It seems fitting that we start this post with Stephanie Perkin’s Amazon review. Perkins is, of course, one of our favorite writers of swoon, and yet here we are recommending a very hard, very non-swoony book. It’s perfect to us because it shows the depth and breadth of the literature available to adults and young adults. In a wonderfully concise review, Perkins has captured the brilliance that is Forbidden.
Tabitha Suzuma has crafted a harrowing, sexy, heart wrenching, and heartbreaking masterwork about one of our last remaining taboos. Lochan and Maya are the oldest children of an alcoholic, absentee mother. The burden of raising their three younger siblings has fallen upon them, and they have been forced to mature into parents. As their friendship is strengthened, and as they become dependent upon one another for survival, their parental relationship develops into a new stage: romantic love.
An alternating first-person narration immerses the reader deep inside the hearts of the characters. Suzuma takes great care to help us understand how such a situation could arise and allows us to be sympathetic for it–even root for it–though we know, just as Lochan and Maya know, that the future of a Happily Ever After is unlikely.
This is a powerful novel about love in all of its forms. About teenagers forced to become adults, and about children forced to acknowledge new parents. Particularly stressful is the second oldest boy, Kit, whose every appearance carries an impending sense of disaster.
Forbidden never let me set it down. It never let me stop worrying. And it never let me stop hoping for the best. –Stephanie Perkins
As you can see, Forbidden isn’t a book that is appropriate for our Swoony Recs page. The characters may be any number of wonderful things, but the categories we save for this site—our fun zone—don’t fit this book at all. Lochan is truly wonderful but it feels shallow to call him swoony. Maya is amazing, but ‘badass’ feels much too light-hearted. And although we’ve both gone back and reread particularly powerful passages, we probably couldn’t handle a complete re-read in any near future. However, for both of us, Forbidden goes straight to the top of the favorites pile.
The problem is that we can’t in good conscience really recommend Forbidden to anyone. It’s like telling someone to go watch Ponette or La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful). Wonderful, sure. But it hurts, and it’s hard, and here the subject matter is both devastating and a little cringey.
Still, it’s hard to not recommend it, to want to share it with everyone we know, discuss and then relish the heartache together. Even though it didn’t fit our usual campy content, this book has hit us so hard and so fiercely it felt weird to not bring it to this site. Forbidden is beautifully crafted and executed. We both read it in a single, sleepless night, and then sobbed together the following day.
We are so hammered by our love for this book and so many of our expectations were dissolved away when we read. The characters are deeply, richly drawn, so intimate and real, that we hurt when they hurt. We hope hope hope for them so acutely, even when a part of us feels like we can’t, or shouldn’t.
There are very few situations in which this book would work. Few authors could craft a story that would make us understand incest, let alone support Lochan and Maya’s decisions the way we did while reading. And although we both love happily ever afters, the truth is that sometimes the perfect ending isn’t the characters dancing off together to the singing of birds and the rustling of fallen leaves. Sometimes, the only way a story can end is with heartbreak and triumph and hope and devastation and redemption and surrender. The world that Suzuma built is a real one, and a hard one, and one that neither of us wants to let go of quite yet.
Links we loved: About the author, Tabitha Suzuma Official Site, Forbidden information, Author-Sponsored FanFic Contest (aka in which we begin to flail and pounce)
Jessirae says
I loved Forbidden so much that up until this day I am haunted by it's beauty, it's soulful story that breaks my heart continuously whenever I am reminded of Lochan and Maya. You guys are right. It's so hard to recommend this book, but still so hard not to recommend it to everyone I know. I agree with everything you said. Well put out. I'm glad you guys put this up. This book is so unique in everywhere. It's powerful and heart-wrenching!
Lo says
Isn't it just awe-inspiring? I mean, just the way it's crafted. Every single detail comes around. It makes you feel every feeling – joy and fear and worry and hope and elation and devastation and and and…
Really, I just love it, and I will read it again some day, but not yet. It's still too raw.
Ashley says
Just reading Stephanie's review brought every bit of the heartache this story made me feel. I am in tears again over this book and it's been a few months since I read it. This book surely isn't for everyone, and I've seen plenty of reviews that show the hatred and the negativity over the subject matter. What it boils down to, for me, is the acceptance that you don't always get to chose who you fall in love with, and it may not always be ideal situation. I have recommended this book to anyone who asks, and I give them fair warning, but I truly feel this is a must read for anyone who can get through the taboo subject matter, because it really is a wonderful heartbreaking story!
Amber says
I sobbed the last 60 or so pages of Forbidden. I finished it weeks ago, and I still think about it all the time. I just want to gather all 5 kids and just hold them, and hug them.
I remember reading Lochan and Maya's first kiss and I had to stop and just take it in. It made me feel a bit cringy, not because they were brother and sister, but because I let out this breath I didn't know I was holding in. I thought, ok, ok that wasn't so bad. Which made me think, well isn't that supposed to make me cringe, but it didn't.
Bottom line, this book rumbled my whole way of thinking. Yes, I know what happened between Lochan and Maya is wrong, but there was nothing they could do to have changed it. They said it in the book, and I believed it, they were soul mates, and just because they were born brother and sister could not change how their heart felt.
The ending, gahh the ending. I was almost ok with Maya ending her life too. I know it would have killed the three youngest, but I just knew she was never going to be the same without him.
Heart wrenching story, one that will stay with me for a very long time.
Christina says
We read this on a Sunday night, thinking we'd just read a few chapters and get to bed early. How wrong we were. By 2 am we were still awake, practically in tears and texting each other. I was simply unprepared for how powerful it was, or how hard it would be to take the characters and tuck them away inside my head. It's been days since I finished and I'm still not ready to let them go.
Christina says
I felt the same way, Amber. As crazy as it sounds, there was a part of me that really wanted her to do it, that wanted them to be together in the end no matter what. But you're right, it would have killed the kids. Can you even imagine? Ugh.
The end was hard but so perfect and god, I'm so glad I read. Such a beautiful story and characters that I just want to keep with me.
Anntastic23 says
What a gut-wrenching, beautifully-written story. I started it over the summer & read it in fits & starts because I knew going in how difficult it was going to be. At one point (after Maya took Lochan to her hidden spot in the park) I simply stopped & pretended it ended there. Done. Easy. HEA. I would try to come up with a scenario in my head of how they could find happiness together but NOT be doing something wrong. It's like watching Titanic – every time I think "maybe this time Jack will live." Yeah… no. But it was so compellingly written I had to finish. My heart hurt for all of them, but what a beautiful, thought-provoking read.
beckaboo says
This was the most difficult book I've ever read. It hurt it so many different ways. But it was so incredibly well done that two months later it still haunts me. I've never been so conflicted while reading a book. While I could never even imagine developing those kinds of feelings for my brother, I understood how they came about for Lochan and Maya. They lead such tragic lives, and carried such a heavy burden..especially Lochan. ALL I wanted was for them to finally find some happiness. If they found it with each other, then so be it.
I was beyond distraught when I finally realized what Lochan was doing. I sobbed uncontrollably. And I'm ngl….I totally wanted Maya to follow suit.
Mary says
I actually just read this and was blown away. I went in knowing what it was about, but continued with a open-mind. I'm glad I read it because it's one of the most touching (no pun intended) books I have ever read. I thought about it for days after I was finished, and even went back to read a couple of chapters two and three times.
The plot is inconceivable, but the author made it entirely believable. I'm glad to see that you girls read and appreciated it.
Lo says
Seriously, this book just killed me. In a good way, in the way that books can absorb us and take over each thought for awhile, but it also hurt a lot. I wanted to think it could end well but how could it?? GAHHHHHH. Painful but wonderful. A very hard combination to pull off.
PS: HI. <3
Lo says
Me too. 🙁
Lo says
I'm glad you liked it, too. It's hard but so well done. I really wish people will still talking about this book more. It haunts me.
Elise says
I literally finished reading this book about five minutes ago. I’d had it on my Kindle for about six months before I finally mustered up enough courage to start reading, but not without first asking the two of you to hold my hands. I’m glad I did because the support was so much more than necessary.
I’m a complete wuss when it comes to sad books and tend to go out of my way to avoid them – it’s the same with movies. If it makes me cry, I won’t watch it again unless I absolutely love it – and while I adored this book, it’ll be a long while before I’m emotionally able to handle reading it again. You really don’t expect to find yourself rooting for Lochan and Maya, but they’re such beautiful characters that, in the end, you don’t really have a choice. I had to read the last few chapters through a river of tears that didn’t want to stop. My heart feels like it’s been ripped to pieces, my head hurts and my eyes sting from crying, but I don’t regret reading this book. Not one bit. It was so beautiful, so raw and honest. How I wish things could have ended better for them..
I’m still in the stage of falling into random crying jags, but I had to write a comment on here. It felt wrong not to. And of course, I have to thank you girls for being there for me every step of the way. I wouldn’t have made it through this book without you. I’m sure I’ll ask you to hold my hands again in the future. And thanks to Tabitha for writing such an unbelievable book. xx