“Florida’s soil is soaked with so much blood, it’s a wonder the droplets don’t seep between your toes with every step, Mama used to say.”
The Reformatory – Tananarive Due
My Rating
In Summary of The Reformatory
“Gracetown, Florida
June 1950
Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.
Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.” –Goodreads Synopsis
READ IF YOU LIKE: historical fiction; stories with the paranormal; stories about family/sibling relationships; stories about friendship
Trigger Warnings: racism, disturbing violence, sexual assault, death, child abuse, racial slurs, pedophilia, torture
| Positives | Negatives |
|---|---|
| Supernatural element doesn’t feel gimmicky; it is believable and seamlessly blended into the characters’ experiences in the reformatory | Ending dragged a bit, but does effectively create suspense and an impactful resolution |
| Thorough character development of all characters | |
| The plot twist was… wow. | |
| Strong pacing despite length of the book; allowed for fairly quick reading of a long novel |
“Cuz, see, colored folks fighting for what’s theirs is like a virus to white folks—and they kill a virus so it don’t spread. That killing is the work of man, not the devil.”
The Reformatory – Tananarive Due
The Review
Effectively mix historical fiction with paranormal horror and you’ve got – *chef’s kiss* – a work of art.
Although a lengthy and emotionally heavy read, The Reformatory is one that will stick with you past the final page.
First of all, I love how historical fiction immerses readers into a new setting of history, but when done correctly and factually, it also allows us to empathize with people in the past and learn something from their struggles. The Reformatory does exactly that with its well-researched illustration of the Dozier School for Boys that actually existed in the Jim Crow South. Although slavery ended decades before, injustice and the horrors of racism remain. This novel powerfully reveals these lingering horrors through the ghosts – or “haints” – that continue to lurk in the novel’s reformatory.
While I typically am a lover of paranormal/supernatural presence in fiction, I can see where some readers may not be able to put aside reality and buy-in to the unrealistic nature of such elements. However, Tananarive Due implements these elements in such a seamless way that it’s believable; these paranormal elements only enhance the disturbing history that lurks in the pages of this novel.
Do look at my trigger warnings, as this novel is not one for the weak, but I also urge you place your concerns aside – if possible – and give this novel a chance no matter your reading tastes. The lasting impact cannot be ignored, and isn’t this what literature is all about?
The Reformatory Book Information
- Published: 2023
- Publisher: S&S / Saga Press
- ISBN: 9781982188344
- Format: Hardback (this version purchased though Aardvark Book Club)
- Length: 576 pages
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