Y’all. I absolutely get it now. This book blew my mind.
I thought I knew mostly what I was getting into, having some surface level knowledge of the unforgivable travesty of the real life Dozier School. The Nickel Boys is Whitehead’s fictional take on the life of one student and his, all too common, incarceration for no reason other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time while Black.
The story unfolds in the way I thought it would, given history and Jim Crow laws, and I put the book down to take quite a few breaks. But I’d pick it back up quickly, as I was so invested in Elwood and the other students with such vibrant personalities.
And. The. Ending. Of course I won’t spoil it, but a perfectly executed and emotionally resonant ending MAKES a book for me. Whitehead’s writing knocked my socks off. Perfectly illustrating that you don’t need flowery prose to create something so emotionally resonant. The use of a simple phrase like “this...or that” employed in different contexts throughout the novel echoes with meaning. Just.... All the stars. If you’ve been stalling on this one, hop to it.
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