The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead

 Whitehead's The Underground Railroad didn't quite convince me in the style of narration he adopted. .

However, the concise "Nickel boys", doesn't make the reader sense an ounce of exaggeration, in the detail. The ideology, the innocence, and the will to believe, of a day when justice will prevail - that of   a  young boy who was inspired by Dr. King, is written in such a manner that it cannot help but move the reader.  

A description that  hit me was how,  Elwood supported those  who completed the 23 mile marathon last, and the implicit thinking behind it.

    "It was easy to root for the winners. No, he liked the punch-drunk ones, half walking at mile twenty-three, tongues flapping like Labradors. Tumbling across the finish line by hook or by crook, feet pounded to bloody meat in their Nikes. The laggards and limpers who weren’t running the course but running deep into their character—down into the cave to return to the light with what they found."

Upon completion of the book, it becomes clear that the post-Nickel life of "Elwood", where he wanted to scrape a life from the broken remains, makes sense of this show of support. However at the time of reading this passage, I took it to mean that Elwood had settled for a less ambitious life, academically - given his early ambitions were denied him.  At the time of reading, Elwood's completion of GED through night school, first had me comparing his modest educational achievement, with his respect for these marathon contestants who finished last - modest achievements for those who were denied their ambitions of their youth, through cruel circumstances. While it did trouble me as to why Elwood stopped with GED, Whitehead's later "twist" in narration, explained it. Because, for "Elwood", GED was as closest he could aspire for, to pay tribute to is late friend's academic ambitions.

  The hopes that Elwood held, despite common sense which tried to warn him against it, is best captured here, I felt.

    “The world continued to instruct: Do not love for they will disappear, do not trust for you will be betrayed, do not stand up for you will be swatted down. Still he heard those higher imperatives: Love and that love will be returned, trust in the righteous path and it will lead you to deliverance, fight and things will change. He never listened, never saw what was plainly in front of him, and now he had been plucked from the world altogether."

        Altogether, this is a book that will stay in the reader's mind for a long time. The concise length, the precise detail, and the sense of conviction that Whitehead's narration brings, make this one of the best novels of recent times, which leaves the reader mulling over the character of Elwood Curtis - the real Elwood, and his friend who paid tribute to his memory.

 Rating: ****1/2
 Pulitzer Award for Fiction - 2020