Tabitha Suzuma

Forbidden

Bella Baxter

I didn't think I'd ever read anything more tragic than A Little Life, but here we are.

Kinda makes me think about how our early ancestors told stories as a way to keep each other safe, but what a privilege it is to be in a time when we don't really have to do that anymore... We can use stories to encourage each other to question, and to THINK. Being human is so very messy and there's so much gray that no amount of moral codes or laws can box every single thing up. But God, that gray really makes me appreciate our humanity. Each one of us is a walking miracle, a one in a billion statistic...how different would our world be if everyone could see how special we are...

That said, that does NOT mean that I support the main arc of this book, because I do not lmfaooo. That's a line we will not be crossing, ever ever ever. But godDAMN if this isn't one of the most impactful, heart-wrenching books I've ever read...I had a hint of what would happen, but not like this. I was not prepared for this at all, at all. Brilliant work, Ms. Tabitha. I know it took an immense amount of courage to write this, and the most excellent prose I wish I could steal for myself.

Totally understandable for people who'd read the synopsis and think absolutely the fuck not. Totally fair. But a MUCH worse version of this type of story that dates back to the Victorian era is consistently in the Project Gutenberg Top 100 (Top 50, actually), sooooooo take what you will from that. But I'm a curious person, and curiosity isn't a bad thing. It's what makes us a phenomenal species. Curiosity leads to innovation, and other things I can't think of atm. Approach things with an open mind and see what happens.

In my case, bawling at 3:30 am while clutching my Baby Yoda plush? Yeah, I'm thinking it's 5 stars. Maybe I've cured my alexithymia.

Forced to assume the responsibility of parents in order to protect their younger siblings from an alcoholic mother, Lochan and Maya forge a deep bond that transforms into a taboo love. By the award-winning author of From Where I Stand.

Lindy

Imagine Flowers in the Attic, sanitizing it, and then beating it with a bat until it conforms to modern (well, 2011) YA writing conventions. That's Forbidden.

I say "Flowers in the Attic" not because it's the YA book famous for containing sibling incest, but because everyone gets distracted by the sibling incest (rape) to avoid confronting its true most horrifying theme: maternal betrayal. Likewise here.

And I say "sanitized" in that its characters, through to the end of the book, persist in maintaining a bourgeois morality centered on the glorification of the nuclear family. Even as they are harmed, they never truly question it. 

Also, I felt nothing. I developed no emotional connections to this story or its characters. Finally, I do live in the real world and so I did not like that the ending (view spoiler)[took the very common scenario of a man accused of sexually abusing a family member killing himself in order to avoid consequences and being like, "but what if he was actually noble and good?"  (hide spoiler)]

Deepika Ramesh

Tabitha Suzuma's 'Forbidden' blew me to smithereens. http://worncorners.com/2016/02/06/for...

Sixteen-year-old Maya and seventeen-year-old Lochan tell, in their separate voices, of their confusion and longing as they fall in love with one another after years of functioning as parents to three younger siblings due to their alcoholic mother's neglect.

Ivan

“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.” 



 Disturbing. Heartbreaking. Pure. Emotional. Beautiful. 


This my most anticipated novel of 2014, and I'm so, so glad it didn't fail me. I commend  Suzuma for writing this beautifully despite the  taboo  it tackles. The theme is not appealing to all readers and might consider the  incest  issue as repulsive. One might love or hate this. As for myself, I'm glad I was open-minded enough (and curious), which made me loved this book. 


I was very attached to the characters. All of them. (Yeah, including their mother--so attached that I wanted to punch her whenever she appeared.) The changing POVs between Maya and Lochan made me understood  why  everything fell on the wrong ground, and yet... so true. I was able to understand their situation. How fucked up their family is, but they're doing their best to keep it rooted. 


What I really liked is how Tabitha made the characters endearing and transparent. It didn't instantly went to the taboo, instead there was a development. There were reasons. Believe me or not, I wanted them together. Personally, I don't think the author was trying to imply that incest should be accepted. I think she was trying to say that such  taboo , as immoral as it can be, has a story. It has a soft side. That there are worse sides but we refuse to believe and discover because we hold on the great line, "what you see is what you believe.".


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

Meg Ferguson

Finding a taboo book in a charity shop is always an interesting buy. The concept of the book was very different to most books, and it provided many social questions regarding conventional and unconventional relationships. However, the plot was very limited and didn’t exactly have me jumping off my seat. 
Even though I gave this book 3 stars, I’m considering reading more of Suzuma’s work. 
Favourite character is definitely 5 year old Willa!

devin.reads

** spoiler alert **
           This is not the way that I had expected the book to end. This is not the way I expected myself to feel when reading this book. Sure it's really weird that Maya and Lochie are brother and sister. But you can tell that they really love and care about each other. You can tell that they are meant for each other. As wrong as it is, I was rooting for them throughout the whole book. I thought that they made a good team. I am so sad that Lochie had to do what he had to do in order to save Maya and the rest of the kids. I wanted them to be together forever.

Vesselina

Okay, I don't know what to say...

I was very skeptic towards this book... but I can't - I just can't stop crying...

As I started reading it, all I could do was repeat to myself "This is wrong, this is wrong on so many fucking levels..." and at the end of the book, another sentence was in my head: "The world is so fucked up".

I can't... I think I still haven't completely... come to my senses. 
  It was so fucking beautiful. And so fucking sad.

Parth Gajjar

Rating : 4 Stars

The first thing that came to my mind after reading this book was that, it was incredibly sad.

The story is about two teenage siblings dealing with a dysfunctional family with three younger siblings to take care of, along with their own issues. Their mother is an alcoholic and often abandons her children for weeks at a time. Their dad has already walked out on them.

One can't blame them for trying to find comfort in the only person they really know. The only person who understands the seriousness of the situation, because that person has been there all along to suffer the same situation with them. 
People may think that older siblings take care of their younger siblings all the time without developing any sort of feelings for each other, that's true. But there are cases where brothers and sisters or any family members for that matter have developed some sort of relationship to seek comfort, to hold that one person they are sure will never leave when things become tough. The one person they trust to hold their hand while they find the end of the dark tunnel they're in. That shouldn't be wrong at all.
Why should finding comfort and loving a family member you consider more as a friend be any different than with a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a friend?

The truth is that we live in a fucked up society where we have to live by all these rules and laws. Why do they matter? Because we let them. We have let labels like Incest ruin the concept of a simple thing and have let them warp it into something considered taboo or forbidden. They're not even hurting anyone!
Consensual relationship between two grown up people, almost adults, shouldn't be frowned upon. I'm not saying that you should start making out with your sibling or something. But just in case it happens, people shouldn't be quick to judge because they cannot relate themselves to the pain and suffering of those who have actually undergone such thing.

There were times when I had to put the book down for a short break just because it was too much to relate to, because in the end, no matter how hard we try, we just can't completely relate to something really personal. Though, the need to reach the end of the story kept me going. The ending was sad, but I wouldn't have imagined any other way it could've ended just because the world didn't think it was right.

Tabitha Suzuma accurately captures the heart breaking tale of two teenagers in love who can't seek the comfort they need, who can't love the way they want, just because the society can't accept it, which ultimately leads one or both of them to sacrifice something they value the most. The book is well written with emphasis not only on the relationship but the things that led them to have the feelings in the first place. It hits the mark the author intended to hit, which was to prove that such things happen and they're not wrong at all. This book doesn't promise a happy ending, but it is a valiant effort to prove to the society that something that they find disgusting and cruel could be such a beautiful thing and help come out the people subjected to the situation stronger and happier than before.

Mariana 

This book is simply awesome. Has some terrific writing, the alternating POVs between Maya and Lochan make it even more personal. Beautiful yet destroying will leave you pondering. This is a book you will never be able to quite get over. The end will never leave you.

jess

heartbreaking, deeply disturbing, and somewhat well-written - though i do have an issue with how quickly the romance came to be i have that issue with like, most young adult books out there.

samantha youngclaus

i hate this stupid book i hate it so much and it will genuinely haunt me for the rest of my life

Seitdem der Vater die Familie verlassen hat, beginnt auch die Mutter ein eigenes Leben. So müssen sich Lochan (17) und Maya (16) praktisch allein um ihre jüngeren Geschwister kümmern. Die beiden halten zusammen wie Pech und Schwefel - doch auf einmal wird daraus eine verbotene Liebe. Ab 14.

wie kann sich etwas so Falsches so richtig anfühlen?

Tameka Young

I wasn't expecting to be so completely captivated by this book. I was uncomfortable reading it, but I could not tear myself away. I found myself completely sympathetic to Lochan and Maya's situation because I could understand that their family struggle caused them to turn toward each other, but I was incredibly awkward with my sympathetic feelings. I am still digesting this story but man, oh man it had me riveted the entire way through. Definitely well written and thought provoking, this is definitely a book worth reading...even if you feel awkward about it.

Sarahi Flores

WARNING: SEMI-SPOILER! 
(Don not read review if you haven't read the book) :)

I've never read read anything so nerve recking. 
Can you really support their feelings towards each other or be disgusted?
This is where my feelings get all complexed. 
I can't be the only one feeling sorry for them and also say to yourself that this is wrong.
But maybe this would of never happened if they had to depend on each other because the mother refused to take on the responsibility of a grown up and mother. It's no reason their neglectfulness turned to some kind of comfort towards each other. It saddens me how it ended. But theres a glee of hope for the rest of them. Especially for Maya.

Lucia silva

Lo terminé, y si, lloré. Pero no tanto como creí que iba a llorar. Supongo que por saber que pasaba no sufrí tanto. Libro hermoso, precioso, sumamente injusto, con un final tipo 'anda a cagar'. Que se le va a hacer, aun así. Me gustó, lo esperé casi un año entero, una lastima que no haya podido leerlo todo en la costa y asi no enterarme que pasaba al final. Muerte a la madre.

Andrea Cabezudo García

He llegado a la conclusión de que mis expectativas eran muy altas. Me esperaba algo fresco y nuevo, con un historia que se sale de lo común. Por desgracias no ha sido así. Lo único novedoso es la historia de amor entre dos hermanos, pero si le quitas eso, en mi opinión, es una historia ñoña de amor, en la que por unas razones u otras se hace demasiado uso al tópico "ahora te quiero, ahora no". El libro es repetitivo, muy repetitivo. Hay escenas con doscientas páginas de diferencia con exactamente lo mismo escrito. Lochan me exasperaba a ratos, aunque al final consiguió agradarme. Creo que Maya está mejor construida, aunque eso no significa que me guste. 
Las últimas cien páginas se me han hecho eternas, aunque lo que más me ha gustado ha sido el final.

Ella Zegarra

Camila 

** spoiler alert **
           If I could rate this book with a -5 stars I would. 
Is such a sick book. It was painful to read. Lochan complains about his life and himself all the time and I wanted to punch his face the whole time. Maya was nice, but then she was the sickest one . And the end is horrible because I mean when I was reading I thought that at least they would have a happy ending, runaway or something but no, they don't ... Ugh I just hated it.

Destiny J Tamayo

It was so intense. Sometimes i wanted to just scream out in frustration. i was rooting for them the entire time.

Kath Lau

I’ve posted some photos of this book on my Instagram account and I gotb comments like “you’re are going to cry so much” or simply bunch of crying emoticons. So i told myself to prepare. It took me a week to finish this book not because it’s boring but because it’s so distressing I cannot continue reading it.

Lochan (17) and Maya (16) are siblings. They are caring for their younger siblings and play the role of being the parents in the family. Their father abandoned them and their alcoholic mother is always nowhere to be found. Lochan and Maya depend on each other most of the time until one day, they fall in love with one another.

The book is told in alternative viewpoints of Lochan and Maya. The writing style is remarkable it will make you feel their emotions and struggles. I admire how strong, weak and responsible they are as the eldest in their family.

Some may think that the idea of the story is disgusting but the thing is, the author managed to let you forget that Lochan and Maya were brother and sister. This book is not only about incest. It is also about the sacrifices and pain of facing huge responsibles at a very young age. The consequences of loving someone so much you don’t even care whether it’s illegal or not.

It’s obvious that there will be no happily ever after in the end but I was still hoping that one of them is adopted so there’s a chance that they can still be together. They just seem so perfect for each other and I am not that prepared for the ending but I think the author gave us an accurate one.

Extremely emotional, painful and tragic. I know that this story will stay with me for a long time.

I’m recommending this book to all open-minded people who wants to experience a roller coaster of emotions.

** spoiler alert **
           I cried but, I'm gonna give this like 3.5 stars. The characters are not believable as teenagers, yes I know that's the point, they have had to take on the role of parents to their siblings but it's just too much. Towards the mid-to end I started to skim read the parts I knew were just their angst, it got a little much. And I know people disagree but it really did feel romanticized. I wish there was more of a focus on the fact that this is a tragedy. Of course the ending is very sad but it's like it's sad only because they got caught, if they had not gotten caught they would have run off together and been in love forever in hiding?? That's also a tragedy!! That should have been written that way, they were so neglected that they were able to have these feelings come up for each other and then willing to lose their chance at finding love with other people to hide away with each other. I don't really feel like we should hate them or think they're disgusting but I mean we shouldn't think it's okay, we should feel sorrow that it got this bad and intense for them. I'm giving them 3.5 because she tried to make it not romanticized I guess. And it was a really emotional ending.

Ruth Parker 

This book broke my heart. I am broken. There are no words.

Sophie Elaina 

This is the most uncomfortably intense book I’ve ever read in additional to being so so so sad. Unless you’re in need of a good sobbing session I don’t think it’s a book that I’d ever recommend that anyone read, I do however praise the author for writing about such a delicate subject.

Mollee Clingenpeel

I feel very conflicted about this book. I didn't want to like it because of what the topic is, but I kind of did. It wasn't amazing. It wasn't bad. It was haunting. It was interesting. It was heartbreaking. Not what I expected at all. The incest portion isn't exactly romanticized. The main characters acknowledge the wrongness of it, however, they also push past the wrongness and do it anyways and it is portrayed as romantic? It's an extremely complicated book and I really have no idea how to explain it. My emotions are kind of a jumbled up, tangled, confused mess. I'm not sure how I feel about Forbidden. I just know that it's far from a forgettable novel.

Forbidden

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