Forbidden Discussion

Holy crap. After finishing FORBIDDEN by Tabitha Suzuma that's about all I could say. It is a fantastic book that my mind continues to drift to almost a week (and several books) later.

FORBIDDEN is not for everyone. I'll give you the three reasons you should be wary of reading.

1) It's about incest. Yup. You heard right. The love between a brother and sister. If the idea of reading about this completely turns you off, then you know right now it's not for you. But, if you are the slightest bit curious about how Tabitha Suzuma approached this topic, I urge you to pick it up.

2) It's a book for mature readers. Yes it's YA and I'm not going to put an age limit on it because I think age is irrelevant, but the subject matter requires a mature audience. I'm not saying anyone can't read it, but I'm not sure an immature reader would be able to get through it.

3) There's explicit sexual content. If you like the closed door variety, this isn't for you. That being said, it's not trashy or pornographic. It's realistic. It matches the tone of the story and (in my mind) it adds to the story as well.


Okay, now that I've scared you all off, I'll tell you why you should read it:  it's beautiful. Heartbreakingly, devastatingly, tragically beautiful. And I'm not just talking the relationship. The whole story made me ache after reading. It's about so much more than a brother and sister in love. It's about all kinds of love.

Besides beautiful, the best descriptor I have is that the story is raw. Everything's raw. The emotions, the characters, the writing. There is an emotional vulnerability present from the first words to the last.

I'm not usually the type of person to explore the greater themes of a novel and contemplate the reasons an author may have chosen to write about a certain topic. However, I definitely did with this one. I'm not sure what the author was thinking when she wrote this, but here are the themes and ideas more pertinent to me while reading.

FAMILY: How far would you go to protect them? To love them? To put yourself aside and make choices in their best interest?

LOVE: What is love and its boundaries? How can love be wrong? Who's to say what kind of love is right or wrong?

CHOICES: The characters have difficult choices to make throughout the story and these choices ultimately define them as people and define the outcome.

SOCIETY: Why do other's opinions have so much impact? What right do outsiders have to condemn individuals and their actions if they aren't hurting anyone?


If you're looking for a book that's going to make you think and feel and ponder long after you close it, you should try this one.

I'd really like to have a discussion about FORBIDDEN, whether it's in the comments or on twitter, so give me a shout out either way (whether or not you've read it).