Academy of Broken Dreams

In Tallahassee, Florida, high school student Elwood Curtis is inspired by Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights marches. As a young African American he is acutely aware of racism and his limited opportunities, but he remains optimistic that the civil rights movement will bring about vital change. Elwood is intelligent and his high school curriculum is far beneath him. A teacher sees his potential and helps him secure a spot at a local college. But before he can start, a wrong turn finds Elwood charged with a crime and sent to the Nickel Academy, a reform school.

The Nickel Academy is a terrible place where the boys are subject to hard labour and are brutalised with physical and sexual violence. Segregated by race, the white boys receive better treatment. Here Elwood befriends Jack Turner, who is the cynic to Elwood's optimist. Turner has street-smarts and is determined to survive Nickel, while Elwood has misplaced faith in systems that are supposed to protect children. The longer he stays at Nickel, the more he sees that the system is corrupt and unwritten rules are subject to change. When it becomes apparent that Elwood's life is endangered by staying at Nickel, the boys attempt to escape. 

Told on two time horizons, the chapters switch between 1960s Florida and Elwood's time at Nickel, to 2010s  in New York City where Elwood is trying to live the best life he can, still haunted by his childhood trauma. The portrayals of these characters - particularly Elwood and Turner - is so compelling, the reader cannot help but be invested in their future and rooting for their success. 

Nickel Academy was inspired by the Arthur G Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida. This notorious reform school was the subject of multiple investigations and inquiries before it was closed in 2011. At Dozier, at least 80 boys had died from the brutal beatings, their unmarked graves discovered by anthropologists in 2012. Reading about Dozier, I am appalled at how authorities turned a blind eye for so long. 

The subject matter in this novel is confronting but essential reading. Whitehead handles these dark issues with crisp, beautiful prose. The depictions of violence need to shock as the physical violence against these children leaves to deep rooted scars that last a lifetime. The heartbreaking portrayal of entrenched racism reveal how little progress has been made since the 1960s. While reading The Nickel Boys, I often thought of Percival Everett's brilliant satire The Trees (2021) and the tragic outcomes for Emmett Till and Elwood Curtis.

Unsurprisingly, Whitehead won the Pulitzer Prize for this novel. It is so well crafted, challenging readers to understand that this racism and injustice is not in the past, it is very much present. 

The Nickel Boys is definitely a contender to be one of my favourite books read this year.

I met Colson Whitehead at the Sydney Writers' Festival last month and he signed a stack of books for me, including The Nickel Boys.