Monday, April 10, 2017

Allegedly by Tiffany D Jackson- Book Review

I started reading Allegedly by Tiffany D Jackson on a whim. I was looking for a book to read in between books and was drawn to the title. When I read the premise, I knew I had to read a bit more. It became one of those books I tore through, felt it was a bit longer than needed to be, and then disliked the ending so much it almost ruined the rest of the book.

Mary Addison murdered a baby when she was 9 years old, allegedly. She has moved from "baby prison" (solitary confinement) to juvie to a halfway house where she is allowed to leave under supervision. Her fellow prisoners torture her regularly, from simply throwing her stuff on the floor to much worse things later in the book. Mary has been in the prison system so long, she is numb to most of it.

The worst part is everyone knows her story. Her story has been written about in a ton of books and it looks like it will be made into a movie. In a place where people assume, knowing your crime is a different story.

Mary gets visited by her mother regularly on Sunday, where her mother stays for about 15 minutes to talk about her new life. Mary also works at an elderly home, where she has met Ted, an 18 year old who has gotten 16 year old Mary pregnant. Mary has also gotten a new roommate who is working through the justice system with an independent group who helps those who have received injustice get justice. The connection to that is Mary has started to remember things about that night when she allegedly murdered a baby that don't seem to add up.

I'll begin my review portion by stating, this is not a light book to read. For those who have triggers, there is abuse, statutory rape, torturous conditions, and of course the murder of an infant which gets described in great detail several times. The funny thing is this is marketed as a book for teens. My guess is because the protagonist is a teen, but this is NOT a teen book, maybe a young adult, but definitely not for early teens.

I am also going to go a tiny bit negative. There were three things that bothered me about this book. The first was the length. At about 400 pages, it becomes a bit too long. The second was the Ted story, as it was a bit clichéd. As soon as Ted is introduced, you know he is going to get her pregnant and you know he is going to be something else (I won't spoil, but you learn pretty quickly what that something else is). Finally, the ending. I have talked to a few people online who also disliked the ending. You journey through 390 pages or so and the last few pages simply ruin the book. I am not going to spoil, but just be prepared.

Now for the positives, as there were more than negatives. Mary's story about that night unfolds wonderfully. You get glimpses here and there, but you don't get the whole story until you need to. Her relationship with her mother is well described and thought out. It would be a tense relationship between them. It is also an incredible look at the injustice found within the justice system. How can someone prove her innocence when the whole world knows her story? She was 9 when the crime happened, it is now 7 years later and she has no hope of getting justice.

Overall, I sort of enjoyed this one. It was a good story, but it is brutal in places, so how could one enjoy brutality? I gave this one 3.5 stars.

Here is your Amazon link- Allegedly by Tiffany D Jackson

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