Forbidden
Tabitha Suzuma
Rating: 9/10
Blurb:
She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed.
He is seventeen, gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future.
And now they have fallen in love But... They are brother and sister.
Review:
Every now and then I read a book which just feels important and Forbidden was definitely one of those books for me. It's not one of those books which everybody should read because it is brilliant, but one of those books which everybody ought to read in order to understand something beyond us.
As you can tell from the blurb, Forbidden deals with incest between a brother and sister; Lochan and Maya. Since they were twelve and eleven the pair have acted as mother and father to their younger siblings and had to contend with more than they should have at such a young age. I have heard before that many readers felt themselves wanting the couple to be able to be together, even though they knew it couldn't happen. I expected myself to feel similarly, but instead I just felt really, really sorry for Lochan and Maya. No part of me wanted them to be able to have that relationship but I did pity the fact that they loved each other they weren't able to express it the way that everybody else would be able to. It was a dire situation.
Lochan was definitely my favourite character for many reasons. At first, I found him the most relateable and I always felt more sorry for him than I did for Maya. He suffered from some sort of social phobia and found it very difficult to deal with any kind of social interactions outside of those with his family. His phobia was played out perfectly and was developed really well, acting as a good solid reason for him becoming involved with Maya because he couldn't really be himself with anybody else.
Maya was to be considered normal; she had a close friend and was relatively confident. She cared deeply for her family and her love for them was clear throughout the book, although I did find her occasionally childish and less mature than her older brother.
It seemed to me that Maya occasionally mothered Lochan, whenever he was too stressed or had hurt himself. For me, this seemed to be another reason why they might have started this relationship. Their own mother was an alcoholic and had essentially abandoned her children, as well as treating Lochan as the most unwanted of them all. It makes sense that he would seek comfort in the only female in his life, especially as she would look after him when nobody else would.
Lochan and Maya had three younger siblings; Kit, Tiffin and Willa. Kit was the most complex, which make sense as he was the oldest of the three and going through puberty so everything was kind of mixed and strange for him. I liked how his character developed throughout and that he was never wholly good or bad.
I won't be forgetting Forbidden any time soon and I will definitely be keeping up with Tabitha's other books. This books is important to helping you understand how incestuous relationships are possible and how they are not evil just because they are socially unacceptable. The strength of the two main characters was very powerful and it was hard not to feel for them both.
