The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead

Having read Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad a year or two ago, I was super excited to read this other critically acclaimed novel The Nickel Boys, which was the winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize... and it definitely did not disappoint!

The novel begins in the 1960s as the Civil Rights movement is beginning to reach segregated Tallahassee, and this, as well as the famous speech of Martin Luther King, acts as the novel’s backdrop. The speech has a profound effect on our protagonist, Elwood Curtis, who takes its words to heart - he was abandoned by his parents and has been raised well by his grandmother. Elwood is due to start college soon, and is looking forward to furthering his education. But for a black boy in the south in the 60s, putting one toe out of line can have disastrous consequences. After a road incident, Elwood is sentenced to a stint in a juvenile reform school called The Nickel Academy.

The school purports to make upstanding men of exemplary morals through its teachings, but in reality it is a horrifying place. Punishment for insubordination or failing to follow the school’s strict policies can lead to a run-in with Black Beauty, a giant whip used to punish black students with repeated lashings across the back and legs, often leading to unconsciousness and terrible wounds which leave students bedridden for days. Everything about the school and its staff is corrupt and terrifying. Elwood keeps himself sane by remembering the words of his hero Martin Luther King, who famously said “throw us in jail and we will still love you”.

Once again, Whitehead has created a brilliant and hard-hitting story and a memorable cast of characters. It is his characterisation that is perhaps the stand-out feature of the novel, and he introduces important and sometimes uncomfortable themes surrounding race and inequality, illuminating them with his shocking and harrowing narrative development. The moments of violence and horror in the novel are visceral and make you squirm to read - exactly the effect these topics should have on us. A brilliant book.