This series is more important today than ever. It's interesting but does not live up the the great reviews I saw about it. The boys were trouble even as corpses because, in Whitehead’s reimagining, the Nickel Academy had been closed after many decades and developers had plans for … I read this because I had enjoyed ( if that is the right word) the Underground Railroad. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99. Please try again. Literary food for the soul, heart and the brain. Many people will comment on the storyline, but what blows me away is the author's writing style, syntax, similes and metaphors. . In Whitehead’s novel, Elwood, an African American boy abandoned in Tallahassee by his mother, is being raised by his grandmother, whose father died in jail, arrested for “bumptious contact” after a white woman accused him of not getting out of her way on a downtown sidewalk. The child-friendly displays of Santa and gingerbread houses are constructed by the forced labor of the Nickel boys — boys, who, we're told, years later: "could have been many things had they not been ruined by that place. This year I decided to be a bit more harsh with my book ratings, so this one gets a 3/5. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in. 4.5*. By Whitehead's own admission, the disturbing true story that informs The Nickel Boys derailed him from the crime novel he'd been planning to write. Kin “[find] each other’s lives inscrutable” in this rich, sharp story about the way identity is formed. by Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 3, 2019. RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2019. Bennett is deeply engaged in the unknowability of other people and the scourge of colorism. Sir James Douglas and the Lass of Scone face a choice: Love, or King? Bennett keeps all these plot threads thrumming and her social commentary crisp. Unmarked graves of boys brutalized and even possibly murdered at the school were discovered — and are still being discovered — by forensic archaeologists. Brit Bennett. I very much agree with other reviewers who have said it is disturbing , but well-written and an important addition to the cannon of books about African Americans whose suffering never, ever stopped when slavery was abolished. The Nickel Boys isn't just a testament to systemic racism; it’s an archaeology of pain." As so often, the critics have misled me. We’re glad you found a book that interests you! Though gripping, even moving at times, the novel doesn’t do justice to the solemn history from which it is drawn. And the ending was a let down. And perhaps more will be because of Whitehead’s searing reminder that what happened not long ago, and here, was not unthinkable. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2019. The boys were trouble even as corpses because, in Whitehead’s reimagining, the Nickel Academy had been closed after many decades and developers had plans for an office park on part of the land. A Great Depression epic of government conspiracy and betrayal. Also a.blazing indictment of a for profit prison system. The gossips are agog: “In Mallard, nobody married dark....Marrying a dark man and dragging his blueblack child all over town was one step too far.” Desiree's decision seals Jude’s misery in this “colorstruck” place and propels a new generation of flight: Jude escapes on a track scholarship to UCLA. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in. 4.5*. At Nickel, Elwood makes a friend whose name is Turner; Turner is an expert whistler, often breaking into the theme music from The Andy Griffith Show. Long winded and tedious. . Inspired by the author's own experience and with a movie already optioned Bluestreak is 2020's blockbuster! A tour Dr Force. The plans were, however, impeded by the discovery of “bones and belt buckles,” all those “fractures and cratered skulls, the rib cages riddled with buckshot” and other residue of boys who died at the hands of sadists, sexual predators and others who ran the school for their private fun and profit. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2020.