Ep 688 - The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead

Overdue

Headgum

Craig Getting, Arts, Books, Podcasts, Literature, Comedy, Andrew Cunningham

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer-winning novel The Nickel Boys tells a haunting story of two young men whose identities are forever changed by their experiences at a brutal institute for boys in 1960s Florida. It's not easy subject matter, but Whitehead's wonderfully economic prose keeps it engaging all the way to the downright surprising end.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a headgum podcast.
0:05.6	While Andrew and Craig believe the joy of discovery is crucial to enjoying any well-told tale,
0:11.3	they will not shy away from spoiling specific story beats when necessary.
0:16.2	Plus, these are books you should have read by now.
0:50.9	Music These are books you should been meaning to read. My name is Craig.
0:59.9	My name is Andrew. And it's the second month of the calendar year. Here we are once again in February. Busting into February. Busting in. With eyes wide open. It's still, with arms wide open.
1:07.0	Oh, not the band I expected you to reference in the opening here.
1:11.9	No, I'm zagging on you.
1:15.3	Oh, yes.
1:16.9	Where you thought I would zig.
1:18.2	It's still, it's winter, still, this is the doldrums of winter now.
1:24.4	Oh, he saw his, he saw a shadow today.
1:29.6	Whichever one means there's more winter.
1:31.0	There's more winter coming. Our famous Pennsylvania groundhog.
1:33.0	Punk satanee Phil has cursed us, has cursed these shadow lands with another six weeks of winter.
1:41.4	Won't no one end his reign of terror?
1:44.7	There ought to be a law about this, this unelected ground dog who we let control the weather.
1:50.8	Honestly, it's the unelected men wearing top hats who like drag him out of his hole every year.
1:56.1	They're the ones behind this.
1:58.6	Are there actually, is there actually a guy in a top hat or is that just in the movie Groundhog Day?
2:02.6	I'm Googling Groundhog.
2:04.2	Okay, because I thought maybe you were paying attention to the real ceremony.
	...

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