This was a fun one to read. I highly enjoyed it and can’t wait to get my hands on more by this author.

Interesting, eye-opening look into institution life in the 1920s. This historical fiction novel is based on real events and doctors' notes, and while some of the language used didn't seem to fit with the time period, the overall story is true to life. "The Degenerates" is told from the point of view of four girls with varying "issues", such as teen pregnancy and homosexuality, that have been committed to the institution for the "feebleminded". The subject matter in this book is difficult to stomach at some points, however it is an important story to tell, and it's easy to root for the characters.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Unfortunately I was unable to read this in the format provided. As such I cannot provide a complete or honest review.

"The Degenerates" is a historical fiction book that takes places in Massachusetts during the early 20th century at a school for the "feeble-minded." It highlights the, though completely irrational and absurd, very true perspective the world had (and often still has) towards anyone who was different. This could be anything from: physical appearance to mental ability to sexual orientation. Name it, and you'd find a person "like that" was institutionalized at the start of the 20th century, though these practices were extended well into this century, too.

The story centers on four girls: Maxine (LGBTQIA+ rep), Rose (Down's Syndrome), Alice (LGBTQIA+ rep and African American), and London (teen pregnancy who are residents (rightly named "inmates") at the William Fernald School for the Feeble-minded, which sounds almost as cool Charles Xavier's School for the Gifted in X-Men, but it's really not. It's an institution for anyone who is different. An institution where these girls are labeled anywhere from a "high grade moron" to a "low grade imbecile." The worst part is, aside from changing the verb forms and such, these were actual words uttered by actual doctors and nurses and others during this time. Words that made the inmates believe they were LESS and that they truly were morons and imbeciles, as they constantly heard from the doctors.

So, for the longest time, the girls don't even realize how they have the power and strength to escape and make a better life for themselves until the day London arrives. London shows them how easy it is to escape the actual institution though it's much harder to survive on the outside when no one wants you. But, London knows someone who will take them all in. So the four girls start planning their escape, Not only must they find money, warm clothes, and a map, but they have to find the drive, hope, and confidence to believe that they're more than just "incompetent imbeciles," like they've been told their entire lives.

If you want to read a book that's going to break your heart a little with every page then, especially when you recall that this was based on very REAL mindsets and living situations in this country, then read this. If you want to read a book that cultivates hope, as well, then read this.

This book felt different because Mann tries to place herself in this book and write as though she was living inside with school with the four girls.

You probably won't love the ending but, any true dreamer, might.

When I read the synopsis of The Degenerates by J. Albert Mann, I knew that I had to read it. I have always been fascinated by the periods in our nation’s history when people were shunted and hidden away like this. Especially for it to be children. Given I tend to dive into dark topics anyway, this seemed right up my alley. And I’m happy to report that I was exceedingly pleased with the journey.

The Degenerates is a great story with both heartbreaking and beautiful moments. The topics themselves can be dark: mental illness, disfiguration, society and the burden of shame in the 1900s. But what Mann does so well is give each one of these issues a face and a name. These four girls, and points of view, are varied in their “illnesses,” and each holds their own voices and secrets. But throughout the book, they each also hold a lesson for us: that every one of us is human, no matter how different.

My favorite thing about this book is simple: Mann’s writing is immersive, emotional, and easy to read, all at once. Her writing infuses life into the history and people she writes about in such a personal way that I felt like I was in the story myself, living alongside, and sometimes within, these four, lost, young girls.

Overall, The Degenerates was a moving, intelligent, emotional, and powerful read. I enjoyed every page of it and I felt like it moved along at a pace that was both fun and dwelt just long enough in the hard places. Mann does a terrific job of bringing a period and place to life that I don’t see much of in literature, especially YA, and I commend her for that. I’ll be looking for her next work in the future.

3.5 Stars

'The Degenerates' is a new young adult historical fiction novel that follows four girls - Maxine, Rose, Alice, and London - and their time at The Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded. I've always found this subject to be both fascinating and repulsive - that women and girls could be locked up in places like this if they didn't act a certain way, if they were an embarrassment to their families, were a burden to their families, or got pregnant (to name a few). It's so messed up that this was allowed to happen in the first place, but the accounts of what went on inside these places as well as the living conditions themselves were despicable. I think the author did a fantastic job bringing this "school" to life and showing what it would've been like to live there. It was sad, heartbreaking, maddening, and horrible. But underneath it all, the girls have hope, determination, and strength they didn't even know they had.

I liked getting to know each of the girls - their personalities, back stories, hopes and dreams, fears, and everything else. They all felt realistic and I found it easy to empathize with each of them. One thing that didn't really work for me was the author's choice of writing style. I prefer the first person point of view, but the book is done in the third person. I understand the reasoning behind this - having multiple main characters and narrators could get confusing if done in another way. However, I just couldn't get the deep connection with any of the characters that I love. Without this connection, I also find it difficult to lose myself in the story and the world the author has created. If I can't really connect with the main character, then I'm almost never able to fully immerse myself in the story and get lost inside of it. Sadly, that's what happened with this book. If it had been written in the first person, I'm sure I would've had a completely different experience and probably would've liked it a lot more. Please remember that these are just my own personal thoughts and opinions and they aren't meant to reflect negatively on the book or author at all. Lots of readers won't have the same issues as I did and will probably end up really loving the book. Overall, it was a fascinating look at a time in our history when these horrible things actually happened, but it's also a great story about four girls who are determined to make their own fate and not have it made for them. Definitely recommended for fans of YA fiction and historical fiction.

Trigger warning for outdated (but relevant) discrimination and mistreatment of the differently abled, people of color, and lgbtq+ members of society. Also teen pregnancy and graphic miscarriage descriptions.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this Advanced Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this a 2.5, but for Netgalley and Goodreads purposes I did round up to a 3 because I understood why people enjoyed this book and what the author was attempting to do. Tough stories have to be told, but I think that the over all way this was told just was not completely for me, which is okay! Writing about unpleasant history can be, well, unpleasant but I think I just couldn’t get my mind around the story or characters. I think this would work better if I tell you what I liked and didn't like in bullet point format.

What I enjoyed:
-Multiple POVs to get to know each character
-Each character was from a differently walk of life (i.e. POC, differently abled, LGBTQ+, etc)
-Author wasn't afraid to tackle difficult topics or story matter
-Writing definitely brought out the right amount of anger in reader (i.e. me)

What I didn't enjoy so much:
-Couldn't fully connect w/ characters
-Content was definitely difficult to read
-Overall writing style wasn't for me

In the authors note it was pointed out that the author pulled all of the dialogue from real medical regards and so the horrible way these girls were treated and described was very real and I don’t doubt that. I just....I could not get into this book and I’ll admit I really wish I could. Great subject matter, tough content and definitely triggering. I just don’t think that it was for me ultimately. That being said, I noticed that a lot of people who did have the opportunity to read this book, did enjoy it, which is why I think it's important to form your own opinions. If you think this is something you'd be into, check it out! It was released a couple of weeks ago. Just be safe when reading.

What a rough, but in the best way, read. I've learned a lot about this era through Mann's eyes - recommended for all.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of The Degenerates. This was an emotional roller coaster. I really appreciate the amount of research that went into this novel. J. Albert Mann did an excellent job weaving historical facts into her fictional characters. I think this would be a great look into early 1900s medical and eugenics practices for teens. I would suggest 8th grade readers and up due to the language, abuse, and subject matter. I was routing for every girl and really felt their struggles.

This was an eye-opening, and heart-breaking book. Based on real women, The Degenerates is about four women who are considered 'morons' or 'feebleminded' and are therefore made to stay in this school for the rest of their lives. Alice is there because she has a club foot, Maxine is there because she was caught kissing girls, and Maxine's sister Rose is there because she has down syndrome. London joins them after being taken from the home she was living in after becoming pregnant without being married. These women are made to do the same things every single day and if they put one toe out of line, they are put in the 'cages' which are even worse than their daily routines.

This book is sad, but brilliantly written. I say this book is an eye-opener because I'm disabled and had I lived in that time period I might have ended up there as well.

I would recommend this book to everyone who loves true historical fiction.

Thank you, NetGalley and Antheum Books for Young Readers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book took my breath away. It was gorgeous and heartbreaking. I honestly loved all four of the main characters so much, which is unusual. When there’s so many POVs one or two are bound to be unfavorable, but I honestly loved reading all of theirs.

Alice is a young black girl who was abandoned at The Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded for her club foot. She is only one of two black girls at the school so she has to adhere to an even stricter set of rules than the other girls. She is hopelessly in love with Maxine, though she never shows it.

Maxine is the dreamer of the group. She dreams up unbelievable futures for her and her younger sister, Rose. And if she was being honest, for Alice too. Maxine does the best to take care of her sister after her mother dropped them both off nearly 5 years ago.

Rose is Maxine’s younger sister who has Down syndrome. She is sunshine. I absolutely loved reading her POV. I have never read a book with the POV of someone with Down syndrome and I absolutely love learning more about Rose. She’s not as naive as her sister would like to believe. She helps the new charge, London, squirrel away rations to run aways with.

London is a fighter. You really can’t describe her any other way. She has had a life of heartbreak after heartbreak. Her parents are both dead by the time she is four and she bounces around from shitty foster homes until she lands with the Old Lady who is a little less shitty than everyone else. Unfortunately, London is dragged to The Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded after becoming pregnant at 14 without being married.

This story is about these four girls trying to survive in such a horrible, horrible place. I really really loved all of them and loved this story so much.

I love that the author did A TON of research and based all the characters off real people in history. All these girls existed. It was heartbreaking to see her lay out the references she had detailing these very real girls who had to go through all this heartbreak. All the teachers, doctors, and attendants existed as well. How any human being can treat other human beings that way truly baffles me.

I think it was a little bit of a shock to realize that because of my disabilities and my sexuality I could have very easily been amongst them had I been born a century earlier.

The only negative thing I do have to say about this story is that I didn’t love how the story was left so open for two of the characters. I know that it was very realistic, but I wish we could have had just a little bit of closure.

I think this really educates on the history of eugenics and I highly recommend giving it a read!

I will end this review on this note; I do highly recommend this book but PLEASE be careful. There’s a very explicit scene of a late term miscarriage. It was very hard for me to read and I know it will be triggering to some. Be cautious!

This book will absolutely break your heart, but it will also give you hope and inspiration at the strength of human spirit. Back in the day (this is set in the 1920s), anyone who was different (in really any way, but in this book, we are dealing mostly with developmental differences, though race and general disability seem to have a role as well) was deemed "wrong". And in this story, we follow four young women who were deemed such, and who very much are not, in any way, "wrong". The world being more brutal and intolerant of differences acted upon this by institutionalizing these women.

Truly, their journeys are absolutely the highlight of the book, and also the hardest part of the book. You know that so many people existed in these very conditions, and it's quite difficult to read at times. But if you can handle it, it's something we really should be reading about. There are still plenty of injustices in the world, and putting ourselves into the shoes of another can only generate more empathy and humanity.

While I adored the characters, I couldn't help but feel a bit disconnected from them. I can't quite pinpoint why, but I just didn't feel like I was totally immersed in their world, even though I did care about them as characters. I will also say that there are a few times that I thought the book felt a bit draggy in the middle, which is maybe unfair because I am sure the lives of these women were also monotonous at times, but it felt worth mentioning.

Bottom Line: The good absolutely outweighed the bad, as I was grateful to have this glimpse inside such a horrible atrocity inflicted upon such strong and lovely young women.

Unfortunately, my e-book copy had formatting issues which I was only able to read some of the book and get to a couple of quotes. What I was able to read I thought the book was good and get an idea that I would have enjoyed it if my copy wasn’t messed up. I will definitely buying a copy when it comes out on Tuesday. What I read, I thought the author did a good job in writing and highlighting the darkest events that were happening to young girls in the 20th century.

It is rare to find a book that contains so many degrees of humanity with a true conveyal of dignifying emotions. J. Albert Mann wrote an impactful story about the young girls who were pushed aside on the back-burners of society because of physical and mental afflictions or other unsocial dispositions. Mann illustrated such a compelling, and heartbreaking, portrayal of the mental institutions of the 1900's through the alternating narratives of London, Maxine, Alice, and Rose. London is a young woman who was sent to the institution due to her pregnancy out of wedlock, Rose has Down Syndrome, Maxine is labeled as a 'moron', and Alice's clubfoot sets her apart from society.


The author does not shy away from the harsh realities of life or the tantalizing freedoms that surround the young protagonists that fill the role of being considered society's degenerates. Rather, she approaches their individual struggles in a dignifying way for each character to allow their story to unfold and enable readers to absorb these words which echo a time not too far away from our own. The Degenerates by J. Albert Mann truly possesses an incredible spirit that will gently embrace your heart and whisper a story full of courage and voices who refuse to be silenced by history.

This book is one of those devastatingly beautiful difficult books to read. I mean it’s covering a time where women were just locked away if they served no purpose. Out of sight out of mind, it was easier to tell them that they were feeble minded and would never amount to something. You know, the frustratingly not too long ago time where women were deemed lesser than.

This book, just wow. Not only is it taking a look at such an amazingly important sliver of our history, but the cast is utterly amazingly diverse. None of these girls are feeble minded, they were just dealt a rather sad hand. I’m rarely a fan of multiple perspectives, but this book I was so excited to switch up the perspectives and learn more about each of the girls. They were just such a wonderful mix of feisty, inquisitive, and tough to the bones.

While this may be a difficult book to read because of the subject, it is most definitely not a difficult book to read because of the writing. I was immediately swept away into the story and couldn’t put the book down. To say I stayed up a smidge too late is probably an understatement

J. Albert Mann's The Degenerates is a book that's going to tug your heart. This is a book that shows the other side of the early 20th century in America. It was just now war that were claiming normalcy in people's lives, but also the inhumane constitutionalization of Eugenics.

The Degenerates revolves around the lives of 4 young girls, just into their teens, living a life away from society, labelled by terms like 'morons', 'imbeciles', and 'idiots', just because they couldn't conform into the rules that makes a human 'normal.' London, Alice, Maxine and Rose are young girls, forced to live in The Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded because no one wanted them. They are outcasts of the society. What is normal to them, is abnormal to others. As the story progresses, we will get to see the four girls grow, as individuals and they learn to be dependent on each other.

The authors covers various disabilities and 'normalcy' (that were not considered so in the 19th and early 20th century) through the girls admitted in the school, that made them weirdly different from others - that made them 'high-class morons.' the author covers their struggles at home and how they landed up in the school. The Degenerates is one such book that will make you think and empathize with the characters. The hardships that these children, with no fault of their own, were considered not worthy of being humans.

The author has really touched upon a sensitive topic in writing this book. This is going to make you feel thankful thay you were born in a much more welcoming era. This book is a story on love, friendship and sisterhood. The struggles of the characters felt so real (because once upon a time they were), and so raw.

The book is going to feel very personal after reading about their struggles. Especially London's helplessness when she was trying to keep her hunger at bay, when all Maxine did her best to keep her sister safe from the school bullies, when Alice tries to confront her feelings of love and guilt at the same time, when the babies in the school were left alone to die because they were meant to anyway, and when Maxine couldn't show her mother how well she could sing and failed to get the only chance she'd get at asking her mother for forgiveness.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It's educational and emotional; it's heartbreaking and hopeful; and it's going to make you feel grateful about being born into the 21st century.

When I started this book, I did not know how much I would come to love these characters and their stories. About four girls institutionalized and considered feeble-minded by the ‘science’ of their time, it is a story that talks about dehumanization of those considered different from society, as well as how much things can be done together. The institutionalization of young women is something I’ve come across before in historical fiction, but this is the most realistic perspective of it, and it would be, considering the research Mann has put into it. At the start, the direction of the plot was unclear, but we get to know these girls- three of them: Alice, and the sisters Rose and Maxine, who have been living there since childhood, while London is the one who is new, and shakes things up – and their grim lives in the facility where they are treated as sub-human and face contempt from the staff, if not outright punishments in the form of solitary confinement. London wants out, immediately, because she has her foster mother to get back to, and Rose gets pulled into her scheme, and soon Maxine and Alice.

The story is told through their points of view, and their personal stories resonate with hurt and abandonment, yes, but the overall tone of the story is also hopeful. Maxine is probably the one of them who hopes for a better future the most. Rose’s fascination with London and London adoring her was cute; while Rose has an older sister, she is also taken care of by London and Alice. Alice, who is one of two black girls in the institute, is understandably cautious and wary and her love for Maxine brings down her walls. London is, well, a bit cynical, but a lot scrappy and has street smarts, which makes her a great catalyst for the girls to hope getting out instead of just moving on to the next stage of their stay, which is filled with uncertainty as Alice and Maxine will age out of their current section. The writing beautifully built up these characters and gets you to love them so much, and the plot takes us through the ups and downs of their plans, so it is an engaging read that moves at a good pace. The ending leaves us a bit open-ended, but also gives us a happy-ish conclusion.

I just couldn’t get into this book. It didn’t strike me as anything interesting and I DNFed it. Though I may go back and try again another time

The Degenerates follows the lives of five young girls who are institutionalized because they are believed to be morons and imbeciles. Once girls enter this institution they never leave. There, they are treated poorly and punished harshly. Their situations are heartbreaking. This will not be an easy read.

Wow.. in this well done work of fiction Mann introduces us to five characters who are considered incapable of living a normal life. We follow a very brief period of their lives and experience a small portion of what they've gone through. The situations in this book are so well detailed. It's easy to imagine the poor girls in this book struggling through their daily lives, trying to find joy in the smallest ways. The writing is excellent and draws a force of strong emotions. This book will break your heart and make you enraged. If you're looking for a book about girls who beat the system and get a better life, than you should consider picking up something else. If you want something raw and superbly written, than this is the book you're looking for.

While this was an emotionally charged, fast read it isn't going to be for everybody. Once again, if you're looking for a happy wraped-up ending this won't give you that. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys well written, engaging stories about difficult topics and situations.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club, Netgalley, and Atheneum Books for Young Readers for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

No, these girls aren’t bad in the traditional sense. They just don’t belong in this school and the reasons why they were put there are utter crap. So this book really worked up some emotions in me because I absolutely hate it when girls are treated like something is wrong with them for dumb reasons and then they get branded as something like this: degenerates. Stuff with such negative connotations that they don’t deserve to be.

So this is what I was thinking of basically and I was just really into this book because I love that the girls didn’t just let these people dictate their lives. They wanted to change their fate, and they were going to do whatever it took in order to change it. I love that they had the strength to want to do this, to make themselves better than their circumstances, especially during a time where girls just weren’t allowed to succeed in life.