Horror is a genre that disturbs many people. At the same time, many are drawn to it and want more. That’s exactly what it’s supposed to do. Over the last few years, I have been reading a lot of horror books, more intentionally Black horror. Although it’s not a new genre, it has commanded popular and critical attention, bringing it into American mainstream like never before.
Tananarive Due has been a remarkable voice in Black speculative fiction for decades, best known for her supernatural suspense and mystery novels and short stories, including Ghost Summer: Stories, My Soul to Keep, Blood Colony, The Living Blood and The Good House. Her writing has been included in Jordan Peele’s recent anthology Out There Screaming, as well as other anthology collections. The Miami native has received the American Book Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a British Fantasy Award.
Due’s recent work, The Reformatory, takes place in Florida during Jim Crow, so that alone should warn you about the triggers this book has: racism, child abuse, massive amounts of racial slurs, severe violence, just to name a few. She brings us a terrifying ghost story, some very dark history, and a story that is terrifyingly relevant today.
Robbie, Gloria, and the boys at the Reformatory were so innocent, and what happens in the book just strips that innocence from them time and again. But even as some parts are extremely hard to read, Due’s writing style is engaging and the plot is a page-turner. You won’t be disappointed whether you’re here for the ghost story or the history. It’s horrifying, yet well-done.
The Reformatory is based on the true story of the Dozier School for Boys in Florida. Due dedicates the book to Robert Stephens, her great-uncle who died there in 1937 when he was just fifteen years old. The story begins in Gracetown, Florida, in 1950 with 12-year-old Robbie Stephens Jr. and his sister Gloria. Robbie is sentenced to six months at Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory school, after kicking Lyle, the son of Red McCormick (a powerful landowner in town), after Lyle tried to make advances towards Robbie’s sister. After Robbie is arrested and sentenced, Gloria realizes that this is all a set up to destroy Robbie and her family and tries to act quickly to save him.
When Robbie arrives to the Reformatory, he starts seeing the horrors that were rumored to be true. Robbie has the ability to see ghosts (or in this case, they’re called haints) and sees the torture that they endured. It is not long before Robbie witnesses these horrors for himself.
While at the Reformatory, Robbie’s ability to see ghosts turns into a window to see the truth of what really happens there. Boys forced to work to remediate their crimes have gone missing without a trace, but the ghosts have shown Robbie what happened to them. While he is learning how to survive, his sister Gloria is rallying everyone she knows and trying every possible thing she can to get Robbie out of the reformatory before it’s too late.
I had a huge mix of emotions while reading this book. Yes, it’s a ghost story, but the horror really came from Jim Crow South being portrayed so explicitly. Books like The Reformatory are powerful reminders that we have to always remember this happened. There are a lot of triggers. At times, it was difficult to even read, struggling with the graphic depictions of violence against children. I was in constant fear for the main characters.
Due lets the characters explore every avenue of escaping their fates and builds tension with every page by shutting them down one at a time — in the dead of night among the spirits of half-burned corpses, in the broad daylight of a public road, in the chambers of a racist judge whose shield of privilege allows for state-sanctioned kidnapping, assault, and murder.
That being said, I believe Due’s purpose is to make the reader uncomfortable since it’s based on a horrifying true story. Due’s storytelling is bar none; it’s one of the strongest depictions of this horrendous time period in American history. I am shocked at how fast I read this book — at nearly 600 pages. Don’t be intimidated by the length because the story flows quite fast. The author truly needed this amount of content to accurately characterize and strengthen the story.
The truth is, most of what we consider to be classic horror was created for us. The genre is inundated by white male gatekeeping that most entertainment is subject to. I believe that part of horror’s attraction is its charge to invent and create. However, the unfortunate outcome of this gatekeeping is that it gives us limited freedom to access that imagination.
The thing with horror is that we are able to pick up a book such as this and experience fear without actually having to face it. No matter how horrified you are or how difficult it is to get through, the genre feels acceptable because it’s not actually happening to us. We can stop reading and turn away.
For Black readers, horror doesn’t have to extend far. Have you ever been the only Black woman at your job or the only Black family in your neighborhood? Have you ever been Black or Brown and pulled over by the police? This is horror, too. Unfortunately, we can’t turn away.
The Reformatory is the too-real fear of being in a Black body, a trauma that is always present and never lets us go. Just like towards the end of the book when Robbie is safe with his sister: “The Reformatory was the Hell from Pastor Jenkin’s sermons, hidden at the edge of Gracetown while people drove their cars and played with their children and ate ice cream cones on Main Street… so normal and everyday, with Hell so close by.”
This made me reflect on how we go about our daily lives, knowing that evil lurks between the everyday normal that we see. The theme that resonated with me was the exploration of power dynamics: color, gender, ability, age, and even living status. Who creates the systems, who enforces the systems to benefit from privilege, who inherits power, who earns it, and who could have it if only they knew the strength of their numbers? It’s deplorable that the Dozier school was allowed to stay open for over 100 years.
I give this book a 5/5 stars. The Reformatory is a beautifully written book about a truly horrible story. There is a lot of darkness but it does shine light on a history that is so important to focus on and never forget. It is haunting and will stay with you for a long time after reading.
The Reformatory is available October 31, 2023, wherever books are sold.
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