Reviews - The Reformatory | The StoryGraph

6.57k reviews for:

The Reformatory

Tananarive Due

4.56 AVERAGE

corynprince's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

artifishly's review against another edition

5.0

Jaw droppingly good. I was a bit cautious about reading a book with this kind of a setting because I thought it would be too much (and in some ways it was) but I think Due handled the subject matter well. Equal parts supernatural and real life horror, I’d recommend this to anyone who loves a good ghost story.

readingtakesmeplaces's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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: Yes

seahagmag's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 16%

I didn’t feel like I was in the right frame of mind for bloody book

jordyj's review against another edition

4.0

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: Complicated

dennisfischman's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

This book compares favorably with The Nickel Boys, which was so widely read and justly praised. Tananarive Due writes so well, and she makes teen and preteen characters come to life. As compared to the other book, we not only get the point of view of the Black boy in a "reformatory" that's actually a challenge just to survive: we also hear from his sister, trying desperately to work within the white-dominated system to get him out.

But it was so slow. It lingered over dreadful scenes, and then it came back to them again and again. I understand that was the rhythm of real life, but I don't think it was necessary or helpful for the novel.

The supernatural element is integral to the book, and it does nothing for me, so that might have kept me from appreciating it even more.