themselves. No one was safe, spirits were broken, ideals were quashed. It was survival of the fittest. The only law was the law inside those walls. This reform school was like so many others where rights of prisoners were lost upon entry. It was cruel and spirit breaking. Whitehead’s riveting writing style indeed is award winning and his descriptive powers here show us exactly why. So much hardship is inferred, there was no need for in-depth descriptions of the beating and abuse. We knew it was happening, that those young, tortured, impressionable inmates could do nothing to avoid it. This is another great work from Colson Whitehead, one I’d like to believe is 100% fiction but unfortunately reflects the real life trauma of those young people incarcerated here in and in some many similar institutions world wide.

<i>Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for the ARC</i>

Some stories gain an extra layer of horror, because you know they're based on reality. This is one of them.

Set in 1960's Florida, it tells the story of the boys in Nickel Academy, reform school/prison. The injustice, abuse, racism and violence they experience are not just a local evil, but endorsed by society at large.

The stories of the boys before they entered the facility (I just cannot call it a 'school')and the discoveries long after they left, give further depth to the severity and gross injustice of their situation.

Even though the situation and subject matter are so heavy, the novel was easy to read and never felt preachy.