What readers think of The Reformatory, plus links to write your own review.

THE REFORMATORY by Tananarive Due

Wow, this was a difficult read that hit me to my core and at times I could only read a few chapters and then have to set it down. This is a historical horror novel of a powerful story of racism and abuse, and a shameful period in history. Revolving around a twelve-year-old boy named “Robbie” Stephens, Jr., who is sentenced to serve six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, commonly known as the Reformatory. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the Reformatory. Through his friends, Redbone and Blue, Robbie not only learns the rules, but learns how to survive. Robbie is sensitive to the ghosts, or “haints,” that haunt the school; because of this, he is valuable to the brutal superintendent, Fenton Haddock, who is on a mission to rid the Reformatory of the dark history that the haints threaten to reveal. Robbie’s older sister, Gloria, is desperately searching all avenues to secure Robbie’s release.

Exploring themes of, The Racism of the American Criminal Justice System, The Struggle to Resolve the Past and Preserve the Present, and Turning to Community in Times of Trouble. Touches upon the racism and violence characteristic of the Jim Crow era. The novel frequently references violence against children, child death and murder, institutional abuse, sexual harassment and abuse of minors, and offensive language, including the n-word. This book, The Reformatory, is fiction, but be sure to read the Authors Note at end and she explains what inspired her to write this fabulous book that took her about ten years to write.