I always find it interesting when an author's style can have a different impact on you over different books. When I read The Underground Railroad a couple of years ago, I wasn't a huge fan of Whitehead's sparse style, but with The Nickel Boys that same no-nonsense style blew me away. I don't know if it's my own tastes that have changed or what, but whatever it is, this book works perfectly. Flowery, fussy language would be out of place for describing a place as brutal as Nickel Academy and the events that transpired there. Whitehead's prose here forces you to look directly at the brutalities and injustices that unfold.

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It's the 1960s in Tallahassee and Elwood Curtis is getting ready to go off to college, until hitching a ride in the wrong car gets him unjustly sentenced to time at The Nickel Academy. It's based on a real reform school which operated for over 100 years in Florida, subjecting the boys imprisoned there to countless acts of abuse. Elwood becomes a victim of this abuse himself after his wrongful conviction. While there, he befriends Turner who tries to help Elwood survive the academy. A deep bond is forged between the two boys, despite Turner believing Elwood to be hopelessly naive and idealistic. Whitehead really hammers home just how fucked up the American justice system is, designed to keep Black boys down.

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There are scenes from this book that will be forever seared into my brain. The boxing match. The white house. And that ending! I read this with a cold and had to reread a few pages a second time to be sure of what I was reading. Whitehead uses a non-linear timeline to great effect, displaying incredible control over the narrative, before delivering that ending which I did not stop thinking about for weeks.

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It didn't win the Pulitzer Prize for nothing, so make sure you grab a copy of this one if you haven't already.