March Book Club - The Nickel Boys

[aurora]

My hold came up on Sunday and I just finished. Anyone want to discuss?

[aurora]

Although well-written, I feel like the timing wasn't ideal for this book club discussion. I have a lot of anxiety over COVID-19 and everything that's happening with work, so it was difficult for me to focus. I think choosing the audiobook was also a poor choice for me since it is easier to let my mind drift, and I definitely got confused a few times about jumping back and forth in time.

All of that said, my heart really goes out to all those boys and their families who endured the real school on which the book was based. We have really f-ed up as a country. And it was in operation for over 100 years!

[aurora]

Here are some discussion questions that you can consider:


1. In the prologue, the narrator observes that after the truth about Nickel Academy comes out, “even the most innocent scene – a mess hall or the football field – came out sinister, no photographic trickery necessary.” Can you think of a time in your life when discovering the history of a place (a particular building, a statue, a historical landmark, etc.) dramatically changed your perception of it?
2. Elwood says that both he and Yolanda King “woke to the world,” or discovered racism, at six years old. How old were you when you became aware of racism and inequality? How do you think this experience is different for different people?
3. While in the infirmary, Elwood reads a pamphlet about Nickel that details the contributions the school has made to the community, including bricks from the brick-making machine “propping up buildings all over Jackson County.” What do you think of the ways that the wider community seemed to benefit from labor performed by Nickel students? Do you see any historical or modern-day parallels to this symbiotic relationship?
4. One student, Jaimie, is half-Mexican and constantly shuffled between the “white” and “colored” sections of Nickel Academy. Why do you think the author included a character with Jaimie’s ethnic identity in this story?
5. One of Elwood’s takeaways from Dr. King’s speeches is the importance of maintaining one’s dignity in the face of oppression. Is Elwood’s decision to escape (and risk the consequences of capture) rooted in the realization that he can no longer maintain his dignity in a place like Nickel?
6. At one point, the narrator writes that “laughter knocked out a few bricks from the wall of segregation, so tall and so wide.” Does humor truly lighten the burden for the boys? Or is it merely one of the very few things that can’t be taken away from them?
7. Who do you think was the true “villain” of the story? The teachers? The school itself? Something or someone else?

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/223161/the-nickel-boys-by-colson-whitehead/9780385537070/readers-guide/

[travella]

I cannot really discuss the book and I couldn't accurately rate the book. Here is my review:

I had a lot of difficulty getting into this book. I keep going back and forth between "is it the book or is it the chaos of the world right now" that is making it difficult to concentrate on this book. I cannot think of a single day where I was completely tuned into the book. In fact, this book took me much longer to read than it should have because many days I would read a chapter or four and realize I had no idea what I had read and have to go back and read it over again just to get the gist.

Because of everything that's going on I don't feel like I can accurately rate this book.

[CrazyLucky]

I didn't make it through this book. I can't handle child abuse like that. I deal with it in my volunteer work (not that bad though) and this was just too much. We need some kind of light and fluffy hopeful book next month!

[wesleycrusher]

I read this at the end of last month, before all the COVID stuff got real.

I have read a lot of book where horrible things happen, and this was surprisingly hard for me- I guess because I knew what was coming and was dreading when it would happen.

[expectantsteelerfan]

I read this back in December, and I can't really remember much about it.
This was my review then:
To me, this was nothing new, but a poignant story on the horrors of a segregated boys school in the age of Martin Luther King. I thought the 1st and 2nd parts were really well done, but I wasn't happy with the 3rd part. I didn't have a problem with following the story to explore the repercussions of existing through a time in place like Nickel, but it just didn't resonate with me like the first two sections.

[ufcasey]

Thanks aurora! With everything going on I really thought the last Wed of the month was this week. Whoops!

Unfortunately I didn't read the book, I just couldn't make myself read about something that was terrible that happened in real life in Florida (where I live). Not with everything that's going on right now.

[rainbowchip]

I didn't like the writing at all. Like others have said, I couldn't connect with the book at all. It took me way longer to read than a 224 page book should have because I had to reread so much of it both because my mind would wander and because the way it was written (the voice) didn't connect to me. And the jumping around in timelines was a but confusing which added to the disjointedness.

I feel like this is a story that needs to be told but with the "twist" at the end, along with the other issues I mentioned above, I don't feel like it was given justice.