Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsOne of the best this decade
Reviewed in India on 22 March 2020
Colson Whitehead establishes himself as one of the greatest authors of this decade with the Nickel Boys.
The story starts with Elwood Curtis, a black boy from Tallahassee, who is raised by his grandmother right from when he was a child. He's influenced by Martin Luther King and maintains the highest moral standards. Elwood is pushed by his high school teacher into attending college. Unfortunately, before he even enrolls in college, he's sent to Nickel, a reform school for a crime that he never committed. Remember that the story takes place during the early Jim Crow era where blacks are discriminated and stomped upon.
Nickel is a reform school to the outsiders but it is a prison where students have to face violence, sexual abuse and unforgivable crimes on a day to day basis. Black kids are not even given a chance when it comes to their development. Here, Elwood meets a boy called Turner and what happens next is the story.
The Nickel Boys is a harrowing tale of the distressing Jim Crow era where blacks were subjected to racial discrimination and were victims of unforgivable crimes. A must read for everyone to understand the impact of segregation and racial discrimination on the modern era.
Interestingly, the setting for this story is based upon a real real reform school in Florida called the Dozier school for Boys.
