CBR11Bingo: Own Voices
Earlier this year I reviewed Colson Whitehead’s novel The Underground Railroad, which won a ton of literary prizes. I found Whitehead’s use of magical realism odd and a little off-putting. It wasn’t embedded into the story and thus felt unnecessary. In my opinion it detracted from the novel’s story, which felt like a shame.
The Nickel Boys is radically different, though Whitehead again chooses a weighty topic as his subject matter. In spare and unassuming prose Whitehead relates the story of Elwood Curtis, railroaded by a corrupt system at a young age, Elwood is sent to rot at a horrific reform school named Nickel. In the segregated school all the children are mistreated, but the black children have it far worse. The funds provided by the state are misappropriated, the food and provisions sold on the black market, the children beaten for the slightest transgression and more horrifically abused whenever the staff feel their rule threatened.
Elwood is a bright boy with ambitions of going to college and joining the civil rights movement before he gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. With the help of a few friends Elwood learns the ropes of the hellish society inside the reform school, but though he tries his best to keep his head down and get by circumstances get in his way.
Although Elwood’s story comes to an interesting conclusion, overall the plot is a bit lacking. For one thing, the book is extremely short. For another, the novel is short on incident. With the exception of one or two memorable set pieces, the events of the story are related in a matter-of-fact, dry way that robs them of their power. Similarly, the characters are not given the space they need to become vivid and memorable.
The Nickel Boys is based on real events at a real school. It is good that Whitehead is bringing attention to a part of history that many people would rather forget about, but in a novel real events aren’t a substitute for a well-developed story.