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artificialjad 's review for:
The Reformatory
by Tananarive Due
This book is set in Jim Crow Florida, focusing on young siblings, Gloria and Robbie. Robbie gets in a fight with a white boy, and so Robbie is sent to The Reformatory, a school/prison with a violent reputation. The chapters switch between the perspective of Robbie in custody and Gloria trying to help from the outside. This book is so heartbreakingly sad and often difficult to read. There are many real-life horrors throughout the book, a lot of violence towards children, racism, and some supernatural horror. The stakes are high, and I felt stressed, scared, and sad for the characters in the book while reading. I cried a few times. I felt like this book could have been a little shorter and there were parts around the beginning and middle that dragged a bit, but the book had such an emotional impact on me that I can’t bring myself to rate it lower than 5 stars. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy historical and supernatural horror, if you’re interested in reading about Black experiences, and if you’re in the mood to read an emotional, difficult, and dark book.