Cherry (novel)


Cherry is a 2018 debut novel by American author Nico Walker. It concerns an unnamed narrator's time in college, as a soldier during the War in Iraq, and life as a drug addict and bank robber after returning from the war during the midst of the American opioid epidemic. It was published by Alfred A. Knopf on August 14, 2018.

Plot summary

A young man drops out of college and enlists in the United States Army. He comes home in a poor state, becomes addicted to opioids, and starts robbing banks.

Development

Writing

Walker has been in a federal prison in Ashland, Kentucky, for bank robbery since 2013, and wrote the book on a typewriter over the course of several years. He is scheduled to be released in November 2020.

Cover

Janet Hansen, a designer at Alfred Knopf, created the book cover, which features a skull. Walker’s literary agent dismissed an earlier version as it " like it should be sold in Hot Topic".

Reception

The book was published to positive reviews and "near-universal praise" as per the review aggregator website Book Marks and Vulture.com, respectively. Book Marks reported that 54% of critics gave the book a "rave" review, whilst 31% of the critics expressed "positive" impressions, based on a sample of 13 reviews.
Cherry debuted at number 14 on The New York Times bestseller list.

Film adaptation

Due to Walker’s imprisonment, his consideration of offers to adapt the book into a film took longer than usual when he exhausted his allotted phone time. Days after the book's publication, the rights were acquired for $1 million by Joe and Anthony Russo's studio AGBO, with the brothers planning to direct and produce, and the script to be written by Jessica Goldberg. In March 2019, it was confirmed that Tom Holland will take on the lead role. Filming began in October 2019. Netflix is in early talks to distribute the film. Ciara Bravo, Bill Skarsgård, Jack Reynor, Jeff Wahlberg, Kyle Harvey, Forrest Goodluck and Michael Gandolfini were added in October. Filming wrapped on January 20, 2020.