*Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
**WARNING ENTIRE REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS**
There is no way I can write a review for Forbidden without
just laying it all out there. Some books are just like that. You can’t not talk
it all out after reading. So sorry, if you don’t want to know what happens please
turn to another review.
Even now after giving myself time to think over the
events in this book I am still very emotional. After reading other reviews I
was thinking this was going to be some weird romance. IT IS NOT A ROMANCE. Not
in any sense. It is a story of abuse by an alcoholic mother and a dead beat
dad. Neglect plain and simple. The oldest son, Lochie, is incredibly smart. His
teachers are so impressed with his work and dedication. Lochie is also silent,
he doesn’t speak in class averts his eyes when spoken to. Panic attacks assail him. Although it is never
directly stated I am pretty sure he suffers from extreme anxiety disorder.
Lochie is in charge of his four siblings Maya 16, Kit 13,
Tiffin 9 and Willa 5. Mom is a drunk who when she is home really doesn’t care.
She is trying to recapture her youth after a marriage she never really wanted
ends. Her kids aren’t her priority and never really had been. She has found a
new lover and just wants to forget her old life and start new. I hate this
woman. HATE. Her selfishness leaves these children lost and confused. Why would
Lochie not have extreme anxiety, just look at the enormity of what he has taken
on. He is terrified that what remains of his family will be torn apart if
social services ever finds out their mother no longer comes home. These kids
are afraid to ask for help for fear of losing each other.
With the help of Maya, Lochie cooks, cleans, does
homework, bath time, plays and love his siblings like a parent would. Maya and
Lochie become a team. Kit is being rebellious, a typical teen angst with
reason. How can he even process his feelings?.How does Lochie a 17 year old
know how to deal with this? He doesn’t. There
is a fight that gets physical and it changes these brothers. Lochie is no
longer a brother, nor is he a father. He cracks, he loses it. Falls apart. This
is where the shift happens. Maya comforts, giving love and support to her
brother. To herself. These kids are so starved for attention they have to find
it themselves.
What starts out innocent turns into something more. Let
me be clear on this point. Incest between siblings happens. Quite a bit
actually. Not in an abusive way but an adolescent curiosity that hormons and
closeness lends itself to. What happens between Maya and Lochie is not in my opinion
abuse. I think it was a “natural occurrence”
exacerbated by their circumstances. Not once while reading this did I root for
them or feel this was a romance. Not in anyway. I don’t condone it or support
sibling incest. However, I did feel their need to feel loved. They had been
propelled into the role of parents and feelings became muddled. There is only
one actual sexual encounter that starts a chain of events that I never saw
coming.
When Lochie and Maya are “found out” in such a horrible
way breathe just left me. The description of Lochie in the police station
sucking his fingers like a child has left me devastated. He was reverted to an
infant like state. He wasn’t given the emotional tools to handle his life. Nor
the lives of the children he took on.
When Lochies life came to an end I felt and still feel such anger. Anger
toward a mother who just didn’t care. Anger to a father that left. Anger to a school
who clearly knew something was wrong and did nothing. Anger to neighbors who
could not have been blind to this. Anger at an epilogue that in no way should
have ended the way it did. These kids are still alone on their own. I just wished this author would leave the
reader feeling a sense of hope for the kids left behind. That in the end
Lochies’ death changed the outcome for the better. Maybe giving a reader who,
may be living these circumstances, hope. She didn’t and that angers me too.
I have given this book 5 stars. 5 stars because a good
book should make you smile, cry, angry, sad, joyful and leave you feeling the
words on the page. Forbidden has done
that. This book will be with me for awhile. I know it. It’s almost physical the
weight I feel in my chest after the last chapter. I still feel it the day
after.
My only warning…….. be prepared to read it. It’s not
easy.
Love-love
T~
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