Review by keimre734 - The Reformatory

keimre734 's review for:

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

4.0

challenging dark emotional 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: No

4 out of 5 stars

The Reformatory follows Gloria Stephens and her little brother Robert. They are both African-American teenagers living in 1950’s Florida. Gloria is propositioned by a white boy her age and Robbie stands up for his sister by kicking the boy. Robbie is arrested for assault and sentenced to 6 months at a reformatory school for boys. Gloria works from the outside to try and get her brother out while her brother tries to keep his head down and survive the 6 months.

This is a book that was chosen by my book club. I don’t think I would have chosen to read it on my own. I enjoyed the historical aspects of it but the seeing ghosts part was a bit much for me. With that being said, the author did an excellent job of telling the story. I appreciate that she based the book off of real life events and people. She did not shy away from making the book historically accurate and I respect that. History isn’t always pretty and fun to learn about. Sometimes it’s dark and gruesome but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t learn about those parts too.

Content Warnings