DNF: Forbidden, by Tabitha Suzuma

Over the last few months I've learned that some things just aren't worth the time, stress and struggle. Those things include books that just don't catch your attention, or hold it for very long. The feeling of not finishing a book, that you not only paid for, but also expected so much from, truly sucks. But wasting your time on it, sucks so much harder.

Also, I've learned that if I try to force myself through the entire book, I end up not reading it, or anything else for that matter, and get into a mini reading slump.

So instead of writing a review of Forbidden, by Tabitha Suzuma, I've decided to explain why I stopped reading it.

Forbidden was a book that I had heard a lot about, and that some people in the reading world seemed to enjoy. For a few months I considered purchasing it, but was always distracted by a different book, and chose that one instead. But just a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to find a used copy, and picked it up.

If you don't know what this story is about, in general terms, it revolves around a older brother and younger sister who fall in love. They live a hard life, with a mother who doesn't seem to care about her five children, and would much rather go out, drink, and spend time with her boyfriend. Not only do they both attend high school, but they are also the parents to their three younger siblings, and sometimes their drunk mother as well.

I love stories that are different. I love stories about things I don't understand, and have never experienced. I love seeing life, love and experiences through different perspectives. Which are all reasons as to why I picked up this book.

With such an amazing story line, and so many people seeming to enjoy it, I was excited to finally get started.

After only a few pages, I quickly realized that this book wasn't as fast paced as I expected it to be. I understand the need for reason to explain background information and cluing in the reader, when it comes to this type of story, but still, it was very slow.

The book is a total of 440 pages, and we don't see too much romance or feelings until about page 180. I understand that the author wants to set up their entire life, and make the reader see what these two have to deal and live with...but getting through 180 pages of it, is tough.

The second thing, I also noticed right away, was the way Lochan and Maya spoke. Lochan is a senior in high school, who is more on the shy side, while Maya is a junior (I believe) and a little bit more outgoing. They are teenagers, they shouldn't be speaking formally. AND they are brother and sister, as well as close friends, you wouldn't expect them to speak to each other like adults at a business meeting.

These two teenagers seemed more like puppets, orchestrated by Tabitha Suzuma, going through these motions of "oh I love him/her", but "oh we shouldn't be together", "oh what are people going to think of us", and "oh we'll never be able to have a normal life, we'll have to live in hiding".

This wasn't something consistent throughout the story, but would happen sporadically.

When it comes to Forbidden, the content and the subject matter isn't the reasoning behind this blog post; actually its what pulled me into reading this book in the first place. The way the story was executed, and the characters were relayed to the readers, is what threw me off.

Overall, I read 239 pages of the 440 total, and nothing major has caught my attention.

Their mom basically abandoned them, wasn't picking up kids from school, didn't answer any phone calls, and almost no one suspected a thing. Lochan and Maya realized their feelings at around page 180, and weren't sure what to do about them. But then in the blink of an eye, they take things QUITE FAR.

I felt it was unnecessary to spend 180 pages explaining their home life, and only 30 or so, when it comes to realizing their feelings, arguing about them, and then doing "things".

I am sad to say that I didn't enjoy Forbidden as much as I would have liked to, especially knowing how much my peers loved it. But sometimes it just doesn't work out.

I don't think I will pick up this book in the future to try again, but I'll probably hand it off to a good friend, who might enjoy it.

I do, however, plan on picking up more books on this subject matter, because it interests me, and I would love to see this type of literature conveyed in a better way, instead of what seemed to be puppets.

Have you read Forbidden? What are your thoughts?!