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Jul 20, 2020ryankegley rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The Dozier School for Boys was a reform school in Marianna, Florida that operated for 111 years until a failed inspection in 2009 led to investigations that uncovered a history of abuse, beatings, rape, torture, and murder. It was closed permanently in 2011. Three years later, news of the school made its way to Colson Whitehead, and his 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Nickel Boys,” is inspired by the real-life tragedy. Primarily set at fictitious Nickel Academy in Jim Crow-era Florida and interspersed with accounts in contemporaneous New York City, the story focuses on two boys who befriend each other after arriving at Nickel: Elwood, a studious African American and ardent fan of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who possesses a strong sense of justice, and Turner, who has a less optimistic view of the world. Existence at the school — this is not a life these youths have been given — is as you might imagine: grim, harrowing, volatile, unpredictable, erratic, and, above all, dangerous. Elwood does his best to serve his time without incident but is severely beaten twice, once for trying to help another boy being attacked by sexual predators and again for writing a letter complaining of poor conditions. After Turner overhears that the administration plans to kill Elwood, the two attempt an escape. The story ends with an unexpected twist but to say anything more would reveal too much. This is a heavy book, but it never reads heavy. It is utter realism, nothing fanciful, nothing extraneous. It is stark and bleak, powerful and painful, but also beautiful and hopeful. It is graphic without being gratuitous and yet, at times, it is disturbingly vague. It is the unknown and the unknowable that is ultimately the most terrifying, as much to the reader as to the Nickel boys. It never pulls its punches, never flinches, never blinks, never looks away from the hard and bitter truth of our collective past and the role racism has and continues to play in America. Intentionally or not, “The Nickel Boys” makes a damning case that we are unable — or, more precisely, unwilling — to see goodness, justice, mercy, equality, and love triumph over fear, prejudice, subjugation, discrimination, and hate. To quote Dr. King, “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but bends toward justice.” Elwood believed that to be true, Turner less so. More than perhaps at any time since the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s, positive change feels possible — though not inevitable. The road is long. Meaningful and lasting reform will not come easily. Untiring pressure, persistence, and patience (not our strong suit) will be required. I can only hope the momentum behind the current Black Lives Matter movement finds firm footing, swells and strengthens, permeates the masses, and grows deep roots. Not until what happens to the least of us matters to the rest of us can anything of import be accomplished. Colson Whitehead’s “The Nickel Boys” plays a persuasive role in pushing that conversation forward.