Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Saturday, March 08, 2014


I had originally decided that I wasn't going to write any in-depth review of this book. This was because of a few reasons. 1. I felt like I would be over loading my blog with books. 2. It's based on quite a 'taboo' subject. However, I changed my mind with these because I want to post what I enjoy and because the book left me with a feeling of being totally and utterly destroyed!
"She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending."


I realise that from the start that this book seems like a very odd and one that you would not ever want to read. However, this book is written so well and Suzuma did an amazing job with this. I believe that a book should leave you with so much emotion that makes you stop and look at the world. The only other book that has so far made me look at life in this way is John Greens- Looking For Alaska. 

The moment I picked this book up and started reading it, I was hooked. I had so many emotions running through me: I was so annoyed and upset and angry that at one point I ended up hating it so much. But even though this book made me feel all this, I will never ever stop loving it. This is going to sound so odd but the way it did upset me made me love it. I fell in love with Maya and Lochan and they will always be two of my favourite characters.
“Otherwise I'll fall apart. I'm going to fall apart. I am falling apart.” 
Although it does seem like this book is focused on the idea of incest. It is really doesn't. It follows the story of two young people who were emotionally damaged by their dead beat dad who abandoned them while they were younger and the drunken mother who abandons them during the course of the book. They are thrown into a world of having to act as parents and look after three young children while they are children themselves. It is no wonder that these acts have caused them to be who they are. It is no surprise that Lochan is troubled with an obvious state of a mental illness as he suffers from panic attacks and social anxiety. 

If you don't want to know what else happens stop reading here and go pick up a copy! 

The ending of this book just left me so distraught and heartbroken that I know no other book will ever be able to leave this sort of impact on me again. Although you were never actually 'rooting' for them to be together, you were rooting for them to have a better life. A life where they wouldn't be shunned by parents. A life where they could be happy. And a life that didn't leave them scared.
“This whole time, my whole life, that harsh, stony path was leading up to this one point. I followed it blindly, stumbling along the way, scraped and weary, without any idea of where it was leading, without ever realizing that with every step I was approaching the light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel. And now that I've reached it, now that I'm here, I want to catch it in my hand, hold onto it forever to look back on - the point at which my new life really began.” 
And you feel like all this is going to happen towards the end up the book. Everything starts fitting together. And everything seems like its looking up for not just Lochan and Maya but for the rest of their little family. Everybody starts getting on better and life is just made easier. But with the disastrous ending you know that everything just happened so quickly. That this was definitely a case where life was taken too early. 

To be honest, I wasn't even sure what to write in this review but I just needed to write about how amazing and brilliant this book is. And I just need for any person out there who has considered reading this book but never has and for anybody has never even heard of this book to actually go and pick it up and read it. I feel that it is one of those books that you can just connect with, not on an actual realistic life way but on an emotional way. I also feel that it's an amazing book that could start a very interesting conversation with. 
Please let me know what you have thought of this book if you have read it. 

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8 comments

  1. I love this book. I read it last year and thought it was brilliant :)

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    1. Yaay! :) I'm really annoyed at myself for not reading it sooner as it was brilliant!

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  2. I stopped reading at the bold bit. I didn't think I'd like this book, but your review makes it sound so interesting. It sounds a little bit like Virginia Andrews - Flowers in the Attic. That's another great read if you haven't read that one yet. :) x

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    1. It is definitely an interesting read! And I don't think I would have picked it up if it wasn't for the fact that it had a really beautiful cover (sorry graphic design nerd here!). And oooh I#'ve never heard of that one, I'll check it out! :)

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  3. it sounds really interesting. i'm always quite sceptical about delicate motives like this one, because it is too easy to destroy a book with a good potential with careless approach to the taboo subject.
    but if it causes many emotions, then i guess it is good! i think i'll check it out ^^

    come visit me - pigeongray.blogspot.com

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    1. I totally get what you mean! I was pretty surprised at the connection you make with the characters!

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  4. I didn't realise you'd written a review on this book! I stopped reading at the bold bit, but I do actually think this sounds like something I'd really enjoy. I completely agree that a book should make you feel something, so I'm intrigued with this one! xx
    Megan | Lazy Thoughts

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    1. It is a very good book once you look past the initial 'tabooness'. And it does deffo make you feel! xx

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