Warning- potentially boring personal stuff- read at your own risk.When I was a child, I read a book called "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt. Homecoming was a story about a family abandoned by their mother in a store parking lot. When I was a teen, I read a book called "The Grounding of Group Six" by Julian F. Thompson. The Grounding of Group Six was a story about parents that sent their children away to a camp to be murdered because those children didn't live up to the parents expectations. Those two books were my all time favorite books. I still have copies of both books and have been known to re-read them. Both books dealt with neglect, abuse, hatred, severe dysfunction at the hands of people that were supposed to protect you. I read and treasured those books because I could relate, and I could escape into the world of those fictional families believing that there were people out there that had it worse then I did, and they somehow survived. If they could do it, so could I.Now we come to Forbidden.I'm an adult now, and like Homecoming as a child, and The Grounding of Group Six as a teen, Forbidden will be one of those books I will always remember. Not only because it is a beautifully written, riveting journey; but also because it challenged the strength of those walls I had built, the ones I thought were strong and unbreakable. I think any reader will be able to take a piece of this book, big or small, and relate it to their own experiences in life. I'm not talking about relating to the incestuous relationship between brother and sister. There is so much more to this book then the incest. By the time you reach the final page, you realize the book is about the never-ending search for love and acceptance and trying to find your own voice when you think you are alone in the world. It is about the frailty of the family unit, and it challenges your thoughts on what really makes a family.The book is absolutely consuming, heart breaking, and an absolute must read.
