Colson Whitehead

A couple years ago I had never heard of Colson Whitehead; now I've read five of his books. One wasn't great, three were real good, but none of them can hold a candle to The Nickel Boys. We're with the protagonist, Elwood, while living with his grandmother in Tallahassee in the '60s. He's a super smart kid, despite being Black in Florida in the '60s, works full time, is dipping his toes into the civil rights movement, and is preparing to take college courses while still in high school. Then, show more through the racism and shitty luck, he gets sent away to a jail/school for minors. Most of the book flashes between his time in this horrific institution and Elwood in the future in NYC. If you don't fall in love with this dude, you're out of your mind. If your heart is broken by so many of his experiences, and the experiences of those around him, you're made of stone.

Part of my fondness for this book might be because I was locked up in a similar place when I was around his age, and it has stayed with me in the 26 years since I got out. Though the place Elwood gets send to is much more physically violent, a lot of the mental and emotional torture is the same and many of his mates in their suffer the same fate as those I was with.

Anyway, get this book and read it. I promise you won't regret it. show less

Ray Carney owns a furniture store in Harlem, occasionally supplementing his income by dealing in stolen goods. Some of these capers were the subject of Colson Whitehead’s previous novel, Harlem Shuffle. Following those events, Carney retired from the stolen goods trade; when Crook Manifesto opens in the 1970s, Carney has spent four years building the furniture business into a local success story. But when his daughter begs for tickets to see the Jackson 5 in Madison Square Garden, Carney show more sees only one way to make that happen.

As Carney reconnects with some of his old cronies, readers are reunited with colorful characters from Carney’s past, and taken on a wild ride through various illicit and illegal dealings. Like Harlem Shuffle, the story is told in three parts, each set a few years apart. While Carney is the thread tying it all together, in Crook Manifesto other key figures are given center stage. We see more of Carney’s wife Elizabeth, who has a career of her own and is largely unaware of Carney’s side hustle. And then there’s Pepper, who once worked for Carney’s father, and can be counted on when muscle is most needed.

At first glance, Crook Manifesto appears to be a novel about alliances, betrayals, and car chases, But Colson Whitehead uses these stories to demonstrate the challenges Harlem residents face every single day. People are just trying to get by, but are often held back by poor living conditions, low educational attainment, and limited job prospects. The city fails them at nearly every opportunity, as both government and law enforcement are seduced by corruption that lines their pockets. Occasionally these individuals pay a price for their misdeeds, but there’s always someone right behind them to keep the system running. show less

Young Elwood grows up in the Black Frenchtown neighborhood living with his grandmother, working hard and planning on going to college. But all of that gets derailed when he is simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he's sent to a reform school. The "school" is little more than a way for those in power to abuse it, and Elwood and the others dream of leaving.

This short book packs a powerful punch, not least because the Nickel School is based on a real school - the Dozier School - show more where unmarked graves were found after it was closed for good. In the 1960s, the dorms are segregated, so we get Elwood and his friends, as well as Jaimie, the Mexican boy who doesn't really fit in either dorm. Elwood's idealism is tested as he copes with terrible circumstances. An omniscient narrator includes both flashbacks of the school's history and a future of a man from the school now living in New York. Intense and powerful, this is masterfully done. show less

Read for my Survey in Post-Colonial Literature class at CU Boulder.

An incredible glimpse into a part of history I have heard too little about in my 37 years of life. Whitehead makes readers feel every step of Cora's journey from slavery to freedom - we are spared no hardship, no small detail - and I think that's the point. We've all heard of the Underground Railroad; we've probably read a book or two about the subject in our literature classes - but the romanticized version we carry in our show more heads and history books doesn't remotely capture the horror that Whitehead re-imagines... This book gives us a glimpse and a lot to think about.

I highly recommend this read!

****

Upon a second read, I feel compelled to add a note about craft - there is something incredible about the way Whitehead has taken a "figure of speech" and turned it into a living, breathing, visceral thing in this novel. I wonder what it says about contemporary society that we are so deeply moved by fiction and so little affected by actual history? That Whitehead could tap into such a disparity is the mark of a genius, in my book.

This novel should become a mandatory part of secondary curriculum! show less