Listen free for 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) cover art

The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

Written by: Colson Whitehead
Narrated by: JD Jackson, Colson Whitehead
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $30.70

Buy Now for $30.70

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER NATIONAL BESTSELLER • This follow-up to The Underground Railroad brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. • "One of the most gifted novelists in America today." —NPR

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).

Look for Colson Whitehead’s new novel, Crook Manifesto, coming soon!

©2019 Colson Whitehead (P)2019 Random House Audio

What the critics say

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION • New York Times Bestseller • Longlisted for The National Book Award • Winner of The Kirkus Prize • Winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction • One of Publishers Weekly's 10 Best Books of the Year

"A necessary read." —President Barack Obama

"This is a powerful book by one of America's great writers. . . . Without sentimentality, in as intense and finely crafted a book as you'll ever read, Whitehead tells a story of American history that won’t allow you to see the country in the same way again." —Toronto Star

"Colson Whitehead continues to make a classic American genre his own. . . . The narration is disciplined and the sentences plain and sturdy, oars cutting into water. Every chapter hits its marks. . . . Whitehead comports himself with gravity and care, the steward of painful, suppressed histories; his choices on the page can feel as much ethical as aesthetic. The ordinary language, the clear pane of his prose, lets the stories speak for themselves. . . . Whitehead has written novels of horror and apocalypse; nothing touches the grimness of the real stories he conveys here" —The New York Times

Featured Article: Must-Listen Audiobooks by Outstanding Black Authors

It has taken too long, but the world is finally waking up to the incredible world of Black authors. Iconic names such as Octavia Butler, Zadie Smith, and Zora Neale Hurston have earned their spotlight onto the public sphere, while famous titles like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou) and Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison) have rightly made ground in top lists the world over. Initiatives such as Black History Month have dragged race issues onto the world stage, while the literary landscape is filled with upcoming Black authors such as Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give), Tomi Adeyemi (Legacy of Orisha), Yaa Gyasi (Homegoing) and more. There is no excuse not to dig into the best audiobooks by Black authors, starting with the 10 listed below. Happy listening!

What listeners say about The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    125
  • 4 Stars
    41
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    108
  • 4 Stars
    30
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    103
  • 4 Stars
    38
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Hard to love, even harder to forget

It's a struggle to figure out how to rate this book as it has left me feeling agitated and wretched...like my soul has been scraped raw. I keep thinking of my father who is of an age with the main character and how this could have been his story if not for the happenstance of birthplace and nationality. Keep thinking of how my father wished to go to America when he was a young man and was frustrated when he could not. Keep thinking that my kind, hard-working, selfless , "do-the-right-thing" father would have been caught up in this mindless hostility and brutal violence. How do I rate a book that makes me feel so hopelessly sad? Like I'm tumbling down and down and down? 5 stars means that "I loved it" according to Audible's rating scale but I cannot like nor love this story. The history it unearths is too brutal and if I could, I would hide from it. On the other end, 1 star means "it's not for me" but it IS for me. And it's for you. It's for all of us. So what's the final word?....4 stars overall due to the dull-toned narrator. Read it. You may not love it but you will not forget it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Must Read

The story is a horrific one, but told in such a way as not to insult the reader. The violence and brutality suggested and not gratuitous. It's all that is needed, we the reader get the messages loud and clear. Bravo to Colson Whitehead for this thoughtfully told story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing!

I sat and listen to the whole book straight. I have never "binge" an audio book until now. it is a heavy book. It is well written, based off real events from a reform school, he brings us right there in the school. Heavy, hard at some points to take in the events that happened but well worth getting this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Well written, but a very boring story

The story had potential to be so much more interesting. There wasn’t a lot of depth to it or the characters. The writing was incredible. Disappointing read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very important read

This is a very important read for our humanity
These stories need to be told again and again

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

How timely…

At a time when the bodies of indigenous children, victims of residential schools, are being unearthed in Canada, The Nickle Boys brilliantly records the abuse suffered at the hands of those whose job it is erase those who dare to be different. Racism, Intolerance and abuse continues. Wonderfully written and narrated.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Affecting and riveting

Affecting and riveting. The all-encompassing, pervasive and ongoing harm caused by the reform industrial complex laid bare for the reader. Heart-wrenching.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Story

I Went through the whole book in one listen. Great narration. Would Recommend to anyone.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Heartbreaking and beautiful story of resilience beautifully narrated

What a story, so heartbreaking but at the same time shows the resilience of the oppressed on the south. Beautifully narrated.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!