The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

In 1960's Tallahassee, Florida, young men knew that if they fell afoul of the law they were headed to the Nickel Academy.  Set up to provide a residence and place for young men who didn't have homes or who broke the law, the original intent was quickly subverted and the institution became a hellhole where young males were subjected to horrible treatment.  Education was almost nonexistent as the residents were used as cheap labor, farming, running a print shop and doing odd jobs for well connected individuals in the neighboring towns.

This is the place Elwood Curtis finds himself in.  Curtis was a studious young man, interested in education and doing whatever he could to make life better for his grandmother and himself.  Instead, he finds himself swept up when he takes a ride from someone up to no good and before he knows it, he is at the Nickel Academy.

In addition to using the residents as labor, there were many other issues.  Food was cheap and poor, as the best food sent to the place was sold to bars and groceries in the neighboring towns.  Any boy could be disciplined and hit by any staff member and it was commonplace.  For those boys who offended more brazenly, staff would come in the night and take them to a shed where they were beaten until they required hospitalization.  Elwood finds himself in this category when he gets in a fight defending a younger boy.  The worst offenders against the men who ruled the place just disappeared never to be seen again until a secret graveyard was discovered during an investigation of the place.

Elwood makes some friends there like Turner who stays cool and reserved but who has plans to escape.  There is also Jose who is Hispanic so sent back and forth repeatedly between the white boy's barracks and the black barracks.  You needed friends to survive but you had to be very careful who you trusted.  Friendship was just another item that could be twisted to be used against you.

Colson Whitehead has written a novel that exposes the horrors of what occurred in such places.  It won the Pultizer Prize, the Kirkus Prize and is longlisted for the National Book Award.  It has been chosen as a best book of the year by multiple organizations such as Time, NPR, the Washington Post, Vox and others.  It takes the reader inside the lives of these young men and shows what occurs when someone is totally at the whim of those in power and when your life is valueless to them.  The book ends with a twist that is stunning and readers won't soon forget it.  This book is recommended to readers of literary fiction and those interested in reading about the experience of young black men and racism.