Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

48 reviews

thrillofthepage's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Confinement, Racial slurs, Rape, Slavery, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, Torture, and Violence

jaynemdingle's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual violence, and Violence

hughesie's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Confinement

Moderate: Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Racial slurs, Torture, Bullying, Rape, Death of parent, Violence, Death, Grief, Hate crime, and Pedophilia

Minor: Antisemitism, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, and Sexual assault

heartfelthullabaloo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

It was good but I’m glad it’s over. I was on pins and needles the whole time bracing for something terrible to happen and I’m glad that the author didn’t choose to be more explicit in her descriptions. Unlike any magical realism I’ve read, that aspect did lend an intriguing hand to the storyline. I have heard nothing but glowing recommendations of this book and that was the only thing that gave me the courage to read it after reading the description. Anyone who says we haven’t come far from times like these is crazy. I feel extremely blessed to live in this day and age.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Rape, Domestic abuse, and Pedophilia

gwenswoons's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Whew. This was an agonizing, devastating, painful read. But the storytelling and the world-building is unlike anything I’ve ever read, I think. My Dad has been obsessed with Tananarive Due for the last several months - reading absolutely every word she’s written - and I read this since it was the first one he read and started telling me about a while ago. It’s astonishing by every measure: gorgeous writing, unflinchingly  in the telling of history, a vivid point of view all the time. Every possible content warning for this - it is a novel about the Jim Crow south, and the violence and terror permeates every moment. If you have the mental space and the fortitude, it is profoundly worth reading. I listened on audio (truly excellent narration by Joniece Abbott-Pratt), and I had to take big breaks and listen to/read lighter stuff - it’s scary and deeply heavy. I kept thinking it was like if Stephen King (à la The Institute, in the most possible parallel to me) seriously knew how to write (literary fiction), had a real reason for telling the story he was telling, was actually able to inhabit other perspectives. This story is loosely based on/inspired by part of Due’s family history, which includes an uncle who was killed at a similar (real/not fictional) institution in Jim Crow Florida. Anyway - I am grateful to have finished this - emotionally wrecked - but will be thinking about it for a long time and hope you will take the time to read this novel or other works of Tananarive Due’s.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, Gun violence, Body horror, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Slavery, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Blood, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Child abuse, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Body shaming, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Abandonment, Bullying, Cancer, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Trafficking, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Classism, and Death

delilahblues's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award this year and I definitely see why. This is not my first experience with Due, so it wasn’t surprising for this book to be so good. I love the writing style as well as the story itself.
The story is about a young man who is sent to a boys school for a minor crime. Once there, he begins to see ghosts and finds out about the dark history of the school. It is a duel perspective book with most of the story told between the young boy and his older sister who is willing to do whatever it takes to rescue her brother. 
I’m not typically a fan of multiple perspectives in books bc they can often be disjointed, but Due’s writing style makes it easier to follow. 
All in all, I cannot recommend this book (or really *any* of her books) enough. This book is hyped for a reason. Be sure to check trigger warnings before diving in though! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Torture, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Violence, Confinement, Grief, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Racism

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Damn

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Violence, Racism, Physical abuse, Bullying, Confinement, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Murder, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Rape

brittonmc1221's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Racism, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Torture, Murder, Death, Child abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

thehmkane's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A very good and important book. While I enjoyed Due's prose, I felt like the pacing took much of the urgency out of the story - the climax moves at a good clip, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Confinement, Genocide, Abandonment, Bullying, Torture, Hate crime, Gore, Racism, Animal death, Classism, Death of parent, Blood, Terminal illness, Grief, Police brutality, Child abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Trafficking, Medical content, Rape, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Pedophilia

disguisedposer's review

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I thought this book was a horror story, and it was, but not because of the ghosts in it. It's a truly horrible story of the treatment of Black boys incarcerated at a reform school in the American south in the 1950s. It is fiction, but sounded all too real. I did a mix of reading and listening. It was beautifully written, and I absolutely adored the narrator of the audiobook even though I usually detest audiobooks. This is one that's going to stick with me for quite some time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gun violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Violence, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts