Welcome to the GSS Student Congress Blog! Our very first post will be a #MustRead, part of our Book Recommendation series.
Colson Whitehead's 'The Nickel Boys' is a riveting account of heart-wrenching racism and discrimination. This Pulitzer Prize-winner will leave you wondering how anything like the events described could have ever really happened.
I personally found the story so enthralling, and uncomfortable, that I immediately set out to buy more books like this. It had me inspired to make a change and work harder towards achieving equality and social justice.
The blurb as it reads on Amazon:
"When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood’s ideals and Turner’s skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.
Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers and “should further cement Whitehead as one of his generation's best" (Entertainment Weekly)."
If you like this book, I would also recommend: 'The Fires This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race' by Jesmyn Ward
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