The Degenerates

January 15, 2020
Mann (What Every Girl Should Know, 2019, etc.) tackles the eugenics movement of the 1920s. Students of the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded--disabled, gay, Indigenous, and other marginalized people--never graduate. Categorized as idiots, imbeciles, and morons, these "degenerates" are subject to strict routines, cruel punishments, and menial labor. But street-wise, cynical orphan London--unmarried and pregnant--is sure she can escape. However, when she reluctantly befriends Maxine; Maxine's younger sister, Rose, who has Down syndrome; and Alice, who has a club foot, she realizes that more lives than hers are at stake. Each teen's perspective unfolds in alternating third-person chapters. Maxine's forbidden mutual attraction to Alice mingles with hope, homesickness, and shame. Alice, who is singled out for harsher punishment for being black and lesbian as well as disabled, doesn't dare express love. Though Rose's portrayal skirts the "cuddly disabled child" trope, she's refreshingly savvy. A heavy plot contrivance notwithstanding, the author portrays the movement's prejudice, racism, and violence with brutal realism; an author's note explains that the doctors' dehumanizing dialogue comes verbatim from real medical notes. Crucially, she reminds readers that such prejudice still exists. She also explains all named characters' diagnoses, which range from hydrocephalus to autism, and considers her own spinal disability and white privilege. Maxine, Rose, and most secondary characters appear to be white. London, who has southern Italian origins, has a dark complexion. Respectful, unflinching, and eye-opening. (historical note, author's note, bibliography) (Historical fiction. 14-18)

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February 21, 2020

Gr 8 Up-Idiot. Imbecile. Moron. Undesirable. Feeble-minded. These are the words used to describe the students at the Walter E. Fernald State School, or the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded, where Alice, London, Maxine, and Rose live. In 1928, anyone who was a threat to the gene pool or exhibited "unworthy" traits was rounded up and sent to these institutions. Alice has a twisted foot and was dropped off at the school by her brother after he was socially shamed while they walked down the street together. Maxine and Rose, who both have Down syndrome, were sent to the school by their mother, who had more children than she could care for. London, diagnosed as a high-grade moron, arrives at the school pregnant and in the back of a police wagon. Alternating chapters cover the various characters' experiences in this rigorously structured school. While there have been stories written about the time period, little has been published that is as historically accurate and scrupulously researched about this kind of widespread institutionalization. Kiersten White's The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein and Deborah Schaumberg's The Tombs both center on women who were institutionalized, but with more fantastical elements. VERDICT Although this is an additional selection for libraries that have large historical fiction readership, the diversity of the characters' identities, across racial, gender, and the alarmingly blurred lines of "disability," may garner a second look for some collections.-Jessica Lorentz Smith, Bend Senior High School, OR

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