Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - The Reformatory

I haven’t had a book that I haven’t want to put down during the last couple hours in months. At first, it felt a bit long because the page size felt daunting, but then you are given a book with a few POVs that flow well imo, and a story that keeps moving.

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thebookshelfblossom's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book… wow. I’m not sure I breathed for the last 20% while I listened. It’s set in northern FL in 1950, when Robbie, a young Black boy, is sentenced to 6 months at a segregated reform school. You think the ghosts, or “haints,” Robbie sees are what will spook you, but you learn that what’s flesh and blood is much more sinister.

The audiobook is fantastic. I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy the singular narrator with dual POVs, but I did. This isn’t my normal genre, but I’m glad I branched out. Due does an incredible job immersing you in the surroundings.

If you enjoy historical fiction, and want to try one that is ghosts this spooky season, give this one a try. But PLEASE check all TW. Some really horrific themes are on page.

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keenanmaree's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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archaicrobin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

The Reformatory is one of the best books I’ve read this year and one of Due’s best, which is hard tos ay because all of her books are phenomenal.

Steeped in history and her own personal family trauma is a tale of a young boy in the south sent to a horrific “school” for boys and his journey to find freedom with help from the spirits who refuse to leave without justice.

This story is heart wrenching and horrifying, made all the more painful because it’s based on a real place where real boys were tortured, raped, abused and murdered. I highly recommend looking at triggers before starting this one just to be safe, because it’s brutal. While spirits and the supernatural are paramount to this story, the true terror is in the lack of humanity and completely disgusting and historically true displays of racism.

This story was phenomenal but so hard to get through, there were several times I had to put this down and just decompress because it weighed so heavy on my heart. Books like this are some of the most importantly literature in my eyes, especially at a time right now where racism and bigotry are being paraded around as political candidates.

10/10 everyone should read if you can handle it. I will be thinking about Robert, his family, the boys left behind, and the message of this novel for a very long time.

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missdeaddoll's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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mackenzienoelle's review against another edition

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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

4.0

Listened to the audiobook which I think helped it not drag as much. Loved the ending, thought the last half was well paced. It’s a horror story about a children’s reformatory for boys in the Jim Crow south, so yeah it’s very upsetting in general. Check content warnings

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iellv's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.75

When I tell you I screamed over a timestamp.

What do I even say? I want to rate this 5 stars, I really do. This was extremely well thought out and well-written. Personally, I thought the pacing was almost perfect (I didn’t think it was too slow. Honestly I kind of wished this book was a bit longer), and I loved how seemingly different Robbie’s and Gloria’s chapters were in tone, but they all showed the fear, frustration, sorrow, and rage that made up the siblings’ shared suffering. No matter that they were both so far apart from one another. I’m only rating this 4.75 because I would have loved a longer ending! There was so much to cover in this book; I desperately needed a breather at the end. There were also more details I’d hoped to encounter, but that might just be because I have a general preference for very reflective books.

I am also not 100% sold on the decision to make Haddock THE villain to the point where all others paled in comparison. Personally I would have liked to know more about the neighbors, but I also understand that there was no way Tananarive could have included that without ruining the pacing of this book. Though I am surprised that Loehmann just fell off. I don’t think he could have helped any other way besides securing that slot for Gloria and Miz Lottie, but I thought it was funny that he just fell off and readers would likely completely forget about him, as I did.

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