The Nickel Boys

“The Nickel Boys” is at once the thematic successor to Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer-winning “The Underground Railroad” and so stylistically different, it’s hard to imagine the two novels came from the same author. Based on the real-world discovery of a mass grave at a boys’ reformatory academy in Florida, “The Nickel Boys” explores the brutality of a “school” where abuse is rampant. Given the gruesome topic, Whitehead’s restraint is astonishing; his economy of words and imagery make the snippets of overt racism all the more potent.