I’m not even sure where to begin with this one.

The premise of this book seemed intriguing and disturbing. And it fulfilled both of those expectations.

Lochan and Maya are high school students who have been taking care of their three younger siblings for years now. Their dad moved across the country to start a new family, and their mother stays out with her new boyfriend for weeks at a time on drinking binges that bring her back home only long enough to sleep off the hangover. Between providing for their family and trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy in their social lives, the two are bent past their breaking points. They have come to rely on each other in every aspect of their daily existence, and have grown closer than siblings should. So close they’ve fallen in love. And even though they know their feelings aren’t normal, their love is the only thing allowing them to survive.

So, obviously I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as a plot line was concerned. The back story and family dynamic were very well weaved and provided a plausible course of events for two siblings to fall in love. I’m having a hard time processing where exactly the storyline went wrong. I’m not sure if it was simply my prejudice against the disturbing nature of the topic, or if the plot elements had something to do with it as well. There were many parts throughout the book where I had to skim for pages to move the story forward at a faster pace. Suzuma described a lot of the characters emotions and thought process, which was helpful at first, but quickly became monotonous and frustrating to read again and again. The ending, however, was well crafted and not at all what I had expected.

As a side note, some scenes are a bit graphic, even for older readers (and I consider myself fairly liberal and not easily deterred from any content). I understand their purpose in the context of the topic, however at times it was a bit much to take in.

2/5 Squeakers (Quality of Writing and Effectiveness of Plot)

3/5 Buttberps (Unabashed Entertainment Value)

5/10 Total +1 Bonus point for even attempting to tackle this subject = 6/10 Total