Allegedly: Book Review
- Jessica Winkle Barrett
- May 30, 2018
- 2 min read
Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
Goodreads Summary:
Mary B. Addison killed a baby. Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: A white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? She wouldn’t say. Mary survived six years in baby jail before being dumped in a group home. The house isn’t really “home”—no place where you fear for your life can be considered a home. Home is Ted, who she meets on assignment at a nursing home. There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary must find the voice to fight her past. And her fate lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But who really knows the real Mary?
Personal Review: 4 coffee cups
I wrote a whole review, and then after reading the last chapter, I had to change half of it.
This story is raw, honest, and brutal at times. There are points in the story that will make your stomach roll. It is not a feel-good book by any means, but that doesn’t make it any less important.
Mary’s story is one of survival. Most of the story takes place in the group home Mary has been placed in. Honestly, it is downright hard to imagine places and “caretakers” like this exist. The other girls in the home are ruthless and sometimes violent. As the story progresses, readers are exposed to how broken the system can be when it comes to rehabilitating minors.
One of the most dynamic aspects of this story was the relationship between Mary and her mother. I have read a couple of contemporary books now where the roles are reversed and the child becomes the parent. It is a tragic turn of events, especially when the child takes the fall for parental neglect.
This story also offers a cold, hard look at the balance of equality and justice when it comes to prosecuting the accused, especially within the media. No matter the verdict (innocent or guilty), the general public constructs a certain image of the suspect based on the sensationalistic views of the media.
The ending kind of threw me for a loop. I felt like some of the important messages were overshadowed by the last chapter. Overall, I feel like there are still important truths to be uncovered in this story.
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