Forbidden (original 2010; edition 2012)

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*Warning, this review, if the author ever reads it, isn't all entirely true. (um, yeah it is). I just want the author to know that I loved her work in this book, even thought I am a tiny bit angry towards her for.... something*

*Other Warning: To anyone who has a heart of his own, well, prepare your glue, because my heart broke after reading this book*

My Opinion : After seeing the title, the first jumbled thoughts that popped in my mind; What is it about? A Romeo and Juliet rip-offish kind of book? Of course, it must be about love! Look at the heart! And the red cover! It must be something like that! Or maybe it's dystopian? Or maybe they are gay people in the past? So, um yeah... possibilities! Then, I read the mysterious summary. I shuddered and closed the window. I mean... ew! I know, I know I am prejudiced, but who isn't? Raise your hand, anyone who read the summary without thinking: ew!, disgusting! ugh! um...! 9or for the religious freaks: Satan Followers! :D) Fortunately, I read the reviews. Some were saying: Ew! Ew! Ew! with some stupid blah blah, and others were writing about the quality of the written work. Ever thought of that, people who wrote stupid reviews about this book?

So, now that I'm rereading my last chapter... I'd say I got my fury out. Almost. Now I have to get my fury towards the author out. Now! Wait! Nope, here it is! Mrs Tabitha Suzuma, with all the well-deserved respect... why did you *spoiler alert everyone* kill Lochan! *okay, now you can continue reading weird people who didn't read the book yet*. I mean.... *sob sob* I loved him! And you just, just, well, you know! My heart broke to pieces when he.... you know... I mean, he had to love Maya for what he did, but surely, there was another way, Lochan. You could of had me *giggles*.

Alright, so, I just got a tiny bit of anger to get out. Again, towards the author. Now, now, Mrs Tabitha, why didn't you write a longer book! I mean... I WANT MORE OF THIS KIND OF BOOKS AND NOW! I'm probably going to read one of her other books (let'S hope they are as mind-blowing as Forbidden!)

So, I was wondering... why didn't the police characters in this books didn't see how Maya and Lochan loved each other, and that they broke my heart? Stupid, stupid police characters!

The writing was just... wow. It amazed me how this book made me fell. You know, the kind, that when you are reading it, you sweat as if you were going through what the characters were going through?

Rating : A well-deserved 5/5 stars! ( )

I was talking to Lyndsey about how it feels to have a brother and the best example I could come up with is this: It feels like that force when you try to put two similar magnetic poles together, but right at that moment when it starts to push away. The love I have for my brother is so strong but he repulses me at the same time. I mean, he’s great as an adult but he is the same kid who once filled his Skeletor action figure with urine and sprayed all 3 of his sisters with it. He is the same brother who once fed 4-year old Flann a concoction of mostly Tabasco sauce while we were being babysat. (My mother made him drink it when she came home, FYI) He is the same brother who used to put his stuffed Hulk Hogan resting above his doorframe so if we tried to come in, it’d fall on us. And he is the same kid that said, “Polly want a cracker?” like a parrot all the way from Texas to Seattle on a road trip. (according to my mother) How anyone could ever be attracted to their sibling is beyond me. I do understand that it happens, usually in highly stressful family situations, but I just couldn’t get over my repulsion while I was reading [b:Forbidden|7600924|Forbidden|Tabitha Suzuma|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1302655056s/7600924.jpg|10018976]. I wonder what the correlation is between people who enjoyed this book and whether or not they have brothers. Oh, I guess I was assuming that everyone who would read this review would already know what this book is about. If you don’t, SURPRISE! It’s about incest. (well, really it is about being in a terrible family situation)

This is written in first-person present, which really isn’t my favorite style, but I couldn’t get over the following:

“Summer gives way to autumn. The air turns sharper, the days grow shorter, gray clouds and persistent drizzle alternating with cold blue skies and bracing winds. Willa loses her third tooth, Tiffin attempts to cut his own hair when a supply teacher mistakes him for a girl…”

What is this? Most of the book reads like personal journal entries from Lochan and Maya’s present alternating perspectives but every once in a while there would be sections of text that were reflections on long periods of time. Overall, I thought the dual perspectives were successful but who writes their present thoughts like this?

Dear diary,
Winter approaches faster than usual this year. Crisp, frigid air creeps into town with snowstorms right behind it. I made chicken casserole for dinner tonight. I cooked the chicken too long so it was a bit dry. (I'm joking about this. I am just doing the same type of thing that is actually in the book. Nothing Ms. Suzuma writes is as bad as my made up diary entry.)

A bit jarring, eh? That’s an extreme example of what I am talking about but you get the point.

I want to make a comment on the names in this book but can someone named Flannery actually do that with a straight face? I’m not even going to tell you my other family members’ names—let’s just say it would be the pot calling the kettle black on this one. (though we DO all have Irish names so at least there’s a theme!) Willa, Tiffin, Kit, Maya, and Lochan? It reminded me of that quote from Baby Mama when the one mother reminds her kids that they have a playdate later with Wingspan and Banjo.

I found the whole story a bit predictable but was it entertaining? Definitely. And the sex scenes were really well-done, even though it makes me feel really creepy and dirty to say so. I have absolutely no idea what makes people love or hate this—my Goodreads friends are all over the spectrum and not in a predictable way. If you can stomach reading about an incestuous relationship, give it a go. It is worth the read but it was just a 2.5-3 for me.

Thanks for sending me a copy, Arlene:)
( )

First things first, as an only child, I probably will never be able to grasp the bond between siblings with all it facets.

There will be many people who disagree with my opinions but I'm willing to face that. So here we go...

If I fall in love with my best friend and he returns these feelings and together we decide to consumate a relationship, nobody would care. Nobody would question if we can be in love, if we can have sex and if our relationship is disgusting. No law in the world could punish me for loving my best friend who is a year older than me.

The law wouldn't punish me if I fell in love with a woman instead. No law would punish me if the age gap accounts for 30, 40 or 50 years. Because I'm an adult and everything happenes on a consensual basis. I'm free to love whom I want with the exception of people under 18 or under my care. Or any person, I'm related to. I honestly can't imagine to fall in love with anyone that I'm related to. But what if it happened? Could I change it? Ignore it? Get over it?

When Lochan and Maya fall in love all these things happen. They consider themselves not only siblings, but also best friends. They have responsibilities way beyond their age and that's what makes them more mature than most teenagers their age.

They take over the care for their three younger siblings and run a household - yet they aren't given the right to love whomever they want. Does their situation make these feelings happen? Do they fall in love because they take over the roles of the parents? I'm no psychologist and I don't know.

Is it right for the law to tell people whom they can love when they don't harm anyone with their actions?

In some countries incest is considered a breach of law. And then there are countries in which incest is "allowed" except for having sex. In others they aren't allowed but there are no consequences. Then there are the countries who allow them and help these people: make them do gene tests to see if they could ever have children and if not, what other options there are - They TALK to them and don't condemn for being immoral, the try to help with a hard situation for everyone involved.

The countries which laws are against incest claim that these laws are in place for a healthy population (as incest brings a higher risk of sickness should they have children) and that children are supposed to grow up in a non-sexual environment.

So how come that when siblings meet after years and consumate a relationship (with protection nonetheless) they still are breaking the law? These people are no children, the relationship is consensual and they don't want kids - so how exactly are the breaking the law?

I don't know but I know that it's considered as breaking the law.

Incest is considered immoral and not talked about in polite surroundings. But it happens and this book shows us how society ruins two teenagers who could have had a bright future.

Had you given this book to the old Egyptians, they would've laughed in your face - sibling marriages were not uncommon back then.

The bible is a prime example for incest. If the children of Adam and Eve wouldn't have consumed a relationship, then according to the bible there would be no population. Yet the religions go on with their holier than thou act and condem people for these feelings.

It's laughable what society does to us. It imposes morals and standards that ruin other people's lives. I'm not saying that all morals are wrong but I'm saying that some of them are highly questionable.

All throughout the book, Louchan and Maya are conscious of the relation between them and how other people will view them for their love.

But they can't stay away from each other, what they feel is natural for them and that's why it hurts so much. Allthroughout the book I was just as conscious of their brother-sister-relationship as the protagonists themselves and just like them, I perceived the the transitions to a loving couple as natural.

You see these two teenagers struggle with themselves and their surroundings but their love never dimishes and that is what makes it beyond tragic.

Love isn't rational. Love isn't a conscious choice. Love can't be controlled.

You can't change who you love, but can choose how to act on it. But should you have to?

No human on this earth has the right to deny anyone a consensual relationship between two adults.

Today many things are acceptable that weren't a few decades ago, for example homosexual relationships.

When you take a closer look at BDSM, you will find many "Daddy/Babygirl" relationships. You will find people aroused by sexual interactions between family members, be it mother and son, father and daughter, brother and sister. Within BDSM there aren't many taboos and people often aren't judged for what they like.

I realize that there's a huge difference: within BDSM they pretend. It's not real. And still it shows us that it does happen, that people think about it, contemplate it - more often than the three or four cases that are public knowledge.

This isn't a topic to be romaticized and that's not what the author does. She writes about the pain, the struggle, the harsh truth the protagonists must face by outside observers and the stolen moments of happiness. It's a dark book with only a few rays of sunshine (and even those are often overshadowed). She left my emotions so raw that I'm still slightly shaking.

It takes so much guts to write a book like this and thatfore the author deserves every bit of respect I can give. This book changed things and I hope that, after reading this book, people will think twice before they judge someone.

Last but not least, I don't want to advertise incest here, but I think some of these questions should be thought about and contemplated. ( )

4.5 stars.

Uncomfortable to read? Yup. But it's supposed to be. Suzuma is one hell of a writer, that's for sure.
( )

After reading recent comments, I feel the need to stress an important point about this book: it is not about accepting incest. It's not a book like [b:Flowers in the Attic|43448|Flowers in the Attic (Dollanganger, #1)|V.C. Andrews|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327880853s/43448.jpg|3311885] or [b:How I Live Now|161426|How I Live Now|Meg Rosoff|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327870252s/161426.jpg|1132968] where incest is romanticised. It is a sad story about the danger of dysfunctional families and should never be regarded as another angsty tale of forbidden love, even though the title suggests otherwise.

So, first let me say that this was a very brave book to tackle such a controversial subject matter and the author must have some real bottle to take it on. I know quite a few people who would read the synopsis and put it straight back down, shaking their heads at the thought of another "Flowers In The Attic" scenario. But this book is far from that. "Flowers In The Attic" was about two teenagers who had grown up isolated from members of the opposite sex, all they had during puberty was each other and their sexual relationship was based on desires that are natural but they had been prevented from feeling them in a natural environment. But "Forbidden" tells the tale of two teenagers, Lochan (17 - later 18) and Maya (16), who both go to school with other people their own age, including plenty from the opposite sex but they have been forced to live quite unlike their other schoolmates when at home. Neglected at an early age by their mother after the sudden departure of their father, Lochan and Maya begin to play the roles of parents to their three younger siblings who they refer to as "the children". This ensues a relationship in which they support each other and share parenting roles like a couple would and not at all like a brother and sister. They are prompted to feel that they are related by some biological accident.

Characters:

Lochan is an excellently constructed character, when he is narrating the story you feel his pain every second of the way. You almost feel his nerves when he struggles to speak to people and, most of all, you really care about him. He's a troubled guy and that becomes apparent from the very first page when he is sat in class; he has many sides, all of them passionate. And then there's Maya. Maybe it's the strength of Lochan's character that does it, but I just don't feel any real connection with Maya and I don't feel like the author did either. For a female author she writes her male characters far better than the females, a fact also true of her other books. Maya is bland and, instead of feeling her pain and pitying her like you do with Lochan, she seems whiny and irritating. Also, incredibly naive. Now, I know there are plenty of pretty girls who are virgins at 16 and much older; I also know that there are pretty girls that haven't been kissed at 16, but I don't know of any quite so innocent... I mean, she goes to high school for godsakes. Lochan's blushing at sexual hints is forgiven because of his character that has been built up around his timidity, but Maya is supposed to be outgoing and full of life to balance him out. But it's hard to believe she knew what a penis was before this with Lochan. Ok, so you get that Maya didn't do it for me. But Kit did, surprisingly. I was expecting a throwaway character in the form of a bratty teenager, and yes, we got the bratty teenage stuff but Kit was a lot more than that. I loved the other side to him, he wanted to rebel and he didn't like that his older brother got to boss him around but he also understood the importance of them staying together and he wanted to keep them away from the eyes of social services. I felt really sorry for him when he's chasing the police car near the end, even though it was partly his fault, but I did like what it signified about the relationship between him and Lochan. His other siblings were just tools to move the plot along, Tiffin is only memorable because of his unfortunate name. Willa, though seemingly a sweetheart, was only their to reinforce the idea that Maya and Lochan were like parental figures, not siblings.

Ending:

If my review was of the ending alone then the book would have got 5 stars without a doubt. It was shocking, beautiful and tragic. That one scene after Lochan has been arrested, stayed with me afterwards and I was crying for ages. I got to a couple of chapters before the end and I thought "well, yeah, it is a good book", but the ending propelled it into awesomeness. Even if the story had been poor, it would have been worth reading just to get to that ending. I loved the simplicity of the final chapter - it could have been dragged out but it wasn't and that made it all the more effective. The final scene is told so well, you can see it clearly in your mind, imagine exactly how it would have looked. I cannot fault the ending at all.

The Incest Issue:

I understand what this book was trying to achieve and the question it was putting to the reader about different types of love. I feel the need to compare it to "Lolita" by Nabokov and the way in which Humbert is almost forgiven his perversity at the end and the reader is with him, inside his pain and wishing that Lolita would be with him. Paedophilia is viewed as one of the most disgusting acts possible, and yet Nabokov manages to get the reader to forgive Humbert, feel sorry for him, almost excuse him. Suzuma with "Forbidden" wants you to question the taboo that is incest. She is not saying "incest is okay", that's not the point. Like the many 'coming out' novels, Suzuma wants you to recognise a different type of love from the norm. Assuming they didn't have children because of the genetic issue and both were consenting... why legally prevent two people from loving each other just because they came out of the same woman? Can you answer it? Without the bible and comments like "it's just wrong" - do you have an answer? I don't. I think it's weird and creepy and makes me feel slightly sick but I can't put my finger on why the law forbids it (note: this does not include having children, because there are obvious reasons why this would be wrong). That said, for me Tabitha Suzuma didn't quite manage it the way Nabokov did. But I must stress how much I enjoyed this novel and how much it really made me think. ( )