Join us for West Branch's monthly book dis cussion group! We read a variety of contemporary fiction and non-fiction a nd meet once a month for a thought-provoking conversation.
\nPlease register for in-person\, as seating is limited. \;Contact discussion f acilitator Dani Linn at \;dtlinn@aurorapubliclibrary.org \;for more information or for a Zoom link to join us virtually if you're new to the group.
\nAsk at the West Branch Circulation Desk for print copies\; your copy will be on the hold shelf if you're registered.
\nThe Nickel Boys&n bsp\;by Colson Whitehead
\nIn thi
s Pulitzer Prize-winning \;follow-up to \;The Underground Railroad
\, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American hist
ory through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform s
chool in Jim Crow-era Florida.
\;
When El
wood Curtis\, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee\, is unfairly se
ntenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy\, he finds him
self trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood&rsquo\;s only salva
tion is his friendship with fellow &ldquo\;delinquent&rdquo\; Turner\, whi
ch deepens despite Turner&rsquo\;s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly na
ive\, that the world is crooked\, and that the only way to survive is to s
cheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous
\, the tension between Elwood&rsquo\;s ideals and Turner&rsquo\;s skeptici
sm leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.
\;
Based on the real story of a reform schoo
l that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of childre
n\, \;The Nickel Boys \;is a devastating\, driven narrative that s
howcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers and
&ldquo\;should further cement Whitehead as one of his generation's best"&
nbsp\;(Entertainment Weekly).