A review by booktribe
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Did not finish book. Stopped at 39%.
Tananarive Due is my favorite author of all time, so I look forward to all of her new releases! But, sadly I can’t finish this one. Partly because of the pacing. The story is moving incredibly slow. I got 39% in & I feel like everything that has happened could’ve happened within the first 20% of the novel. But, I wouldn’t mind the slow pacing much. My main problem is that the book is too triggering for me. As a Black woman, it can be hard for me at times to read Black trauma, and it’s especially hard to read trauma happening to Black children. I knew going into this novel that there would be racism, but I thought it’d be balanced out by the ghost aspect of the story. But, there were barely any ghosts, just racism and trauma. 

I still feel that this is a great book and that this story needs to be told, especially knowing that it is based in truth. I’m just not in the headspace to handle the content at this time. I may come back to it when I’m more mentally prepared. 

Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own. 

TW: racism, recurrent use of racial slurs, death of a parent, cancer, sexual harassment, child abuse
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