2022: Another heavy novel with a devastating twist at the end

As I continue to work my way through Whitehead's oeuvre, this book definitely rates towards the top (and apparently the rest of the Goodreads community agrees with me too). I liked it a lot more than I liked [b:The Intuitionist|16271|The Intuitionist|Colson Whitehead|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1550850779l/16271._SY75_.jpg|1632284] and it certainly had a better moving plot than [b:Sag Harbor|4428988|Sag Harbor|Colson Whitehead|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320549651l/4428988._SY75_.jpg|4477156]. And it's unsurprising, considering that this book is what made Whitehead one of only four people to ever win more than one Pulitzer Prize. *mind blown*

In the wake of recently reading [b:All My Rage|57899793|All My Rage|Sabaa Tahir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1629908086l/57899793._SY75_.jpg|90708139], it was hard to read another coming of age story in which the characters had their childhoods destroyed by trauma. The fact that this novel was based on a real life story of a "reform" school for boys that had SO MANY atrocities committed against them is also devastating. The main character, Elwood, struggles with listening to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's words and advice of loving your enemy, while he is literally being beaten and raped by people who are supposed to be taking care of him. It's heartbreaking and unfortunately much less surprising than it should be.