Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

151 reviews

jill_holly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective 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

Wow, what an incredible book. I didn't have many expectations going in, but if I had, they were exceeded. I read the last 25% in one sitting, leaning forward in my chair with my heart pounding. This book was deeply emotional, intense, and thought-provoking. I won't be forgetting it anytime soon. Not just reflective of schools like this that existed in the American south; it had reverberations of Canadian residential schools too. Chilling, mesmerizing and important. One of my favourite books of the year! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child abuse, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Sexual harassment

applegeorge's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, Child abuse, Rape, and Child death

booksteader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child death, Murder, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Torture, Slavery, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent

shrineofyourlies's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Child death, and Murder

Minor: Rape

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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

5.0

This is my first Due book, and I don't think I could have chosen better. I annotated the heck out of this book; the writing was so good that there were so many sentences, paragraphs - whole pages, even - that I never want to forget. I appreciate the sensitivity with which the author handed a real and truly harrowing experience. She described the horrors in a way that was complete, but not exploitative or gratuitous. I think some of her other books are more straightforward horror (this was plenty scary, don't get me wrong) and I am a chicken, but I plan to read her entire oeuvre. I know I'll find works that will entertain and transform me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Cancer, and Torture

Minor: Dysphoria, Grief, Misogyny, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Rape, Vomit, and Gore

nineinchnails's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

i genuinely really loved this and it feels weird to say about a book that touches on such dark topics. this felt more like historical fiction than horror at some parts which may be partly responsible for me enjoying this so much. the focus on the cruelty and abuse that occurred at gracetown school for boys (a fictional school/prison modelled after real reform schools that existed at that time, like florida’s dozier school for boys) overshadowed the traditional horror elements at play here almost to the point of obscuring them. the former felt much, much scarier. 

i don’t usually mention these, but i really recommend reading the dedication, author’s note, and acknowledgments, as they gave context that made the novel feel even more meaningful. this book gave me similar feelings to “mornings in jenin” by susan abulhawa. this was over 500 pages so it was a long read (from what i remember about horrors) but it was because it was so bleak and heavy rather than it feeling like a slog. not a sentence of this felt wasted and i highly recommend giving this a read, even if it’s not a novel you would typically gravitate towards. everyone has something to learn from this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Racism, Child abuse, Torture, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Gun violence, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Antisemitism

Minor: Pedophilia, Slavery, War, and Sexual violence

Apartheid, Jim crow, and Segregation

krisheiney's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

As much as I like the themes of this book, I felt much less drawn into it than I would have liked. The villain was too villainous, the plot dragged at times, and the social commentary fell a bit flat because of how extreme the villain was. Still, good bones, interesting ghost story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide

bkwrm1317's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I’ve had Due on my TBR for a long time and this novel is evidently evidence as to why. 

Based on a real place, where real young men lost their lives, The Reformatory follows young Robert Stevens, Jr, his sister Gloria, and others who love them in the Jim Crow south after the death of their mother (lost to cancer), and their father’s need to leave after his attempt to unionize workers strikes fear into the pocketbooks of white folks in their community. 

Young Robert defends his sister from the untoward advances of a young white man from a former plantation owning family with a swift kick to the knee, but McCormack senior sees the exchange and convinces a judge to send young Robert to the Reformatory, a place reeking of violence and bloodshed, the mysterious deaths of young men behind its barbed wire fences, and more. 

What unveils is a story of friendship created under duress, the ghosts haunting the Reformatory impatiently waiting to exact their revenge on the man representing the system of inequity that led to their untimely deaths, and the horrors hiding under the surface in the Funhouse, the shed, and elsewhere at the Reformatory. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, and Gore

Minor: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Cancer, Slavery, and Sexual violence

catalienubbins's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.5

Set in 1950's Florida, 12 year old Robbie Stephens, Jr. is sentenced to a segregated reform school known as 'The Reformatory' for defending his older sister, Gloria, against the son of the town's most affluent white family. Boys seldom leave the Reformatory, dead or alive. Whispers of abuse, torture, rape and even murder at The Reformatory become all too real as Robbie is forced into his sentence. The whole town knows Robbie is the son of the famous Robert Stephens, who fled Gracetown after being (falsely) accused of the rape of a white woman, and the sinsiter Warden Haddock won't let him forget it. While his sister, Gloria, makes every attempt she can in the Jim Crow South to get Robbie out of The Reformatory before his ultimate demise, Robbie discovers that he and the other boys aren't the only ones trapped in this horrible place - there are dead boys, too. And he can SEE them. This gift will send Robbie on a journey of sacrifice, friendship, redemption and horrors beyond his comprehension as he seeks to understand what happens there, why it happens and how to escape it. What makes this story even more gripping is it's inspiration from true events and a real place: the infamous Dozier School for Boys. Due's characters piece together the life of a family member who was never able to have their story told - until now. This novel was difficult to read; I took several breaks due to the graphic nature of the abuse and torture.  Due doesn't pull any punches when it comes to the very real racism and injustices that face both the living and the dead. But this story demands to be heard and will keep you turning pages until the very end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Racism

Minor: Sexual violence and Rape

outofthepinksky's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Hate crime, Confinement, Child death, Bullying, Racism, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Cursing, Death of parent, Misogyny, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Pedophilia, and Vomit

Minor: Domestic abuse, Slavery, Cancer, Animal cruelty, and Animal death