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hrrreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
viridis's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? No
5.0
This book is so. Worth it. Yeah, it's uncomfortable, it's sad and brutal and you'll want to stop reading. I had to take breaks because it was just too heavy at times and it could make my whole day feel depressing. But at the same time this was inspired by real events, real people and things like these do happen and in a sense it was me pushing myself to finish it, to get through this really raw book. Now to the wirting itself, it's very good, it makes you keep reading. Because of the nature of this book there aren't really weak spots, except maybe for Gloria's POVs but even those had a message in them. I'm really glad I finished the book and learned more about history, since we don't really learn a lot of this in schools (at least not European schools).
booknorikop's review
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? It's complicated
5.0
courtlane's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
mari2880's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
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? Yes
5.0
Absolutely loved this one! Tananarive amazingly crafted this story and I felt myself get completely sucked in. I like that this burned sort of slowly but not too slow that you lose interest. Her detailed scenes warranted the extra add-ins & it helped me connect better with the story overall. I truly just fell in love with her writing and I would absolutely read something from Tananarive again. Though it’s fiction, her use of near-true events, characters and settings was even a bit informational and made me interested to learn more about reform schools.
torturedreadersdept's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual assault, Bullying, Cancer, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Hate crime, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Gaslighting, Sexism, Vomit, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Rape
gladiolus17's review
Really not feeling it. There’s a lot of telling and not showing, which is hindering my experience.
inhale_exhale_read's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This was an emotional and powerful social horror novel about a young Black boy in 1950s Florida who is sentenced to a reform school for 6 months. The school is based on the real life Dozier School for Boys, where the author's great-uncle was sentenced and died at 15 years old in 1937. The real life school had a well-known reputation for sadistic and brutal treatment of its young students, including beatings, rape, torture, and murder by school staff. Despite this, the school was open and operating until 2011. The author took her great-uncle's experience and turned it into a ghost story, in the hopes that readers would engage with that and also think about the flaws in our current criminal justice system. This book was incredible and really hard to read at times! I read a lot of dark books, but these characters felt so real and the scenes so vivid - it was absolutely heartbreaking. I think the last time I felt that kind of punch to the gut from a book was with A Little Life and, like with that book, I'm really glad I read this.