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peskydor's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
4.25
lonnahernandez's review
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
5.0
A fictionalized story based upon the Dozier School in Marianna, FL. May the horrors there (and other reform schools, as well as residential schools in Canada) never be forgotten, and may we continue to right the wrongs delivered to too many.
emaurer21's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
dcstrange19's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
mamthew42's review
4.0
I picked up Tananarive Due's The Reformatory on kind of a false assumption: for some reason, I'd gotten it into my head that the book was about a haunted eugenics facility. I've read several books dealing with that subject matter recently - including Elizabeth Catte's excellent Pure America: Eugenics and the Makings of Modern Virginia, and Kim Michele Richardson's The Book Woman's Daughter - so for some reason, I got it into my head that this novel was using horror to discuss that history. Instead, it discusses a different very real history - that of the Florida juvenile detention center, the Dozier School for Boys.
The Dozier School was a state-run home for orphaned and convicted boys that survivors have shared was essentially a live-in torture facility, in which its wards were regularly brutally beaten or worse. It was open for over a century before it was finally shut down in 2011. Since then, Archaeologists have been excavating the boys' graves at the behest of family members, including this book's author, Tananarive Due, who has a relative named Robert Stephens who was stabbed to death in the School in the 1930s. This book was her way of giving Robert a less tragic end.
I have difficulty getting through prison stories, and have ever since I didn't understand the fuss around Louis Sachar's Holes back in the day. There's a special brand of hopelessness in a narrative based on the premise that certain state-run facilities create a subculture among their wards of an inability to show weakness or compassion - especially because these stories only really work because we know that to be true. Even prison stories that aren't trying to be critical of the prison system end up reflecting a truth so bleak that we can't help but be critical anyway. The Reformatory takes this a step further: while it has many of the hallmarks of a prison story, much of its bleakness is derived from the justice system outside of the School's walls.
Robbie is a Black child living in Jim Crow rural Florida, and the son of a labor organizer on the run from the Klan. His being sent to the Reformatory at all is an obvious miscarriage of justice done in part to flush out his father, and while he tries to survive in the haunted School, his sister Gloria is still on the outside, working to amass the allies needed to get him out of there. We watch her seeking help from social workers, NAACP lawyers, judges, Black community members, and white community outcasts to liberate her brother, and Due does a great job laying out the enormity of the task of trying to find justice in 1950s Florida. Due says in the author's note that her father was a Civil Rights lawyer, and that he worked with her to make sure the scenes featuring white law enforcement and judges were as accurate as possible. She really does paint an involving picture of just how impossible the odds were against these oppressive systemic forces, as I often had to put the book down for the rest of the day whenever Gloria hit a setback.
The novel is also a ghost story, though I wouldn't say that the supernatural element is what makes it horror. It uses old haint folklore to great effect, but the haints aren't really malignant. Rather, the horror comes from the concrete, real-world evil that gave these dead people - mostly children - unfinished business tying them to the reformatory to begin with. Ghosts aren't going to be hurting Robbie, but there's a very real danger throughout that he might say or do the wrong thing and end up like them. Gloria also has supernatural abilities, offering her limited glances into the futures of those around her, and the novel's dual perspectives of the oppression of the past and the struggles of the future do so much to place the 1950s setting in a larger historical context.
This is a great book that I had a lot of difficulty reading, but I pushed through because it really is so great. It's definitely worth picking up.
The Dozier School was a state-run home for orphaned and convicted boys that survivors have shared was essentially a live-in torture facility, in which its wards were regularly brutally beaten or worse. It was open for over a century before it was finally shut down in 2011. Since then, Archaeologists have been excavating the boys' graves at the behest of family members, including this book's author, Tananarive Due, who has a relative named Robert Stephens who was stabbed to death in the School in the 1930s. This book was her way of giving Robert a less tragic end.
I have difficulty getting through prison stories, and have ever since I didn't understand the fuss around Louis Sachar's Holes back in the day. There's a special brand of hopelessness in a narrative based on the premise that certain state-run facilities create a subculture among their wards of an inability to show weakness or compassion - especially because these stories only really work because we know that to be true. Even prison stories that aren't trying to be critical of the prison system end up reflecting a truth so bleak that we can't help but be critical anyway. The Reformatory takes this a step further: while it has many of the hallmarks of a prison story, much of its bleakness is derived from the justice system outside of the School's walls.
Robbie is a Black child living in Jim Crow rural Florida, and the son of a labor organizer on the run from the Klan. His being sent to the Reformatory at all is an obvious miscarriage of justice done in part to flush out his father, and while he tries to survive in the haunted School, his sister Gloria is still on the outside, working to amass the allies needed to get him out of there. We watch her seeking help from social workers, NAACP lawyers, judges, Black community members, and white community outcasts to liberate her brother, and Due does a great job laying out the enormity of the task of trying to find justice in 1950s Florida. Due says in the author's note that her father was a Civil Rights lawyer, and that he worked with her to make sure the scenes featuring white law enforcement and judges were as accurate as possible. She really does paint an involving picture of just how impossible the odds were against these oppressive systemic forces, as I often had to put the book down for the rest of the day whenever Gloria hit a setback.
The novel is also a ghost story, though I wouldn't say that the supernatural element is what makes it horror. It uses old haint folklore to great effect, but the haints aren't really malignant. Rather, the horror comes from the concrete, real-world evil that gave these dead people - mostly children - unfinished business tying them to the reformatory to begin with. Ghosts aren't going to be hurting Robbie, but there's a very real danger throughout that he might say or do the wrong thing and end up like them. Gloria also has supernatural abilities, offering her limited glances into the futures of those around her, and the novel's dual perspectives of the oppression of the past and the struggles of the future do so much to place the 1950s setting in a larger historical context.
This is a great book that I had a lot of difficulty reading, but I pushed through because it really is so great. It's definitely worth picking up.
mrspiel84's review
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
narbine's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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? It's complicated
4.5
Loved this
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Child abuse, Death, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Child death, Deadnaming, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Abandonment, Police brutality, Pedophilia, and Bullying
Minor: Animal cruelty, Grief, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Vomit, Cancer, Medical content, and Pregnancy
mish01's review against another edition
dark
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
4.25
cderry's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
jgverrero's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
4.0
"They treat you like you aren't from the same God as them, like they are the devil."
I prioritized this after the author, Monika Kim, said she really enjoyed it. To horror fans, this is a not-so-scary read. It's more tenseful. It is a beautifully haunting and immersive read. It's entirely worth the investment of time it'll take to read. I think my only critique is the pacing. There are some parts that entirely engage you and other slower parts that could have potentially been trimmed. I love this one, I'll be recommending it often.
I prioritized this after the author, Monika Kim, said she really enjoyed it. To horror fans, this is a not-so-scary read. It's more tenseful. It is a beautifully haunting and immersive read. It's entirely worth the investment of time it'll take to read. I think my only critique is the pacing. There are some parts that entirely engage you and other slower parts that could have potentially been trimmed. I love this one, I'll be recommending it often.