Nickel Boys Is an Audacious Experiment
“No one believed them until someone else said it.” Readers encounter this sentiment early in The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead’s award-winning 2019 novel, not long after the unearthing of a bloody bit of history. A secret graveyard has been discovered on the grounds of a decaying former reform school—the Nickel of the book’s title—that had been earmarked for transformation into a corporate office park.