By: Tabitha Suzuma
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: June 28, 2011
Description: Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives--and the way they understand each other so completely--has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.
My Thoughts: I was honestly worried about reading this book, but I'm glad I did. I honestly have no idea how I'm going to write this review, but I'll give it a try.
The life of Lochan and Maya sucks. Their alcoholic mother who's never there, their absent father, the fact that they are forced to feed, care for, and become parents for their little brothers and sisters when they are not yet adults themselves on top of the fact that they have issues of their own sucks. From the beginning, we are thrown into a story about a family hanging on by a thread that, despite its fragility, has sparks of happiness and perseverance that fill readers with an overwhelming sense of family. Despite it's description, this is not a book about incest, but about love of the purest form.
Lochan and Maya are brother and sister, but they are also in love. This isn't the kind of love that comes overnight, but the kind that slowly creeps up on you, standing in the background and waiting for the perfect time to jump out at you. It begins to blind you to everything and anything until you have no choice but accept it, knowing that in doing so, you may condemn yourself and everyone around you. It's a love that's sure to lead to disaster, but it must exist.
What if it was illegal to love who you love? Disgusting to others? Would you automatically stop loving them? Is there some way to force your heart to behave differently? Is there a way to force it into loving someone else? Or, in attempting to make it behave differently, do you accidentally make it bind harder to the object of the love. What would you do to keep that love?
I've never read a book that forced me to question my morals and beliefs about what's right and wrong as much as this book did. Believe it or not, I felt like there HAD to be some way these two could be kept together. If they don't have kids, what's the problem? I wanted to fight! Why on earth couldn't they stay together!?
Read this book. Trust me. It may make you feel confused a bit at times and a bit uncomfortable with the way your mind begins to rationalize things, but it's a good book. Beware: This book is a young adult book for the mature audiences only. If you cried while reading Romeo and Juliet, you'll probably cry while reading the end of this book. I loved it. I give it 4.5 stars, mainly because I wanted a happy ending.
6 comments:
I was worried to read this book as well. But then their love is so strong, natural and pure that you just feel bad for them at the end. The best book that I read this year so far. And yes, I cried :)
Glad I'm not alone. I loved this book!
The kind of emotion you're describing is almost what I thought Jack and Rose felt in Titanic. Nowadays, it is at least refreshing that we don't consider a relationship with significant, socioeconomic differences revolting...that's an advancement.
Yeah I don't think I could get past my hang ups enough regardless of how wonderful this book may be. I'd spend the whole time thinking about my own brothers and that would be the end. I'm glad it was a surprise and you enjoyed it though.
I understand that! Honestly, I read a few reviews that said, if you have a brother (or of course, if you're a boy and you have a sister) it'll probably be best if you dont read this book. It makes you look at them strangely. I cant imagine though. I only have a sister.
I have to admit, I really didn't get on with this. It just seemed so angsty and over-dramatic. I heard it was amazing and I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn't.
Their relationship didn't disgust me or shock me because I just didn't CARE about it.
Post a Comment
Leave me a message! I love Reading them. If you are a New follower, let me know and I will be sure to follow back!