Reviews

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

jgverrero's review against another edition

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.

agibbs789's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

5.0

frankienicole's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

5.0

theliteraryhooker's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

5.0

This is the most emotionally invested I've been in a book in a long while. I found myself angry, wishing I could reach through the pages to intervene on Robbie's behalf. The last third or so had me feeling so tense, I could barely sit still while reading. A fantastically written novel with an important message woven throughout an extremely compelling plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Racism, Death of parent, Death, Rape, Racial slurs, Cancer, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, Grief, Hate crime, and Physical abuse

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

ksteele18's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

5.0

gr33nb00ks's review against another edition

4.0

4.5!!

viridis'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

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 against another edition

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 against another edition

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