Book Review : Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

I have taken pride in saying that all my book reviews, for the most part, have been spoiler free. And today I am preparing to violate that.

It genuinely serves twice as hard to review a book like Forbidden when the reader feels a multitude of emotions on a particularly taboo subject. I scoured Goodreads reviews, blog reviews, Booktube reviews and debated whether writing about this book would make me seem like a lunatic to my readers or would they be intrigued.

All I can say at this point is to proceed with caution and with a good measure of open-mindedness.

This book is about incest. Well, not really but it is about an incestuous relationship between 17-year-old Lochan and his sister, 16-year-old Maya. Tabitha Suzuma is brave to take on such a taboo subject and pushes the reader to challenge their morals on this truly 'Forbidden' case.

Our young characters are placed in a tumultuous family setting - their parents' marriage has fallen apart, causing their father to completely abandon them with no support or communication, we learn that he has re-married and moved to Australia with his new family; their mother is an obvious alcohol, absent from their lives while she spends all her time (and money) with her new boyfriend, as the book progresses, her appearances are scarce. So Lochan and Maya assume parental roles for their 13-year-old angsty brother Kit and the little siblings Tiffin and Willa. (ALL the characters in the book could do with better names, let's not fool around and admit this fact already.)

So you can kind of see how psychologically this proves to be a dangerous environment for all five of the kids - Lochan, with his deep and extreme anxiety leaving Maya as his only friend and confidant and Maya, who has to mature rather quickly in order to handle everyone's issues including Lochan's.

Now we know incest is bad. It's very bad, it's illegal and it's not normal. But as you begin to read this book, you just never see them as siblings at all, compared to the creepiness i.e Flowers in the Attic. The incestuous part only kicks in well into the second half of the book, both Lochan and Maya are tormented because they know its wrong, it's not normal and if anyone found out anything they would be at the risk of being separated by the state, serve jail time etc. The book by no means propagates the idea of incest but you also feel like you don't want to use the word incest for what Maya and Lochan have.

The interesting observation here is that while society accepts abusive relationships, broken homes, and abandoned families etc; is incest really the worst of the lot? (I swear I am NOT crazy). Like I mentioned, when you do read the book you also desperately want them to find a way to be together, also knowing the fact that it could never happen and its plain absurd. I just love it when books have that kind of power over the reader.

*The Spoilers*

It was not very long before trouble finds them and the consequences are grave. At this point I had semi-predicted the outcome, however, I was not prepared to read a complete, play by play suicide in the first person. And that is quite traumatic. Lochan gives up his life and takes the reader with him on how ends it all. This will physically shake you. It almost feels like all the happiness is sucked out of you.

You could see why he took this route as the only option to keep the family together but at the same time, you feel angry at him for leaving the family behind, for Maya to deal with this pain and for Kit to deal with the unbearable guilt. That would start a whole new argument about suicides and I'm not going to get into that.

A multitude of emotions, right there.

The problems: 

Overall I felt character development was poor. We know a lot about Lochan, what he feels and how he thinks but none for Maya and Kit. We don't know what Maya is like, what she thinks or feels, how she behaves etc. Same goes with Kit. We only see him as a sort of troublemaker and that's it; which I felt was not fair since being the middle child in a broken family is difficult.

The pacing is off for me. We have no idea what Lochan's and Maya's childhood was like, what kind of dynamic they had growing up, so it does seem very sudden that these feelings for each other erupt.

Since Lochan is 17, his development in terms of attraction to women seems late. Was there no other girl he ever got close to in his early teens? Same goes with Maya, surely there had to be some flirtatious encounter with boys her age other than the two set-up dates.

Regardless of all the flaws, I will still applaud Tabitha Suzuma for taking on her chances and writing this book.

Final Rating: 3/5

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Book Review : Raj Quartet I, The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott

Let's just begin by saying that your new yardstick for excellent writing has to be Paul Scott and it's a sentiment well echoed by various reviewers on Goodreads.

Pushing aside all the Rudyard Kipling novels, Jim Corbet, Salman Rushdie etc,  Colonial India couldn't be more descriptive than Paul Scott's Raj Quartet and none other (I will fight you on this).

It's not an exaggeration. Scott's impressive knowledge of India is multifaceted, inter-sectional and dives vertically. I am amazed at the mammoth and detailed understanding of caste, religion, communities, landscape, politics; all craftily woven into a magnificent quartet.

At the heart of the story, we have Hari Kumar or Harry Coomer, alien to India and Daphne Manners, who desperately tries to make India her home. Both of our protagonists pursue a  frowned-upon friendship that quickly turns problematic during the dying days of the British rule. Daphne Manners is violated by a gang of hooligans and the suspicion falls on Hari Kumar.

Through their forbidden romance and  cruel love triangle, we come face to face with the riot-ravaged India. Get ready to let your heart bleed for Daphne Manners and the forged criminality of Hari Kumar.  The plot then takes an ugly turn with Daphne Manners was soon shamed by people of her own color and ranks. Scott's deft writing builds the tension yet manages to retain sensitivity of this cursed affair.

My attempt at reviewing this book in relation to its towering magnificence is feeble. There are delicate subtleties in Scott's allegory and the reader is swift ushered into darker days, lighter times, is familirised to the smells and sounds of the country, riots, war, love, and friendship.

the indigo dreams of flowers fallen asleep

It's a tragic oxymoron to have a story so searingly painful to be laced with poetic delight.

For a humble reader, The Jewel in the Crown would stand as a challenge. The timelines of incidents bounce back and forth, we are introduced to characters one after the other only for their relations to be revealed much later on, it could prove quite complicated to find the association of all the individuals mentions. I did catch myself skimmy through the politics to get to the more paced bits and this is the only reason I would cut points for.

I was introduced to this poignant Quartet when my father was watching the televised series, complete with a commentary on Paul Scott's life and work. It's a pity recognition wasn't rendered any sooner.
Both books and series are highly recommended for their skillful depictions and varied sentiments of the imperialist rule, the tragedies amidst and the ultimate demise.

For a literature lover, the Raj Quarter is a wonderful treat. Like the sweet sorrow of a lullaby.

Final Rating : 4/5

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Book Review : Summer Crossing by Truman Capote

A shocking end to an awry romance and a romance that you perhaps wished, never ignited in the first place.

If like me , you too were allured by the rosy cover, dreamy title and the credible author then perhaps our sentiments would match.

After the raving success of his Non-Fiction Crime novel, In Cold Blood and the darling endeavors of Breakfast at Tiffany's, one hardly expect anything less from Mr. Capote and his ability to enrapture you in a tale simple yet magnificent.
So just like me, you pick this book excitedly dreaming of another masterful story that leaves you longing for more, only to have your expectations sorely hurt.

Feel free to weep your disappointment or swear profusely if you must - I'm not ready to do that just yet.
It's not long before the reader understands the difference between Grady McNeil and Clyde Manzer. A young high society girl and her steamy affair with a working-class gentleman, set in New York soon after World War II (honey, it's never going to work).

Obviously, their relationship is rampant and reckless with barely any room (left) for character development or any ambition. Clyde Manzer seems insipid, Grady made me roll my eyes and before you know it, disaster has struck speedingly chased by tragedy (quite literally).

At this point, every Capote fan would be shaking their heads in disapproval wondering why would anyone want to publish this?
Don't dismiss it just yet. As many flaws and faults, there may be, this is where we see the literary skill of  19-year-old Capote and some skill did he have.

It's simple, well-strung and absolutely gorgeous if you pay attention to the language.  Capote knows how to convey sentiments and emotions with just the right adjectives and trust me when I say, it's a real treat. You can almost see why Capote would have been ashamed of this book since it doesn't really live up to the mark as some of his most renowned work.

For no real reason, I found myself oddly comparing Summer Crossing to Brooklyn by Colm Toibin - both the female leads were filling the empty voids in their lives with, let's say, romance from men not quite from their alley and life doesn't seem to get better from there for either.

My suggestion would be to hang on until the end of Summer Crossing if you could endure it. An author's maiden novel almost always says more about themselves as individuals than the story itself. It's almost like a quick glimpse into their own character before they pursue more successful ventures and I'm certain genuine Capote fans would appreciate this little insight.

Overall Rating: 3/5

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Perceived Mistresses and Married men

I guess I needed some serious shaking up when I just analyzed and found out majority of my friends are all much older to me. Lately the people I've been casually chatting with are all men much above my age but me being frivoulous or foolish free-spirit ( call it what you may ) I don't think of consequences, unless I foresee it to happen rather too soon.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one to roll my eyes (LIES!)  at the 'marriage talk'. Considering now that I am approaching a certain age, the gossip spreads like wildfire more among relations than anywhere else. My problem here is of a different kind. Ignorance is bliss as they say and at times we never think such-and-such thing could ever happen to us. Until it does. 

Two words. Married. Men.

Before you jump to conclusions, let me clarify I am NOT talking about affairs. But hey, interest taken can be misinterpreted in several ways. Easy to slander regardless. 

There are two sides to this, like every story. There are friends you have know since the being of time who get hitched and then there are those who become friends while they are sailing in the ' I'm married ' vessel. The former = no troubles. The latter however, cause of all troubles.

One of my closest girlfriends is getting married in under a month and I'm the one losing my sh*t. ( No, I don't have diarrhea, thankyouverymuch )  It's because I feel like I'm about to lose something. Relationships equations change, priorities change and I'm praying desperately she doesn't become one of those people who starts suggesting marriage to anyone one of us with zero prospects. ( JK Bluwis ).

Naturally, the people surrounding my work area are mostly men. Married men, to be precise. A casual cup of tea and a catch up seems harmless to us, but not to the world around us. If my momma was to find out, I'd be slapped right in the face. Because good women don't befriend married men.

It doesn't always strike me that the mere exchange of words in the same room can be misled to believe that something is on -going. Believe me when I say, I'm just a friend. Till that side of their life is well concealed, I don't tend to pay much attention to it. At times, when I do learn the fact that they are married, I gradually pull away. By then it dawns on me that what I've done was probably not  wrong but not right either. Lets just say it wasn't appropriate. Part of me says why not? You were just friends. Can't married people have single female friends?

Can they really have single female friends? Newly made friends I mean.

While researching on the topic, I read words of caution from women AND MEN saying that if your hubby is spending time or talking a lot about a new friend of the opposite sex, you've got to be careful. When I read it that way it does make it sound like something's up. Although from the other side, the woman might have been a genuine friend and nothing more.

My conscious only starts to tug on me when I'm introduced to the wife herself. I begin to think, what would I do if I were her? How would I feel if my husband went on and on about a woman, a young one that too. Hurtful, isn't it? Even when you've managed to spending so many trusting years and do not want to begin being the nosy, nagging wife, still the mind can't stop racing. A mountain is made of a mole hill. Or may be the root cause was me from the very beginning.

'But we were just friends!'  The opposing side of me says. A mistress is well hidden, but not a friend.
It could be highly possible that doubt might also make it impossible to give friendship a fair shot among the two women.

It's amazing to see how fragile relationships are and  to nurture them, we treat them with utmost tenderness. We try our best not to falter. Sometimes it just happens.

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Book Review: Learning to Live Again by Dori Lavelle

Brace yourselves, this is going to be a long one.

Okay, so it has been years since I read something romantic like the series I am about to review.
Do you remember in your school days, when you'd be ill in bed, reading Mills & Boon. Yup, nostalgia hit me pretty much right in the face.
  Since this is a trilogy, I will divide my review in three parts within the same post.

Book 1 - To Live Again

Read on: Kindle

Pages: 93

Goodreads Rating: 3.97/5

Review: Kelsey moves to a quant little Irish town to start her life afresh. Little does she know, that her next door neighbor is this elusive and handsome stranger that might make her a hot mess (Literally!). And that's where it all goes tumbling.

Considering that the series are fairly short, It was a good break for me to get into something moving that my regular reading challenge which you'll know I'm doing poorly at if you follow me on Goodreads. I didn't have an issue with the pacing of the book, however I did feel that for a keeper of secrets and supposedly being so discreet, Shaun was more forthright and oncoming than Kelsey herself. I expected Shaun's past to have a huge looming shadow on his personality, someone majorly flawed yet irresistible.
Maeve is a local girl who befriends Kelsey and is often her go-to person when she has to endure Shaun's hot and cold moods. Thankfully, Maeve isn't a typically shallow girl, she gets straight to the point without hesitation. She's probably my favorite character in the whole lot.


Book 2 - To Love Again

Read on: Kindle

Pages: 101

Goodreads Rating: 4.42/5

Review: After striking a 'deal' with Shaun and assuming the fact that she can handle the situation well, Kelsey tries to flout in and out of Shaun's life, hoping for him to still open up to her despite the adversities.

This one was my favorite in the series. We get a good look into Shaun's past and the darkness that lures in it. His first wife, Carmen is such a prominent character. The incidents that ruin her life keep following building up her trauma. Shaun tries his best to do as he can but he kind of has a clue as to where it would all lead to. Carmen's actions are justifiable in their own way and the consequences endured by the one left behind, i.e. Shaun, was expected. Their story is well detailed and narrated. Again, like I mentioned before, all that Shaun had to deal with should have left him all the more scarred, something I had a hard time believing in the first installment of the series.


Book 3 - To Breathe Again

Read on: Kindle

Pages: 101

Goodreads Rating: 4.68/5

Review: The final book was a bit of a let down because it was so rushed. The point of Serendipity's anger towards Kelsey, Carmen's family's hostility and the scenes that follow were expected but not in such a predictable way. Kelsey's pain is heightened by her natural female instincts, she loves a man who may no be able to shed his past and she has to accept it as it is.
After paying homage to his first wife, Shaun tries to go through life with Kelsey realizing that he wants to be with her. He starts proposing to her, I say starts because he's done it twice already and continues to indulge in her which I found was a bit corny for a man who endured so much. It made me feel unsettled.
Instead if they had a quiet or solemn proposal or decision and ended on that not, then it would have been a perfectly natural ending. This would have been perfect so that there was be an unspoken reflection of all that they had gone through earlier and the seriousness of Shaun's decisions would come through. It would seem genuine to take it further with Kelsey.

Having read the series rather quickly, the author's style of writing is descriptive and witty. It's what make it so easy to read through and I thoroughly enjoyed those bits. Fair warning: this book does contain graphic adult content.


All in all, I enjoyed the wave of nostalgia it brought me. I would ideally recommend this to people on the go, who don't have much time to devote to reading since it's such a quick light read and ardent romance novel lovers.

Final Rating: 2.5/5

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Torment

She lies in her bed wide awake. 2:58 am. Tormented by his thoughts. He's 3 hours behind . What would he be doing right now? Out may be , or just getting back home from a night out, tipsy and ready for thoughtless sleep.

She turns to her side , picks her phone from her bedside table and looks at the only picture she has of them together. Her auburn hair looks almost black, his blond hair seems almost platinum. The two evidence of their night starkly visible on his neck.

 That night still vivid in her mind like it happened just yesterday. Every moment stuck to her skin like oil and the undying  tender determination of the candle flame that lasted the night. It would be 8 months since she first met him , 8 months since she was broken. Now she was fixed but still not whole.

From the first glimpse they knew there was no turning back. They just couldn't. The anxious excitement to see each other refused to leave their nerves , the butterflies in their stomachs wouldn't stop fluttering for a moment and in those moments weeks passed by.

Now these memories wipe the smile off her face and inflict heartache. A sweet pain pulsates in her as though a shard of glass is stuck under her skin. Her mind goes back to what he might be doing. May be he is with someone new. Tall , slender , graceful , poised. The kind whose presence exudes radiance. Tangled in her arms , she'd drink up the deep pools of ocean of his eyes and he would let her as though he's at the mercy of a goddess. And here , half a world away , she's still where she was, the very thought of a stranger's touch reaching out to her makes her skin crawl.

She kicks her blanket away and walks to her mirror. She had lost a lot of weight in the past few weeks. Her skin looks dull and grey. Her eyes enveloped in darkness. Her once metallic red hair now lack luster.
 She closes her eyes and prays in her heart ' Ya Allah , What next? How much longer?'

                                                                   

                                                                            *

The day's work is over. He hangs around by the ocean aimlessly , letting his feet control him and take him wherever they wished. He's a wanderer , a nomad. In 8 months, he's gone about 4 or more places. You mustn't get attached. You keep moving. But what happens you lose your heart and mind so quickly it's like sanding slipping from your fingers. You just can't control it , it slips faster. 

The sun is soon to set. The soft breeze whispers ' Kashmiri apple' in his ears. He could almost hear it smile. He looks on , trying to escape the face that haunts his memories. A  sweet lingering aftertaste he's still reeling from. 

He never would have imagined her to be this fragile the first time he saw her, tiny , like a bird with a broken wing. How much he missed her nimble fingers. Even when she casually touched him , it was enough to make him wiggle. When she slipped her hands in his shirt , he'd try his best to stay still. When he kissed her , he caught her fingers and guided them to feel his racing pulse. That morning , when he pulled her palm to his cheek and slept soundly.

He couldn't forget how she would stand on her toes to kiss him and still be unable to reach him, how she snuggled closer to him in the middle of the night and sleepily murmured ' baby , I'm getting bad dreams' , how she would close her eyes and nod her head whenever he asked her something.

The memories overwhelm him , he shakes his head but his ears are still ringing. The sun is setting filling him with gloom. 'I will find my way to you and we will be together I promise you this' he makes a silent vow to no one. 

*

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