A review by starbabe2529
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

challenging dark 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

Book 12 of 101: Author Spotlight- Tananarive Due. 
This book was absolutely a 10 out of 10! It was 100 out of 10! I want to read everything Tananarive Due has ever written! I was admittedly very intimated by The Reformatory at first because of the size but I chose it for the author spotlight because I have a fascination with true crime and I have heard all about Dozier School for Boys. Then I found out just how deeply Tananarive Due's ties with that school went. This book is dripping with emotion, soaked with grief and rage and fear. I cried so hard I couldn't see the pages. The horror not only of the ghosts and the dead but of what the living can do to each other was so absolutely bone chilling that I think I need to read Legends and Lattes now to cleanse my palette. I love this book and I hate that the world made it possible for it to be written. I hope that Robert Stephens family found some sort of peace in even a small part of his story being told. I hope that he knows he isn't forgotten. 
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