Reviews

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

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. 

pnwbibliophile's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious 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

4.25

Overall, a great portrayal of the Jim Crow South via horror. We’re immersed in the swamps of the Florida panhandle in 1950, where Gloria and her twelve year-old little brother, Robbie, find themselves unjustly targeted by the local White people who control everything in their small town. Prior to the book’s opening, their father is falsely accused of raping a White woman to get back at him for being a union organizer, forcing him to flee to Chicago. Because the White mob is still hungry for blood, Robbie gets unjustly put into the Reformatory, a school for “wayward” juveniles, after defending his sister from the unwelcomed advances of a White peer, whose father owns much of the town. At the Reformatory, the ghosts of the school’s corrupt and abusive past/present become literal in the form of haints. These haints are the ghosts of past students and even workers who were killed at the school. Robbie is one of the few who can see them and this sets him on a path of uncovering the school’s dark secrets and trying to bring it all crashing down.

Tananarive Due pens an original concept, well fleshed-out characters, and immersive dialogue. The author blurb at the end explaining why she wrote it made me appreciate her even more as an author. You feel the father’s absence the entire time, but also feel his presence in the moral compass and intelligence of his two kids. This flips the black absent father trope on its head and I loved that. It shows how good of a father he is to have taught them well enough for his lessons to carry on in his stead. Due also captured the injustice of the system so well and forces you to confront it. It also felt historically grounded, with the NAACP and anti-Communist sentiment making appearances. The subject matter is difficult, with so much rampant racism and violence, but it is important for us to grapple with our unjust system and its historical roots.

_lalabear's review against another edition

Will pick back up at another time 

kristina_87's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

lucatiel's review against another edition

dark sad medium-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

4.0

smtate's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.75

duhderrick's review against another edition

3.0

Audiobook Review:
Story: was fascinating and thrilling. The time of JIm Crow laws and the unfair treatment /persecution of African Americans back then is the true horror around this book. The treatment of the boys at the reformatory is truly terrible. The storyline around Gloria’s POV made the book slow paced but I can see were it was needed. Robert’s POV was more fascinating and dealt more with the spooky side.

Narrator: I didn’t like this Narrator as much. Her tone for different characters got on my nerves.

All in all 3/5 stars.

chelseadoesnotread's review against another edition

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

heart_inaprairie's review against another edition

2.0

This one was DNF’d! I am saddened by this because I really thought I was going to enjoy it. Of course I didn’t enjoy the racism, but it was well done to portray the POV of those who lived through it during those times.

Gloria’s POV is what made me DNF this book. Her story really slowed down the book and I was just over it.


2024 is also about me not being afraid to DNF a book and in return hoping to start something that is worth my while.

sakoulas's review against another edition

dark emotional tense

• 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