NNO Book Club: The Reformatory

We joyously celebrate Black History month here and while we frequently read authors of color, female authors, and other less represented viewpoints we absolutely read something by a black female author for February.

This month might be an intense read but I think it will be a good one. The author is a Florida native and her journey to writing this book started when her family was notified by the Florida State Attorney General’s office that records had been uncovered that her great uncle had died at the Dozier School for Boys, murdered by another inmate at age 15.

While she felt that the true stories of what happened at the school weren’t hers to tell, she went on to explore it all in fiction. With hints of the supernatural, this one is more in our wheelhouse than other works based on the same events (such as The Nickel Boys). For February we are reading The Reformatory by Tananarive Due.

***Book summary from Goodreads***
A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.

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.

The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.

***This month's restaurant selection***
This is Valentine’s day so we are going kind of casual for this one. Hoping all of Tampa doesn’t want delicious Peruvian Rotisserie chicken for their sweethearts. You can check out their menu here: https://www.cuenellis.com/.

***Not sure about book club or never been to one before? ***
Read the book (or some of the book). Come to the Meetup. Eat yummy food and chat with folks about what you thought about the book. REPEAT!

***Not sure where to get the book? ***
All books we select have a decent number of copies (at least 3-4 across all formats) at both the Hillsborough and Pinellas County Library. And, of course, you can always buy a copy.

***Didn’t finish/hated this book?***
Come to the Meetup anyway! If you didn't finish - just be aware, there will be spoilers. If you hated it, come and rant! In my experience, the books that generate the best conversations and the books we really love are rarely the same books.