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A review by aswygs
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? No
5.0
this is emotional from start to finish
so well written. not at all what I was expecting from a ghost story
a ghost story where the ghosts are the good guys
the weaving together of southern Christianity (or both black and white folks) with hoodoo and spiritualism was artfully done
the community and personas of the haints was powerful to witness
incredible portrayal of Jim Crow Florida, which I feel is often excluded from “the South”
referencing rosewood and groveland as critical events of racial terror that black communities continue to reference as historical trauma
the shift in povs between Gloria and Robbie (and regretfully the warden sometimes 🤢) was so effective. even when I really wanted to focus on Robbie and the school, I still connected to Gloria’s journey. esp with the NAACP and Miss Lottie and her uncles
connected to this is the lore around her father as a grassroots civil rights organizer
with Gloria you get to see the broader community and culture with her interactions with the NAACP, law enforcement, the Klan that helps to round out the story
“there is more than this”
REDBONE
and truly the community Robbie creates with Redbone and Blue and even Cleo
“no one stays nice”
the whole thing is giving Stanford prison experiment
I appreciate Boone and crutcher as foils to one another: both black
employees in this hell forced to assimilate
something I appreciate about this book is that it does not shy away from the atrocities, but doesn’t give dramatized, embodied accounts of some of the list terrible acts (e.g. the shed, the box). I don’t think I could’ve handled a description
my only complaint is that I wanted to know how things unraveled once Robbie and Gloria arrived to Chicago - what did they do with the photos. was the school shut down? what happened to June and waymon? Miss Lottie? I have some u answered questions. And maybe that’s because in the authors note, she says she wanted a happy ending for this Robert Stephen’s that her ancestor didn’t get, and 5e possibility of justice is so grim in gracetown. but I still wanted to know!!
there’s a line in the beginning where their dads had said, “the reformatory is where they first started killing us” and I think that is so timeless when we think of the school to prison pipeline and the juvenile justice system
other books recommended by the author about The Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, FL:
“We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin Kimmerle
The Boys of the Dark: A Story of Betrayal and Redemption in the Deep South by Robin Gaby Fisher
The Bones of Marianna: A Reform School, a Terrible Secret, and a Hundred-Year Fight for Justice by David Kushner
I Survived Dozier: The Deadliest Reform School in America by Richard Huntly
The White House Boys: An American Tragedy by Roger Dean Kiser
The Dozier School for Boys: Forensics, Survivors, and a Painful Past by Elizabeth A. Murray, PhD
The Boys of Dozier by Daryl McKenzie
Lies Uncovered: The Long Journey Home—The Truth About the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys by Duane C. Fernandez, Sr.
It Still Hurts: My Father’s Painful Account of Survival at the Florida Industrial School for Boys by Marshelle Smith Berry and Salih Izzaldin, edited by Joseph Carroll”.
so well written. not at all what I was expecting from a ghost story
a ghost story where the ghosts are the good guys
the weaving together of southern Christianity (or both black and white folks) with hoodoo and spiritualism was artfully done
the community and personas of the haints was powerful to witness
incredible portrayal of Jim Crow Florida, which I feel is often excluded from “the South”
referencing rosewood and groveland as critical events of racial terror that black communities continue to reference as historical trauma
the shift in povs between Gloria and Robbie (and regretfully the warden sometimes 🤢) was so effective. even when I really wanted to focus on Robbie and the school, I still connected to Gloria’s journey. esp with the NAACP and Miss Lottie and her uncles
connected to this is the lore around her father as a grassroots civil rights organizer
with Gloria you get to see the broader community and culture with her interactions with the NAACP, law enforcement, the Klan that helps to round out the story
“there is more than this”
REDBONE
and truly the community Robbie creates with Redbone and Blue and even Cleo
“no one stays nice”
the whole thing is giving Stanford prison experiment
I appreciate Boone and crutcher as foils to one another: both black
employees in this hell forced to assimilate
something I appreciate about this book is that it does not shy away from the atrocities, but doesn’t give dramatized, embodied accounts of some of the list terrible acts (e.g. the shed, the box). I don’t think I could’ve handled a description
my only complaint is that I wanted to know how things unraveled once Robbie and Gloria arrived to Chicago - what did they do with the photos. was the school shut down? what happened to June and waymon? Miss Lottie? I have some u answered questions. And maybe that’s because in the authors note, she says she wanted a happy ending for this Robert Stephen’s that her ancestor didn’t get, and 5e possibility of justice is so grim in gracetown. but I still wanted to know!!
there’s a line in the beginning where their dads had said, “the reformatory is where they first started killing us” and I think that is so timeless when we think of the school to prison pipeline and the juvenile justice system
other books recommended by the author about The Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, FL:
“We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin Kimmerle
The Boys of the Dark: A Story of Betrayal and Redemption in the Deep South by Robin Gaby Fisher
The Bones of Marianna: A Reform School, a Terrible Secret, and a Hundred-Year Fight for Justice by David Kushner
I Survived Dozier: The Deadliest Reform School in America by Richard Huntly
The White House Boys: An American Tragedy by Roger Dean Kiser
The Dozier School for Boys: Forensics, Survivors, and a Painful Past by Elizabeth A. Murray, PhD
The Boys of Dozier by Daryl McKenzie
Lies Uncovered: The Long Journey Home—The Truth About the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys by Duane C. Fernandez, Sr.
It Still Hurts: My Father’s Painful Account of Survival at the Florida Industrial School for Boys by Marshelle Smith Berry and Salih Izzaldin, edited by Joseph Carroll”.