disguisedposer 's review for:

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

5.0

challenging dark informative mysterious 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: Complicated

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I thought this book was a horror story, and it was, but not because of the ghosts in it. It's a truly horrible story of the treatment of Black boys incarcerated at a reform school in the American south in the 1950s. It is fiction, but sounded all too real. I did a mix of reading and listening. It was beautifully written, and I absolutely adored the narrator of the audiobook even though I usually detest audiobooks. This is one that's going to stick with me for quite some time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail