This is a truly powerful book
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The blurb
Elwood Curtis has taken the words of Dr Martin Luther King to heart: he is as good as anyone. Abandoned by his parents, brought up by his loving, strict and clearsighted grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But given the time and the place, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy his future, and so Elwood arrives at The Nickel Academy, which claims to provide 'physical, intellectual and moral training' which will equip its inmates to become 'honorable and honest men'.
In reality, the Nickel Academy is a chamber of horrors, where physical, emotional and sexual abuse is rife, where corrupt officials and tradesmen do a brisk trade in supplies intended for the school, and where any boy who resists is likely to disappear 'out back'. Stunned to find himself in this vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold on to Dr King's ringing assertion, 'Throw us in jail, and we will still love you.' But Elwood's fellow inmate and new friend Turner thinks Elwood is naive and worse; the world is crooked, and the only way to survive is to emulate the cruelty and cynicism of their oppressors.
The tension between Elwood's idealism and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision which will have decades-long repercussions.
Based on the history of a real reform school in Florida that operated for one hundred and eleven years and warped and destroyed the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative by a great American novelist whose work is essential to understanding the current reality of the United States.
The Review
This book is just as brilliant as you would expect anything with Colson Whitehead's name on it to be. Elwood is an intelligent, young, black man (albeit with a slight naivety about him) in a world where Martin Luther King is just starting to gain traction. He dares to dream of a world where he can go to college and achieve in a similar vein to his white counterparts. He is noticed by one of his teachers, who manages to set this dream in motion for him. It's just all too good to be true.
Just before he starts this journey that will set him finally on a different path, he happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, in a society that doesn't care about whether he was actually in the wrong or not. The colour of his skin is enough to seal his fate and be enough proof of his guilt.
The utter un-justness of Elwood's incarceration cuts you to your very core. You keep thinking, someone will save him and realise the mistake that has been made. But this is the strength of Whitehead's writing; he gives no such reprieve to the reader. Instead, he knows exactly how a black boy would have fared in an institution like this in the Jim Crow South of the 60's.
Instead we have to witness the intolerable suffering that Elwood now endures at the hands of this institution. What makes this even more heart wrenching is knowing that the majority of this is based on a real reform school from this time, in Florida, and some of the words spoken come directly from the mouths of survivors. It will sicken you to your core.
Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that a story about the segregation and systemic racism at this time in American history, is a harrowing read. And yet Whitehead peppers it with such beautiful moments of good humour and friendship. Elwood meets Turner on the inside, and this friendship manages to help them both through the worst of times.
Colson's writing is both clever and subtle, he never embellishes too much, he just lets this simple story tell itself. By doing so, the stark horrors that happen to these young men are fully realised, with no literary imagery needed to intensify their impact. The atrocities carried out in this book will often have your heart in your mouth and a lump in your throat. And yet there manages to be positivity and resilience of human spirit in the sections that follow our characters later in their lives. This is a truly powerful book, with an additional clever moment towards the end that made me go back and reconsider some of what I had read.
The Nickel Boys was released on 1st August 2019 by Little, Brown Book Group UK.
Big thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.