I found this book difficult to read but only because of the subject matter.

It’s well written and the plot moves along well.

It’s maybe not one to read by the pool but I’d definitely add it to your ‘must read’ pile.

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead shines a brilliant light on a dark story. In the days of Jim Crow, young Elwood Curtis, a black male, wrongfully ends up in the Nickel Academy for Boys, a Florida reform school.

All at Nickel are broken, black and white alike; the young males and their superiors who prey on them. Community leaders turn a blind eye, as they are on the take for whatever is offered.

The story centers around Elwood and his ally Turner. Horrors are revealed as their time in Nickel passes. There are rumors of boys buried after brutal punishments gone wrong. Elwood, better educated than the other boys, relies on the memorized speeches of Martin Luther King to give him the strength to survive.

Colson Whitehead has written an important novel which opens up a new understanding of Jim Crow America, the dirty secrets of reform schools,and how far our culture has yet to go to create true racial equality.

My sincere thanks to #NetGalley and #Doubleday for an ARC for this review.

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead is about a reform school for boys in America in the 1960s and the abuse that the boys suffered.

A wonderful tale that flashes back to a powerful and dark time of history. Yet this is juxtaposed with the character that brings light into a segregated America. The novella has an underlining aspect of mystery that will grip any reader. The journey to a dreadful and fearful reunion is about to begin. A ,must read.

Incredibly hard to review,as it has such glowing words from everyone else,that I feel I missed something huge.

I think I best come back and reread it in a year or two.
This time around I struggled,and I can't identify why.

The tragedy of this book is how realistic it is as an account of what went on in the reform school it is based on and in many others around the world. The racial discrimination,the sexual and physical abuse,the destruction of lives is very well described. For many readers it will be upsetting,for others reassuring that such experiences are recognised and hopefully less common. The lead black teenager is a very well drawn character with insights and plans that are unexpected from someone who has been given so few life chances. The ending in respect of him and his friend is unexpected which adds strength to the story. This is a book I have no hesitation in recommending.

The setting of Colson Whitehead's latest novel is mid-60s Florida, and the state is still amidst the Jim Crow era. Elwood, raised by his grandmother in Frenchtown, works in a tobacconists and is scouted for attendance at free classes in the local college. Elwood has become inspired by Martin Luther King's speeches through a recording of MLK's work that his grandmother bought, but becomes embroiled in a crime which sets his life off on a different trajectory - and finds him committed to The Nickel Academy, a fictionalised version of the real-life Florida School for Boys, a reform school which operated from 1900-2011 in Marianna, Florida, which has recently been in the press as a result of the atrocities that were committed against the boys there over the 111 years it was in operation (maybe don't Google this until you're done reading the book).

Whitehead's writing blew me away with its subtlety and deft handling of such a sensitive topic. The narrative switches back and forth in time and between characters seamlessly, with Turner (Elwood's friend at Nickel) being the other main character we spend time with - who is the realist to Elwood's idealist in the Academy. A quietly devastating novel which I expect to see on many prize long lists later in the year.

Another brilliantly written book by Colson Whitehead. Crikey, this man sure knows how to construct a sentence and a tale. Albeit a tale based on the real-life events at what used to be the Florida Dozier School for Boys.. Thankfully this awful place has been shut down but not before inflicting horrific damage - psychological, physical and emotional - on it's ''inmates''. This tells of the wrongful imprisonment of 2 innocent boys and their brutal treatment at the hands of the so-called teachers at Nickel Academy. A testament and denouncement of this dreadful time in the USA and elsewhere, for that matter. Whitehead has an inate style of writing and is truly a craftsman of the art. In the Nickel Academy he has again demonstrated a depth and understanding of humanity and lack thereof.. This book will stay in my head for a long time to come and I'd even go as far as to say to the educational powers-that-be to include it on the curriculum. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC. in exchange for my honest review.