Forbidden (Judy Waite)

I'm half-hearted about Forbidden (which I picked up from the YA section of the library purely due to the cover and the "I grew up in a cult" blurb). On one hand, I'm enormously attracted to fiction that examines cults (one of the best I've ever read is Red Shoes by Carmel Bird). On the other hand, Forbidden suffered from several things, including over-capitalisation (stuff like "She know that she should feel Ecstatic, but instead she was overtaken by Grief. She would have to undergo Punishment." Not a direct quote from the book, by the way).

I was disappointed by the ending - without giving too much away, Elinor has been sexually abused, and is rescued from the cult, where her rescuers tell her she's wonderful, and give her lots of different coloured clothing and unfamiliar jeans. I found it rather strange - I would expect people to speak to her about more important issues than, "You're out of the cult, yay! Here's some clothes." Then again, we're seeing these people through a very confused teenager's eyes, which may explain it. But it just sat wrongly with me.

So yeah - mediocre YA cult fiction, basically. A fun way to spend an hour, if you have a free one.