The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Realistic Fiction. Historically Based.

Read for English summer reading.

Rating: 4/5

Started: 28 July

Finished: 15 August

Summary: 

    Elwood Curtis is a Black boy growing up in the 1960s in Florida. After being wrongfully arrested, he is sent to the Nickel Academy, a boy's juvenile reformatory, as an alternative to jail. What Elwood finds at Nickel is a gruesome mix of negligence and punishment. Inspired by Martin Luther King and wanting to make a difference in his world, Elwood begins an attempt to shut down Nickel. Years later, Elwood hears about the unearthing of a mass grave at Nickel. His life is far separated from the school, but the trauma it gave him is not gone. 

Thoughts:

    This was almost non-fiction, but I honestly it. It was odd, very factual, but it was still super interesting. I was not expecting to like it in the least, since usually I run ass over teakettle away from NF, but it made me consider reading another of Whitehead's books, which is wild. There was a twist at the end that I was not expecting in the slightest, because of the genre, but it was kind of amazing. Definitely recommend. 

Words:

    Licentious  (adj) promiscuous and unprincipled in sexual matters

    Mechanistic (adj) relating to theories which explain phenomena in a purely physical or deterministic terms

    Pompadour (n) a hairstyle in which the hair is turned back off the forehead in a roll

    Stringent (adj) (of regulations, requirements, or conditions) strict, precise, and exacting

    Prophylactics (adj) intended to prevent distress

    Inalienable (adj) unable to be taken away from or given away by the possessor 

    Epithets (n) an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned

    Stymieing (v) prevent or hinder the progress of

    Avuncular (adj) relating to an uncle; kind and friendly toward a younger or less experienced person

    Lurid (adj) very vivid in color, especially so as to create an unpleasant or unnatural effect

    Recalcitrant (adj) having an obstinately uncooperative attitude toward authority or discipline.

    Malingering (v) exaggerate or feign illness in order to escape duty or work

    Nebulous (adj) in the form of a cloud or haze; hazy

    Bumptious (adj) self-assertive or proud to an irritating degree

    Hale (adj) (of a person, especially an elderly one) strong and healthy

    Rummy (adj) another term for rum

    Countervailing (adj) offsetting an effect by countering it with something of equal force

    Malapropisms (n) the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often with unintentionally amusing effect (e.g. flamingo instead of flamenco)

    Ducats (n) a gold coin formerly current in most European countries

    Palimpsest (n) a manuscript or piece of writing materials on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain

    Remit (v) cancel or refrain from exacting or inflicting (a debt or punishment) 

    Mulatto (n) a person of mixed black and white ancestry, especially with one black and one white parent (offensive; dated)

    Pedagogy (n) the method and practice of teaching, especially as the academic subject or theoretical concept (peh-dah-gah-dzhee 

    Scatological (adj) relating to or characterized by an interest in excrement and excretion

    Invective (n) insulting, abusive, or highly critical language

    Peonage (n) a Spanish-American day laborer or unskilled farm worker

    Agape (n) Christian love, especially as distinct from erotic love or emotional affection

    Reveille (n) a signal sounded especially on a buble or drum to wake personnel in the armed forces