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calamitywindpetal's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Violence, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, and Grief
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Blood, and Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Abortion, and Lesbophobia
dalmavatai's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is probably my favorite Tiffany D. Jackson so far and it makes me really excited for The Weight of Blood! Mary is such an interesting character to follow and her experiences with her abusive mother, the criminal justice system and foster care are important and poignantly written. I wasn't crazy about the final twist but it was decent and I didn't see it coming. The mystery was really gripping throughout, I was so interested to find out what happened. Mary's voice is just super distinct and well developed and therefore I felt really connected to her character. My ranking of Tiffany D. Jackson books as of now: Allegedly, White Smoke, Monday's Not Coming, Grown.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Domestic abuse, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Grief, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, and Suicide attempt
veskumelooni's review against another edition
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual violence, Child death, and Violence
bookedandbusy's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was so good! the plot twist was insane because I was fully convinced Mary was innocent! I absolutely love Tiffany D. Jackson’s work!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Gaslighting, Child death, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Homophobia, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault
quietkristina's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Cross-posted from my blog: http://quietandbusy.blogspot.com
For my next read, I decided to start on my Clear the Shelves challenge and just pick something I already owned that I felt like reading. I was in the mood for some hard-hitting young adult contemporary, so I selected Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson. I picked this up randomly at a bookstore ages ago based on the intriguing title and summary on the back cover. This seemed like just the kind of gritty, emotional read I was looking for, so I was excited to dive in.
The plot follows Mary B. Addison, a sixteen year old girl living in a group home. She was recently released from prison after serving a manslaughter sentence for allegedly killing an infant that her mother was babysitting when she was just nine years old. Mary never confessed to the crime; in fact, she refused to even speak about the incident when questioned by the police and a series of psychologists. The testimony of her mother combined with circumstantial evidence was enough to convict her, however, and she's spent the last seven years of her life in prison.
The group home she was released to isn't much better than being behind bars. The other girls that live there are violent and aggressive, and the adults who are supposed to care for her are abusive and neglectful. Mary is in constant fear for her safety, but she also has some small hopes for the future. She is very smart, and has been studying hard for the SATs. She has a secret boyfriend at the nursing home where she does community service that she loves deeply, and she hopes to go to college and find herself a good job and living situation once she turns 18. Her plans are thrown into disarray, however, when she becomes pregnant with her boyfriend's baby.
She desperately wants to raise her child, but she knows that she won't be able to in her group home. As she is a ward of the state, her baby is also a ward of the state and will be taken away from her when it is born. Her only chance is to get herself exonerated for her crimes and get emancipated. In order to do that though, she must reveal what really happened to that baby that was killed seven years ago and reopen all the painful wounds of her past.
I ended up liking this book, but I really wanted to like it a little bit more than I did. One aspect I did enjoy was how Jackson wrote realistically and graphically about the issues Mary was facing in the system. Her life in the group home is cruel and brutal. There's cursing, violence, and endless abuse, and Jackson didn't soften anything for her young adult audience. At times, it almost seemed like the negativity was over the top, or that Mary was enduring an unrealistic amount of hardships, but I suspect that's my privilege speaking. I know from teaching that there are some children that deal with trauma on a constant basis and that group homes are often nightmarish experiences. While's Mary's experience felt overwhelmingly bad, I think it probably was somewhat realistic. It was often difficult to read this book, but that is to its credit. Jackson did a good job showing the harsh realities that kids in the system go through.
Another aspect of the novel that I appreciated was how Jackson included an exploration of race in the story. Mary is black and the baby she was accused of murdering was white, and this difference played a big part in the public perception of her case. The public was calling for her to be tried as an adult and calling her a murderer when she was only nine years old, and Jackson isn't shy about implying that the reason she ends up facing such harsh criticisms and punishments is due, at least in part, to the color of her skin. While any crime involving the death of an infant would be very serious and anger the public, we know data shows that black teens are over-represented in the criminal justice systems and tend to receive less benefit of the doubt and harsher punishments than white teens. In Mary's case, she was successfully prosecuted on very little evidence, and her seemingly clear mental health issues were ignored, pointing to racial bias in the system. I was glad Jackson included these elements in the story as it made it feel more relevant and gave the reader something to think about.
Something I didn't like so much was Mary's boyfriend in the story. He's got his own difficult past, and by the time Mary knows all of it, I think she forgives him a bit too easily. The way Jackson depicts him is too sympathetic and does not provide a particularly good or meaningful message to her young adult readers. Also, a large part of the story deals with Mary's fears about the age difference between her and her boyfriend. At the start of the story, she is fifteen and turns sixteen almost immediately. He is eighteen. Throughout the book, she makes a lot of decisions out of a desire to protect him, as if their relationship is illegal. In New York, where the story is set, it would definitely not be illegal. They have a "close in age exemption" there, so there was nothing wrong with them being together (even though an eighteen year old sniffing around a fifteen year old gives me the creeps). As a legal adult, I assume he would have rights to their child if the state wanted to take it away from Mary. However, if he could have taken custody of their baby when it was born, the whole story wouldn't have worked. I suppose that's a plot hole.
I also didn't like the ending very much. Jackson was going for a big twist, but I don't feel like enough clues were woven into the text along the way to make the twist successful. If felt too abrupt and didn't match up the the prior behavior of the characters. I thought that too many of the plot events were left hazy too. I wanted a clearer picture of what really happened in Mary's past and I never got it. I can't go into more detail without spoiling major plot points, but I feel like the ending placed the delivery of a twist over the delivery of a deeper message to readers, and it was kind of a shame.
Despite those issues though, this was still a compelling novel and I do think it was worth reading. It shined a light onto a portion of society that is often ignored or vilified and brought up a lot of interesting things to think about. It fell short of being a really meaningful read in the end though, as Jackson's final twist really changed the trajectory of the story. I have another book by Jackson on my shelves, Monday's Not Coming, and I'm interested to see if I will like the construction of that one any better. I don't think I'll be rereading Allegedly, so I will be donating it. That makes this the first book cleared from my shelves for my challenge this year.
For my next read, I decided to start on my Clear the Shelves challenge and just pick something I already owned that I felt like reading. I was in the mood for some hard-hitting young adult contemporary, so I selected Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson. I picked this up randomly at a bookstore ages ago based on the intriguing title and summary on the back cover. This seemed like just the kind of gritty, emotional read I was looking for, so I was excited to dive in.
The plot follows Mary B. Addison, a sixteen year old girl living in a group home. She was recently released from prison after serving a manslaughter sentence for allegedly killing an infant that her mother was babysitting when she was just nine years old. Mary never confessed to the crime; in fact, she refused to even speak about the incident when questioned by the police and a series of psychologists. The testimony of her mother combined with circumstantial evidence was enough to convict her, however, and she's spent the last seven years of her life in prison.
The group home she was released to isn't much better than being behind bars. The other girls that live there are violent and aggressive, and the adults who are supposed to care for her are abusive and neglectful. Mary is in constant fear for her safety, but she also has some small hopes for the future. She is very smart, and has been studying hard for the SATs. She has a secret boyfriend at the nursing home where she does community service that she loves deeply, and she hopes to go to college and find herself a good job and living situation once she turns 18. Her plans are thrown into disarray, however, when she becomes pregnant with her boyfriend's baby.
She desperately wants to raise her child, but she knows that she won't be able to in her group home. As she is a ward of the state, her baby is also a ward of the state and will be taken away from her when it is born. Her only chance is to get herself exonerated for her crimes and get emancipated. In order to do that though, she must reveal what really happened to that baby that was killed seven years ago and reopen all the painful wounds of her past.
I ended up liking this book, but I really wanted to like it a little bit more than I did. One aspect I did enjoy was how Jackson wrote realistically and graphically about the issues Mary was facing in the system. Her life in the group home is cruel and brutal. There's cursing, violence, and endless abuse, and Jackson didn't soften anything for her young adult audience. At times, it almost seemed like the negativity was over the top, or that Mary was enduring an unrealistic amount of hardships, but I suspect that's my privilege speaking. I know from teaching that there are some children that deal with trauma on a constant basis and that group homes are often nightmarish experiences. While's Mary's experience felt overwhelmingly bad, I think it probably was somewhat realistic. It was often difficult to read this book, but that is to its credit. Jackson did a good job showing the harsh realities that kids in the system go through.
Another aspect of the novel that I appreciated was how Jackson included an exploration of race in the story. Mary is black and the baby she was accused of murdering was white, and this difference played a big part in the public perception of her case. The public was calling for her to be tried as an adult and calling her a murderer when she was only nine years old, and Jackson isn't shy about implying that the reason she ends up facing such harsh criticisms and punishments is due, at least in part, to the color of her skin. While any crime involving the death of an infant would be very serious and anger the public, we know data shows that black teens are over-represented in the criminal justice systems and tend to receive less benefit of the doubt and harsher punishments than white teens. In Mary's case, she was successfully prosecuted on very little evidence, and her seemingly clear mental health issues were ignored, pointing to racial bias in the system. I was glad Jackson included these elements in the story as it made it feel more relevant and gave the reader something to think about.
Something I didn't like so much was Mary's boyfriend in the story. He's got his own difficult past, and by the time Mary knows all of it, I think she forgives him a bit too easily. The way Jackson depicts him is too sympathetic and does not provide a particularly good or meaningful message to her young adult readers. Also, a large part of the story deals with Mary's fears about the age difference between her and her boyfriend. At the start of the story, she is fifteen and turns sixteen almost immediately. He is eighteen. Throughout the book, she makes a lot of decisions out of a desire to protect him, as if their relationship is illegal. In New York, where the story is set, it would definitely not be illegal. They have a "close in age exemption" there, so there was nothing wrong with them being together (even though an eighteen year old sniffing around a fifteen year old gives me the creeps). As a legal adult, I assume he would have rights to their child if the state wanted to take it away from Mary. However, if he could have taken custody of their baby when it was born, the whole story wouldn't have worked. I suppose that's a plot hole.
I also didn't like the ending very much. Jackson was going for a big twist, but I don't feel like enough clues were woven into the text along the way to make the twist successful. If felt too abrupt and didn't match up the the prior behavior of the characters. I thought that too many of the plot events were left hazy too. I wanted a clearer picture of what really happened in Mary's past and I never got it. I can't go into more detail without spoiling major plot points, but I feel like the ending placed the delivery of a twist over the delivery of a deeper message to readers, and it was kind of a shame.
Despite those issues though, this was still a compelling novel and I do think it was worth reading. It shined a light onto a portion of society that is often ignored or vilified and brought up a lot of interesting things to think about. It fell short of being a really meaningful read in the end though, as Jackson's final twist really changed the trajectory of the story. I have another book by Jackson on my shelves, Monday's Not Coming, and I'm interested to see if I will like the construction of that one any better. I don't think I'll be rereading Allegedly, so I will be donating it. That makes this the first book cleared from my shelves for my challenge this year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, and Sexual violence
sunnyreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I was a little bit afraid to read Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson because well, at the time it was published, there was a lot of hype around it, and since then Tiffany D. Jackson has written and published more YA contemporary books that people praise, and well, I was afraid I wouldn't like it as much as everyone else.
But I did. I did love Allegedly and understand the hype. Wow, such a brilliantly written book. The last chapter takes your breath away. And it's so voicey, which I love voice. I love voicey YA contemporary, and Mary's voice is so loud and in your ear, like she's telling you her story while sitting on your couch.
However, I didn't like all the fatphobia and ableism present in Mary's thoughts; it made me VERY uncomfortable, and I think it was unnecessary. Does it make Mary realistic and like a teenager? Oh, yeah, definitely. I loved the scenes with the other girls, especially the therapy sessions, but I did find myself wishing the fatphobia and ableism wasn't present so much in the text; I didn't think it added anything to the story, especially since she doesn't learn that those thoughts are wrong.
But I did. I did love Allegedly and understand the hype. Wow, such a brilliantly written book. The last chapter takes your breath away. And it's so voicey, which I love voice. I love voicey YA contemporary, and Mary's voice is so loud and in your ear, like she's telling you her story while sitting on your couch.
However, I didn't like all the fatphobia and ableism present in Mary's thoughts; it made me VERY uncomfortable, and I think it was unnecessary. Does it make Mary realistic and like a teenager? Oh, yeah, definitely. I loved the scenes with the other girls, especially the therapy sessions, but I did find myself wishing the fatphobia and ableism wasn't present so much in the text; I didn't think it added anything to the story, especially since she doesn't learn that those thoughts are wrong.
But that was the scariest part. They CAN just do that. They can do whatever they want. (22%)
“What does it mean when you love and hate someone at the same time?” I ask. He laughs. “It means they family.” (27%)
"They’re pushing for the death penalty and don’t even realize executing this little girl is no different than murdering that baby.” (37%)
But I’m only the weakest part of angry; I’m hurt. Hurt makes you want to lay in the middle of the street, dead on the ground, muscles gone limp. (54%)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, and Racism
Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Minor: Homophobia
raivyn's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Cursing, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia
simonlorden's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
let's see how many trigger warnings I remember: child death, child abuse, attempted (?) child rape, racism, graphic animal death, teen pregnancy, graphic vomiting, probably other things I can't think of right now
This was a dark book. That's fine. I knew it was going to be a dark book. It was a solid 4 stars for me, up until the last chapter, which kinda ruined the whole thing for me. I couldn't really articulate the disgust and disappointment that came over me at that last chapter, but it just felt like the twist really cheapened the entire book and erased all the development before it.
This was a dark book. That's fine. I knew it was going to be a dark book. It was a solid 4 stars for me, up until the last chapter, which kinda ruined the whole thing for me. I couldn't really articulate the disgust and disappointment that came over me at that last chapter, but it just felt like the twist really cheapened the entire book and erased all the development before it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Child abuse, Racism, Bullying, and Cursing
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Vomit
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