{"id":2309,"date":"2024-06-30T09:51:15","date_gmt":"2024-06-30T16:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2309"},"modified":"2024-06-30T09:51:17","modified_gmt":"2024-06-30T16:51:17","slug":"bookshelf-the-reformatory-tananarive-due","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2309","title":{"rendered":"Bookshelf — The Reformatory, Tananarive Due"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I tried to make it to the end of this mash-up novel of ghosts and racists and the mid-century-America Black folks they haunt, but I didn\u2019t. A couple of hundred pages short of the finish I realized I held in my hands an excellent three-hundred-page book that, unfortunately, sprawled across more than five hundred pages.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

And that\u2019s a shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of \u201cThe Reformatory\u201d is based in part on the experience of the author\u2019s great uncle, who was remanded to the infamous Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida, the violent institution that was also the setting of Colson Whitehead\u2019s novel \u201cThe Nickel Boys,\u201d a powerful book that won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two works differ in many ways (the ghosts, for example), but mainly in scope: Colson weaves a taut story, Due spins an overly complex web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be sure, my opinion is not widely held. On Goodreads, \u201cThe Reformatory\u201d averages four-and-a-half stars. I gave it two, and here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During my first weeks as a newspaper reporter I scribbled what I thought was a first-rate piece of American journalism. After turning it into the desk, the crusty city editor shoved the pages back to me after scanning a few hundred words. What\u2019s the problem with it? I asked, expecting some specific criticism about sources or emphasis. She withered me with a look rooted in years of suffering idiots, and said simply, \u201cToo many words.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I tried to make it to the end of this mash-up novel of ghosts and racists and the mid-century-America Black folks they haunt, but I didn\u2019t. A couple of hundred pages short of the finish I realized I held in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[770,901,900],"class_list":["post-2309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-book-review","tag-dozier-school-for-boys","tag-tananarive-due"],"yoast_head":"\nBookshelf - The Reformatory, Tananarive Due - Tim Porter's Second Draft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A couple of hundred pages short of the finish I realized I held in my hands an excellent three-hundred-page book that, unfortunately, sprawled across more than five hundred pages.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2309\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bookshelf - 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