There’s something undeniably special about stories that are easy to digest yet still so emotionally powerful. I’ll be the first to advocate for the legitimacy of reading any book, no matter how “silly” or “simple” it might seem compared to others. However, I find that nuanced books that challenge us to think deeper and see the world differently often go unnoticed, confined by the narrow box that BookTok has created. While I love how the platform has inspired so many people, including myself, to become frequent readers, I think it’s time for it to evolve. Why are most of the recommended books filled with predictable tropes? Don’t get me wrong; those books can be excellent and heart-wrenching in their own right, but they rarely push us to face uncomfortable truths about the world around us.
Of course, there are creators on the app advocating for these kinds of books, but as my book choice this week shows, they’re still far too few– case in point: Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys.
The first videos I scrolled through were ads for the 2024 movie adaptation. I also found some videos discussing the book’s overall plot. However, none of the videos I saw truly offered a critical review of the book. Why is no one talking about the depiction of the reform school that inspired the book? Should Whitehead have included more graphic depictions of the real-life atrocities that happened? I may not have fully made up my mind about these questions, but they should, at the very least, be raised.
Why isn’t a book like The Nickel Boys—which follows Elwood Curtis, a young Black man in 1960s Florida who is unjustly sent to the reform school Nickel Academy (inspired by the real-life Dozier School for Boys), where he endures abuse that demonstrates the devastating impacts of institutional racism on Black youth and the scars it leaves—at the forefront of BookTok conversations? Why does it feel like it won’t be anytime soon?
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not asking BookTok to abandon the trope-filled love or fantasy stories that make the platform so fun. Still, there should be more space for books that challenge us. Stories like The Nickel Boys remind us of the power literature has to not only entertain but also inform.
I urge everyone—not just avid readers—to pick up this book. Sit with its truths, and confront the reality that while it is fiction, it deeply reflects this country’s history and, unsettlingly, its present. Let it challenge you. Let it make you uncomfortable. Finally, consider the questions it forces us to ask about who we are and the systems we perpetuate.