READING: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Publication date: May 27th, 2010
Published by: Definitions
Source: Bought
Rating: ---

Sixteen-year-old Maya and seventeen-year-old Lochan have never had the chance to be 'normal' teenagers. Having pulled together for years to take care of their younger siblings while their wayward, drunken mother leaves them to fend alone, they have become much more than brother and sister. And now, they have fallen in love. But this is a love that can never be allowed, a love that will have devastating consequences ...How can something so wrong feel so right?

First of all let me begin by saying that this is in no way, and I can't stress this enough, NO WAY a YA adult book.Apart from its controversial theme, even though in my opinion there is nothing controversial about it, it contains a fully detailed sex scene and some foul language.

Also, try as I might, I could not rate this book.It was there.I read it.And now I am gonna try very hard to write down some thoughts I had about it.That's all.

Forbidden is a book that deals with consensual incest.I am not gonna bit around the bush, that is its theme.Except from Flowers In The Attic by V.C.Andrews, I have not read anything that deals with a matter of this nature even remotely.Of course I knew from the beginning what the book is about and after reading so many unbelievably praising reviews, I decided to buy it and read it.

To say I struggled with it, would probably be the understatement of the year.I was torn throughout the whole book and not because of the reason you're thinking.I was not torn between what my mind dictated to be wrong and problematic and Maya's and Lochan's true and eternal love.I was not thrown and touched by Suzuma's writing to such extent that at some point I forgot those two were siblings.I did not forget that for a second, my consciousness would not allow it.No, I was torn between what my mind was telling me was wrong , problematic and abnormal and between the portrayal of the situation urging me to believe otherwise and even making me feel bad about it. I resented the fact that it made me feel awful thinking this was all just wrong.Because it is, anyway you look at it, incest, consensual or not, is wrong.It was extremely painful and emotionally exhausting for me to always having to apologise to myself for thinking that what Maya and Lochan were doing was not right,was beyond any sympathising and comprehending.I acknowledge the fact that their upbringing was non existent, abandoned by their father and their alcoholic and deeply troubled mother, and that these kids were practically forced to be parents at a very young age(at some point Lochan refers to his younger siblings as "my children").But that just doesn't make everything justifiable and understandable.It makes it unavoidable, if that.I strongly believe that had they had caring parents and had they grown up in a loving family, their relationship would be completely different and they would not turn to each other, desperate for even a smidgeon of love.Thing is that interpreting it and analysing it, again does not justify a thing.It's just a way for me to try to wrap my head around it a little bit and not just reject it all together.

The thing that really bothered me with Forbidden though, was the sex scene.Yes, between Maya and Lochan. Mind you, it was not just a romantic, we are just fooling around scene.It was fully detailed from beginning to end.I really, really, didn't need to read that.IMO, there was absolutely no reason to write a scene like that, unless to provoke the reader.If their love was so deep and so meaningful(I think I remember the word "soul mates" in there somewhere), I could really do without them having sex, thank you.Every intention I might had of trying to find the strength to understand their situation, was gone, right there.

In the end, I felt such pity for these kids, I don't think I was even sad about what happened.Pity because they were so caught up in their dramatic life,trying desperately to keep all the siblings together in the hopes of a future perfect life, that they couldn't understand that letting go and being separated was probably the best thing that could ever happen to them.

These are my thoughts and what reading Forbidden made me feel.I know that I may come across as a "bigoted" and "prejudiced" person(I think these exact words were also mentioned in the book).You see, again I was in the verge of apologising for something I shouldn't even consider apologising for.And I really hate that.

NOTE: In no point in this book does the writer approves or commends incest.Just so we're clear.