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Join us at Blackstone (503 Westbury Dr., Iowa City) to discuss The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.*Additional copies of each months read available for checkout in the library.
Contact Kellee at the library with questions.
About the book:
When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood’s ideals and Turner’s skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.
Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers and “should further cement Whitehead as one of his generation's best" (Entertainment Weekly).
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Blackstone Restaurant, 503 Westbury Dr, Ste 1,Iowa City,IA,United States
