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Forbidden

Tabitha Suzuma

Start date: January 5, 2017

Discussion: Progress Posts 2017

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Progress Posts 2017

40: A book published in 2017
By Katie · 56 posts · 191 views

last updated Dec 31, 2017 04:53PM

45: A book with a one-word title
By Sophie · 71 posts · 227 views

last updated Dec 31, 2017 04:04PM

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What Members Thought

Jun 28, 2014 Sera rated it really liked it

Shelves: to-reread

4.5 stars

2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 09, 2013 Lacey Louwagie rated it it was ok

Shelves: youngadult

This is one of those unfortunate books that is absolutely ruined by its ending. I was set to give this book four stars -- if I had lost the book before finishing the last chapter, perhaps I would have. But I can't in good conscience do that, not when it handles an incredibly sensitive topic incredibly poorly. And no, I'm not talking about the incest -- the incest was the incredibly sensitive topic that it handled well.

When a brother and a sister who are essentially raising their younger siblings This is one of those unfortunate books that is absolutely ruined by its ending. I was set to give this book four stars -- if I had lost the book before finishing the last chapter, perhaps I would have. But I can't in good conscience do that, not when it handles an incredibly sensitive topic incredibly poorly. And no, I'm not talking about the incest -- the incest was the incredibly sensitive topic that it handled well.

When a brother and a sister who are essentially raising their younger siblings in the shadow of an absent father and a mostly absent/alcoholic mother take their relationship to a romantic level, you can kind of expect that it will end badly. They dream of moving away when they are older, someplace where no one knows them, so they can live as lovers openly, but even that "best-case-scenario" outcome requires lifelong hiding of another sort. So no, there is no way this story can end well, and it would have been irresponsible to pretend as though it could -- even though it is well written enough, the characters vivid enough, that deep down, you really, really do want to root for them. Although the sex scenes are somewhat explicit and focused on male desire (we don't see clear sexual satisfaction for Maya, except the satisfaction she gets from turning Lochan on), it doesn't come across as particularly gratuitous. It's a "slow-burn" romance, so it takes a while to come to the surface, and when it does there's a lot of angsting over it, which I didn't mind. I found the characters to be well-developed, especially within the family. Lochan's social anxiety was handled particularly well, and I could see how it factored into his inability to connect with girls outside his own home, as well as how his vulnerability made him appealing to Maya. Overall, the author did a good job of setting up the "perfect storm" that made me believe something like this could happen.

I think the dual narration was necessary in a story like this, because it was the only way the reader could be convinced that the incest really was consensual; the whole tone of the story is changed if there is doubt about that. Where the dual narration didn't work was in its total non-distinction of different "voices" for Maya and Lochan -- I was usually only oriented to who was narrating because of the other being spoken of in third person. It's a shame that a book that had such well developed characters couldn't also equip them with more distinct narrative voices.

Overall, this book had a lot going for it. It's too bad it botched it all up in the end. ...more

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Nov 08, 2010 Yuko86 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adults, read-in-2011

English Review:

How can something so wrong feel so right?

Forbidden is a novel about love. But not the classic way of love. It’s a Love with capital L, it’s an involving Love. It’s a Love between a boy and a girl. It’s a Love between a brother and sister.
Disgusting, someone may say. No, noway. This love is true, is pure…it’s something that you cannot express in words. But Tabitha succeed in doing it:

"There are no laws, no boundaries on feelings.We can love each other as much and as deeply as w ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 05, 2024 Nadine in NY Jones rated it did not like it

Shelves: fiction, young-adult, f-ed-up

This was bad. It was astoundingly bad. I'm not sure why I kept reading - a bit like a bad train wreck, I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away from the ridiculously overwrought writing. I guess I just wanted to see if Suzuma was really going to go there. (Answer: Yes, yes she does.)

But it’s not [all right], it’s not, because I’m slowly being torn in two. You stand there, covered in cuts and bruises that I might as well have inflicted on you with my own hands. And I love you, so much that it’s ki

...more

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Jun 02, 2013 Lauren rated it liked it · review of another edition

This reminded me a lot of "Flowers in the Attic" minus the crazy grandmother. The story moved a little too slow for my taste but I was curious to see what would eventually happen to these characters. I was surprised that this story is being marketed as YA as the situations are thoroughly adult. Even though the characters themselves are YA. I doubt I'll ever read another novel like this again but I'm glad I read it once. ...more

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Jan 16, 2020 Viktoriya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: tbr-pick, 2020

I was very hesitant in reading this book as the subject of incest is extremely touchy, controversial, and it's very easy for it to be done badly, very badly. I have to admit, Tabitha Suzuma did a great job. I really appreciated having both perspectives. And the end (as sad as it was), was the only possible way to end this relationship and the story itself. ...more

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