Book Review: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Tananarive Due's 2023 novel The Reformatory is a masterful blend of historical fiction and supernatural horror that excavates one of America's darkest chapters with unflinching clarity. Set in Jim Crow-era Florida in 1950, the novel follows twelve-year-old Robert Stephens Jr. as he navigates the nightmarish reality of the Gracetown School for Boys, a reform school where Black children are subjected to unimaginable cruelty.
After defending his sister from a white boy's harassment, Robert is sent to the Gracetown School for Boys without trial or due process. What awaits him is a place of systematic abuse, where boys are beaten, starved, and worked to exhaustion. Due's depiction of the reformatory is made all the more chilling by its basis in reality in which the novel draws inspiration from Florida's infamous Dozier School for Boys, where archaeological excavations in 2012 uncovered numerous unmarked graves of children who had perished there. What makes this novel particularly poignant is its deeply personal origin. Due dedicated the book to her real-life great-uncle Robert Stephens, who died at the Dozier School for Boys in 1937 at the age of fifteen. Due only learned of her great-uncle's existence in 2013, when the Florida state attorney general's office contacted her about a relative likely buried at the school. This discovery inspired a seven-year writing process that resulted in The Reformatory, making this not just a work of fiction but a form of ancestral reclamation and memorial.
The horror of the reformatory takes on both literal and supernatural dimensions as Robert begins to see ghosts of boys who died at the institution. These spectral encounters serve not merely as supernatural window dressing but as a profound metaphor for historical trauma and the ways in which the past refuses to stay buried. The Dozier School for Boys operated for over a century in Florida, and investigations in the 2010s confirmed what survivors had long claimed: dozens of boys, predominantly Black, had died under suspicious circumstances and were buried in unmarked graves on the property. Due brings this setting to life with specific details about the reformatory's dreaded locations such as 'Boot Hill' (where boys are buried) and the 'FunHouse' (where beatings occur).
The author also skillfully weaves period-appropriate cultural references throughout the narrative, mentioning radio shows like Dragnet, Amos 'n' Andy, and Jack Benny, as well as literary figures like Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Langston Hughes. She even includes historical notes about figures like Louis Armstrong, who was sent to a similar boys' home at age 11; a detail that provides both historical context and a glimmer of hope amid the darkness.
Due explores several interconnected themes with remarkable nuance:
Historical Reckoning: The novel forces readers to confront America's history of institutional racism and the particular vulnerability of Black children in a system designed to dehumanize them.
Resilience and Resistance: Despite the overwhelming brutality of his circumstances, Robert's determination to survive and protect his newfound friends showcases the resilience of the human spirit.
Family and Community: The novel explores how familial bonds can both sustain and complicate our lives, particularly through Robert's relationship with his father and sister.
Justice and Memory: Due examines the importance of bearing witness to historical atrocities and the way that remembering can be an act of justice.
Due's prose is both accessible and lyrical, balancing moments of stark brutality with passages of unexpected beauty. The novel's structure, which alternates between Robert's immediate and harrowing experiences inside the reformatory and chapters narrated by his adult sister Gloria in 1966 who's determined efforts to free him, creates a compelling narrative tension while demonstrating how trauma reverberates across generations. Gloria's character draws inspiration from Due's mother, civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due, while a NAACP lawyer in the story is based on her father, John Dorsey Due. This parallel storytelling creates both tension and hope, showing the struggle from inside the institution and the fight against it from outside.
The supernatural elements are handled with subtlety and purpose, never overshadowing the very real historical horrors at the heart of the story. Due, known for her expertise in horror fiction, uses ghostly manifestations not as mere scares but as metaphors for historical memory and unresolved trauma.
Due's decision to fictionalize this history allows her to explore emotional truths that might elude strictly factual accounts, while still honoring the experiences of those who suffered at similar institutions across America. The novel serves as both a memorial to those victims and a warning about how easily institutional abuse can flourish when marginalized populations are involved.
The novel's greatest achievement may be how it renders the experiences of its young protagonist with such clarity and compassion that readers cannot look away from the systemic cruelties it depicts. In an era when battles rage over how American history should be taught and remembered, The Reformatory makes a compelling case for unflinching historical reckoning as a necessary step toward justice. The horror of the reformatory takes on both literal and supernatural dimensions as Robert begins to see ghosts of boys who died at the institution. In Gracetown, a fictional setting that appears in several of Due's works and is notorious for its hauntings. Robert is revealed to be a "Haint Catcher," someone with the ability to perceive and interact with spirits. These spectral encounters serve not merely as supernatural window dressing but as a profound metaphor for historical trauma and the ways in which the past refuses to stay buried.
Due creates memorable characters that resonate with readers—from the innocent but weary Robbie to his brave and determined sister Gloria, and the feisty but calming Miz Lottie who becomes a grandmother figure. The novel builds to an intense climax in Part VIII that leaves readers emotionally invested in the characters' fates.
Tananarive Due has delivered a novel that deserves to be read widely, not only as an exemplary work of historical fiction but as a crucial contribution to our ongoing national conversation about race, history, and the long shadow of institutional violence in America. As Due has noted, she wrote this novel partly for her mother, who didn't live to read it, and incorporated family references that have deep personal significance. This connection to real people and events gives the novel an authenticity and emotional resonance that transcends its fictional elements.The Reformatory is a haunting, necessary novel that demonstrates the power of fiction to illuminate historical injustice. Due has crafted a work that is simultaneously a gripping narrative, a thoughtful examination of America's racial history, and a testament to the human capacity for survival and memory.
TANANARIVE DUE is an American Book Award–winning and Essence bestselling author of sixteen books, including Blood Colony, The Living Blood, The Good House, Joplin’s Ghost, and Devil’s Wake. She was also a contributor to Jonathan Maberry’s middle-grade anthology, Don’t Turn Out the Lights. She has won an NAACP Image Award and a British Fantasy Award. She teaches Black Horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA.
She was an executive producer on Shudder's groundbreaking documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. She and her husband/collaborator, Steven Barnes, wrote "A Small Town" for Season 2 of Jordan Peele’s "The Twilight Zone" on Paramount Plus, and two segments of Shudder’s anthology film Horror Noire. They also co-wrote their Black Horror graphic novel The Keeper, illustrated by Marco Finnegan. Due and Barnes co-host a podcast, "Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!" She and her husband live with their son, Jason.
Dozier SchoolAlabama Industrial School for Negro ChildrenIndigenous “schools” in Canada
Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison by Nell Bernstein
We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin Kimmerle
Watch…
Netflix documentary 13th by Ava DuVernay.
Prime Video Series Deadly Secrets: The Lost Children of Dozier
Horrors at the Dozier School for Boys
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