BOOK REVIEW: ALLEGEDLY BY TIFFANY D. JACKSON

RATING

*****

REVIEW

To say that this book shocked me is an understatement. When I finished reading the book, I had to reread that ending a few times to make sure I fully comprehended what just happened. It took me a while to fully grasp the ramifications and be able to come to terms with it. The story got into my head, and really bothered me in ways I cannot describe.

In short, the story is about Mary B. Addison, a young black girl who was convicted of ‘allegedly’ killing a 3 month old white baby at 9 years of age, while she was babysitting with her mother one evening. Throughout all the trials, Mary never said a word to defend herself, she took the punishment, neither denying nor confirming the accusations, while her mother was let go.

The media had a field day with the story, raising hell about a black girl killing a white baby, and demanding retribution, regardless of her age. At present, Mary is 15 or 16 and is still required to stay at a juvenile home for troubled youth until the age of 19. The entire story is told from her perspective, and as the story progresses, we slowly begin to peel back the layers of her personality as we get to know her more and more intimately. We sympathize with her situation, we trust her and we feel what she feels, injustice, unfairness, fear, frustration, determination and love…so much love for her unborn baby. When she finds out that she is pregnant, Mary decides to do all that is in her power to keep her baby, and that means finally speaking out about what really happened that night and who was responsible for the death of the child. She tries to get a proper education, studying for her SATs so she can get into college, struggling to make a better life for herself and her baby, but is constantly being pushed back. We get a very intimate look at life in a juvenile home, the brutality experienced, the monstrosity of some of the people who end up there and the peers that are assigned to look after them. 

I could feel Mary’s struggle and frustration. Her mother’s calm and religious persona, which was hypocritical and made me want to gouge her eyes out, was incredibly infuriating. I wanted to strangle her once the whole story is finally revealed and we find out exactly what occurred that dark night. I genuinely rooted for Mary and wanted to see her story shared and the case reopened for trial. I wanted to see her win, I wanted justice served and I wanted her to be able to keep her baby. Mary’s voice is strong, she reels you in and keeps you hanging on to her every word. You trust her. You believe her. You cheer her on.

The twist at the end was so unpredictable, I never saw it coming, and it seems from the reviews I’ve read that no one else has. That is what made me give the book a 5 star rating, because despite the fact that I felt certain parts of it dragged and despite the fact that I was ready to give up on it, it completely managed to shake me and leave a huge impact on me. There aren’t many books I can say that about. 

I was honestly appalled at how graphically violent this book was. It made me very uncomfortable reading some parts, while I had to skim through other parts, especially concerning the details of the baby’s injuries. It made me want to cry and gag and just set down the book and never pick it up again. It was a difficult read. It was really challenging getting through it, and at the end, my head ached, my brain ached and my whole body ached. I did not realize how tightly wound I was until I had finished the book, let my shoulders down and felt my muscles creak with exhaustion.

This book took it out of me, so a word of caution: tread carefully, because the content is very mature and unpleasant, but the ending – for me – was worth the trouble.