Review for Hurt by Tabitha Suzuma

Hurt by Tabitha Suzuma 
Publisher: Definitions
Release: September 5th 2013
Genre: UKYA, Contemporary
Source: Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review





Goodreads Summary:

"Why? is the burning question on everyone’s lips. Why would a guy like Mathéo Walsh want to die? At seventeen, he is Britain’s most promising diving champion. He is a heartthrob, a straight A student and lives in one of the wealthiest areas of London. He has great mates and is the envy of everyone around him. And most importantly of all, he is deeply in love with his girlfriend, Lola. He has always been a stable, well-adjusted guy...

Until one weekend. A weekend he cannot seem to remember. All he knows is that he has come back a changed person. One who no longer knows how to have fun, no longer wants to spend time with his friends, no longer enjoys diving. Something terrible happened that weekend – something violent and bloody and twisted. He no longer knows who he is. He no longer trusts himself around people: he only wants to hurt, wound and destroy. Slowly, he begins to piece back the buried, fragmented memories, and finds himself staring at the reflection of a monster. 

Tormented, Mathéo suddenly finds himself faced with the most devastating choice of his life. Keep his secret, and put those closest to him in terrible danger. Or confess, and lose Lola forever..."

Review 
Hurt documents the downfall of Mathéo Walsh a boy with the world at his feet with a bright future in Olympic diving, an expensive education, good friends, and a beautiful girlfriend. Mathéo is on top of the world, which of course only means that he has that much further to fall. After one weekend so traumatic that Mathéo’s memory has literally blocked it out Mathéo awakens with the gut wrenching certainty that something earth shattering has happened, something that has broken and changed him. As Mathéo spirals into a sea of confusion and madness he needs to remember what happened that weekend - no matter how horrific - in order to pick up the pieces and begin to deal with the consequences.

Hurt begins with us getting a glimpse into Mathéo’s life leading up to that catastrophic weekend and I loved getting to see his life before and who he was for a comparison to his life afterward. I don’t want to go into certain details of this book because I don’t want to give anything away. Unravelling the tragedy of Mathéo is the real joy of this novel so please forgive me if this review seems a bit vague.

This book certainly kept me on my toes trying to figure out Mathéo’s secret. I suspected lots of different situations and different people and I thought I’d figured it all out by the end but I was completely surprised! My jaw literally dropped! I also felt uneasy liking Mathéo as you’re never quite sure whether he was the one who did something terrible, whether he was the victim, a witness or an accomplice. I also felt uneasy with the secondary characters in this book but the two shining lights in Mathéo’s life are his little brother and his girlfriend Lola who were two characters who I couldn’t help but love too.

After the absolute gem that was Forbidden Tabitha Suzuma’s next novel would always have a lot to live up to and whilst Forbidden is still my favourite Hurt was excellent in its own right and offers another emotionally compelling story that I’m still turning over in my head. Like Forbidden I was completely shocked by the ending. Hurt made me cry in a way that a book hasn’t in a long time. Beautiful, heart-breaking and tragic Hurt is a masterfully plotted story that has confirmed Tabitha Suzuma as one of the best UK YA authors for young adults.

Review for Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

"He is my soul mate, my fresh air, the reason I look forward to getting up every morning." Maya and Lochan have known each other their entire lives. They’ve been each others rock, soul mate and best friend. Maya’s pretty and kind, sweet sixteen and never been kissed. Lochan is gorgeous, generous and super intelligent and now they’ve fallen in love. This couple should be destined to be together, except they never can be… because they are brother and sister. When I first found out about this book I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to read it or not. I like to think that I’m a pretty open minded person but just the thought of incest turns my stomach and makes me a little queasy but because there’s nothing else quiet like this out there at the moment and because of all the rave reviews I decided to put my personal feelings to the side and read this book. Boy am I glad that I did! Before reading this book I like many people thought of incest as a taboo subject, but after reading this it’s completely changed my opinion on it. Not all incest is as black and white as it may seem, especially that of the consensual type and this book fills in all of those shades of grey in between. It wasn’t until I was half way through reading this that I realised that I didn’t find Maya and Lochan’s relationship sick or repulsive at all - in fact quiet the opposite! I was desperate for them to be together and find a way to figure everything out and ultimately found their situation sad and unfortunate. Like Lochan and Maya I never saw them as brother and sister but as star crossed lovers who had so much against them. They were two normal, wonderful people who I just wanted the best for and if that was with each other then so be it. Their relationship wasn’t all that sexual which just showed that above all they deeply loved each other and just wanted to be able to be a proper couple. All they wanted was to be accepted and to be able to do all the things that a normal boyfriend and girlfriend take for granted. It actually shocked me that Lochan and Maya could go to prison for something they had no control over. You can’t choose who you fall in love with and it made me think that if homosexuals are allowed to love each other and transsexuals are allowed to defy the ‘norm’ because of feelings they cant control then why on earth are not only Lochan and Maya not allowed to be together but face a prison sentence because of it? Why, if under some circumstances and if an incest relationship is consensual and they aren’t hurting each other or other people must they be punished for that? Ultimately it’s not about if their relationship is wrong or right – that could be debated back and forth forever. It’s about why should they be punished so harshly for something they can’t control? Maya and Lochan try numerous times to end their relationship but can you imagine trying to get over someone who’s been a part of you for your entire life? Who you’ve loved for as long as you can remember? Who you never get chance to get away from because you live under the same roof? It would take two very strong people to push that aside so it’s no wonder that they always ended up back together. Tabitha Suzuma’s writing is exquisite and you can definitely feel the love that Lochan and Maya share. I cried so many times whilst reading this book especially towards the end. The ending was perfect- sad – but perfect, I think it ended how it had to end. I’m so glad that I bought another of Tabitha’s books along with this one because Forbidden has definitely become one of my favourite books of all time and I can see Tabitha becoming one of my very favourite authors if the rest of her books are even half as good as Forbidden. This isn’t an easy read. Far from it, but it’s one of those books that demands to be read. It’ll change the way you think. It’ll have you falling in love with the characters. It will have you weeping with the unfairness of it all. There’s not really much more I can say about it other than forget your vampires and humans, jocks and geeks, Forbidden is the ultimate forbidden love story and you’d be crazy to miss out on it. 5 stars. My Rating 5/5 stars *****