BOOK REVIEW: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Published June 28th 2011

by Simon Pulse

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.

Rate: 5 out of 5 stars

My thoughts:

     This book, that submerges you in such a forbidden & taboo topic, made me cry my eyes out for hours after finishing it. Never did I think a book about incest was gonna do that too me. I read this book 2 years ago, and still remember how sad I felt after finishing it. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
     This story is about 17 year old Lochan, and 16 year old Maya. They are brother and sister. Lochan is very smart and keeps to him self. Maya is very social, and very friendly. They feed and care for their 3 young siblings, because there moher is an alchoholic, and there father left them when they were kids. Then slowly, Lochan and Maya start to realize that the love they feel towards each other isn't normal. It's much much more then that. But a love like that, between a brother and sister, is never gonna get a happy ending.
     This book is beautifully written. The interaction between the siblings is endearing. The family problems, and struggles made my heart ache. Lochan and Maya have a hard reality. The struggle that Lochan and Maya when through did not feel 'wrong' to me. It felt loving and understandable. They are forced to grow up too fast, and become parents,while they are still children themselfs. I understand how they justify their feelings to themselves. We get to know the inner thoughts of both Lochan and Maya. You can really see and feel there love toward each other.
     Lochan is resigned to that fact that he is a surrogate father to the three little siblings. But he's a ticking time-bomb. He has crippling social anxiety, his only friend being his sibblings. Maya, the kids Surrogate mother, is the only one keeping Lochan together.
     They are biting off way more than they can chew. The main point of the story isn't just the incest part. You really start caring for these two characters that have to put there sibling above themselfs. They don't have the luxery of being real teenagers.
     The thing that really got me, though, was the end. THAT ENDING! It was so heart wrenching. Just reading about Lochan's final moments made me want to roll up in a fetal position and cry my heart out.(Not saying that I DIDN'T do this)
You can already expect that there wont be a happy ending, from the synopsis, but I did NOT expect any of the stuff that went down. I was like a big emotional baby.
     Tabitha Suzuma has written such a pure, beautiful, and tormented book. This book teaches you that love has no boundries, and that even the most forbidden love happens, with or without a happy ending. Kudos to you, Tabitha.

Quotes:

“You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel.”
― Tabitha Suzuma, Forbidden


“At the end of the day it's about how much you can bear, how much you can endure. Being together, we harm nobody; being apart, we extinguish ourselves.”
― Tabitha Suzuma, Forbidden


“I mean, at the end of the day, what the hell does it matter who I end up with if it can't be you?”
― Tabitha Suzuma, Forbidden


“At what point do you give up - decide enough is enough? There is only one answer really. Never.”
― Tabitha Suzuma, Forbidden


“Out of the millions and millions of people that inhabit this planet, he is one of the tiny few I can never have.”
― Tabitha Suzuma, Forbidden


“You've always been my best friend, my soul mate, and now I've fallen in love with you too. Why is that such a crime?”
― Tabitha Suzuma, Forbidden