“The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead

The Nickel Boys: A Novel

By Colson Whitehead

2019

224 pages / 6 hours and 46 minutes

Fiction

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How good is Colson Whitehead? Way good. Whitehead wrote his first novel, The Intuitionist, in 1999 and received excellent reviews, including from John Updike. It’s about an elevator inspector. You know the man has to be a great writer to make that work. He became a famous, bestselling author with Zone One in 2011. It’s a zombie novel. That’s right, a zombie novel. And it is so much more. He made that work too. And then in 2016 he hit the motherload with The Underground Railroad. It won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. It is an incredibly clever conceit. Whitehead turns the Underground Railroad into a real railroad. It is a moving and disturbing meditation on slavery.

With all of the accolades that The Underground Railroad received, I have decided to review his latest book, The Nickel Boys (2019). But just for the record, you ought to read Zone One and The Underground Railroad too. That said, I actually think I prefer The Nickel Boys over those two.

This novel was apparently prompted by a true story of a Florida reform school. The story has only recently started to come out along with the bodies buried there – not metaphorical ones; real ones. African American teenagers and boys were sent there for the slimmest of reasons. They were beaten, sexually abused, and degraded in every way while the school kept up a façade of being a wholesome place. All of this is true. It is horrifying.

This is ripe ground for a novelist of Whitehead’s abilities and passions. His story largely centers around two of the boys there (now we are in the world of fiction), their friendship developed in the school, and the aftermath of their stay there. I cannot say much without spoiling the plot. But not everything is as it seems. There are twists and turns that are genuinely jolting.

Much of the book revolves around repulsive acts in the school and the Jim Crow South. Like The Underground Railroad, it can be very tough reading. The racism and abuse that goes with it is sickening. But it would be a mistake to think that this book is going to be one long downer.

The dignity of its lead characters and the ingenuity of the plot actually lead to an uplifting reading experience. The book is amazing. I’m quite convinced you’ll get to the end and say, “I never saw that coming.”

Whitehead has jumped to that very short list of my favorite American authors. He has taught at Princeton and has received MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships. His fiction writings are not preachy but they are penetrating. He continues to call our attention to the unfinished work of racial healing. In the writing world where the word genius gets thrown around far too generously, I will simply say that Whitehead’s books matter. And yes, they are brilliantly written and an honor to read.

So how good is Colson Whitehead? Way good. Way, way good.