Forbidden Fruit is my second book review of Eric Lokian’s work. In my first review of Why Miller Turned Killer you can read Eric’s personal story of his childhood, adolescence, and youth, how he ended up with a murder 1 charge for manslaughter and got life without parole for it … I’m going to review all books by Eric Lokian, so stay tuned for upcoming posts – I have to read the other books first, though, so bear with me please 😉
Unlike the real crime genre of Why Miller Turned Killer, Forbidden Fruit‘s genre is philosophy, and a fascinating one at that. As the author states “this philosophy is for the few. You’ll know quickly upon reading it if you are part of that few.”
The Free Man
it isn’t always easy to write a synopsis for a book on philosophy, but the words “the free man” pretty much sum up what this book is about. Not the “Higher Man” by Friedrich Nietzsche – even if Nietzsche is often quoted – but the Free Man. Eric Lokian’s philosophy follows a path originally paved by Nietzsche and continued by Hesse, (more modernly) Palahniuk, and other great thinkers he’ll also mention.
Why this book may not be for everyone?
The author includes his thoughts on religion which are extremely interesting and well-thought out, but may be triggering to deeply religious people. He discusses society and how we live, solitude, self-realization, change, another compelling section he calls “blank-slating”, letting go, and last but not least he explains his views on light and dark.
Why You Should Read This Book
Although I loved the entire book and found every chapter fascinating, my favorite sections were the ones on solitude and light and dark. I found that I could relate a lot to his thoughts about solitude and how it is needed for us to truly meet ourselves and to grow.
Light and dark were equally enthralling, since the author and I have already had several riveting discussions on this same topic. What is light and what is dark? What is light as defined by society and how many of us claim to be light, yet live a life that is anything but light and mostly hypocrite? How dark is dark, and is dark solely based on “evil” or is there also beauty in dark? And if so, what is the beauty in dark?
You want to know more? I sure did. I finished Forbidden Fruit in two days, and I would read it again, just to go over Eric’s thoughts and ideas one more time, and absorb and reflect on them. It’s thought-provoking and at the same time it also evoked a deep love in me for what he wrote.
Some More Thoughts on Forbidden Fruit
This is the best book I’ve read in a while! I loved it, I am fascinated by it. As for my thoughts, I already shared them in the previous paragraph. It’s a book that may not be for everyone (due to its views on religion), but I believe that everyone should read it. I feel privileged to know such a brilliant mind.
As members of society, we often do not stop and think about our everyday routines, our morals, beliefs, why we do what we do, who told us what to do and how to live our lives and why. If you haven’t questioned these things before, this book will certainly guide you to question exactly that. More importantly, Eric will explain the Free Man as opposed to Nietzsche’s Higher Man, and as opposed to the herd (society).
The Free Man is a (wo)man worth meeting, be it in Forbidden Fruit or within yourself. It only has 74 pages, but despite the short number of pages, the message is complete and enlightening within the dark.
This is one of those books that I’ll remember for a long time and one I highly recommend. To get Forbidden Fruit, click on the photo below. And if you have any comments or questions, please leave a note in the comments section beneath this article. 🙂
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Light and dark is a very interesting topic. But I get it that it actually doesn’t make sense talking about light and dark in our days. This is because for most people, there is no reference from where to bring out what is light and what is dark. When we all agree concerning the reference, then it makes sense to use these terms.
I believe this reference exists. And it doesn’t make any difference if we as a people acknowledge it or not. We will bear the consequences or enjoy the benefits of light or darkness.
Hi Ann,
Very interesting, thank you for your thoughts!
Have a great day!
What caught my eye about this post was the name Nietzche but then I realized the book only often quotes the great philosopher. I had a quick look at this book.
There are some interesting things he has to say especially in regards to herd mentality. Yes, we need to think freely to be higher than others but then again aren’t we all still human?
It’s surprising how many different thoughts are out there and how much we buy into their ideas, by saying “Yeah he has a point.” A point he has that makes sense is that we are free to think of our own free will which makes more sense than some ideas out there.
Hi Carlos,
Nietzsche certainly had some influence on this book, but the author has certainly very interesting things to say and I love his ideas! I agree with many of them. I also agree with you that the author makes a good point when he says that we are free to think of our free will, which is something we aren’t really taught in schools, are we?
Thank you for your thoughtful comment!
What a nice post you wrote! I really enjoyed reading it and I could not be silent about your post so I decided to leave my comment here and say Thank You for sharing this quality post with others.
Actually this is exactly the information that I was looking for information about the books written by Eric Lokian and when I landed on your website and read this post, it answered all my questions in detail and provided me with very useful info about forbidden fruit philosophy and nietzsche.
So I’m happy that you decided to write about this topic and share it with people. It’s very useful and can definitely be used as a great source for everyone who is interested in this topic.
I will come back to your website again for sure and I’m looking forward to reading your new posts.)
Thanks!
Ali
Hi Ali,
Great, thank you! Soon, I’ll post more reviews of Eric Lokian’s books.
Thanks for your comment!
I love reading thought-provoking books and reading your review has re-ignited that thirst in me. I haven’t read a book in a really really long time. Definitely will add this to my “read list”. I also like that it is available on amazon which is super convenient because I am always shopping on amazon (geez, its too addictive!)
I am also a super quick reader just like you but finishing a book in 2 days tells me it must really be that good!
You mentioned you were in discussion with the author. I was wondering if there was a way for others to get in touch with him also if they wanted to? Does he even welcome that?
Hi Sasha,
Yes, I’m very close to the author. he is currently incarcerated in Iowa, and you can contact him via Corrlinks, which is the prison email. He would welcome your thoughts, I’m sure 🙂
This is his pen pal profile on Wire of Hope
Sounds very interesting. I very much enjoy deep thinking books and people like what you have just described. Your comments about how as part of society we really do not give much thought to the things we, think, believe do or why we do them is something I have always found interesting. Basically most people are just conditioned by their surroundings and upbringing. I’ll put this book in my to read list. Thanks for the share!
Hi Rob,
Very true, many of us are conditioned by our surroundings and upbringing, and few of us break free or dare to break free from it. This book asks a lot of interesting questions.
Thanks for your comment!
Hi Christine,
It’s a good topic to talk about light & dark. In some cases, you might think it’s light, while someone considers it’s dark. It all depends on the different perspectives from our lives, our experiences, and how we were taught and grew up.
The best part about this book is Eric keeps questioning something that we take for granted or something we never question in the past. I love this part because it helps me think deeper and wider to know who we like to be, what we like to achieve, and why we like to live.
Thanks for recommending us a good book to grow our minds. Appreciated!
Matt
Hi Matt,
A book to grow our minds is a great description. Eric indeed questions things we often do not question but should, and this book definitely helps you to know who you really want to be, who you are, and to live.
Thanks for your comment!
Hi. Lila!
As an avid reader, I’m definitely interested not only in “Forbidden Fruit” but in “Why Miller Turned Killer” as well!
I’ve always been keen on the crime genre but as years go by I became also a little bit nostalgic and philosophical. The fact this book is considered as “not being for everyone” sharpens my curiosity. I bought your idea of meeting The Free Man inside me and I’ll consider buying the book maybe as a gift for my girlfriend on our anniversary.
Thank you so much for your post and be safe!
Hi Antonio,
Awesome! You’ll enjoy Forbidden Fruit. I loved the philosophies the author shared. Why Miller Turned Killer was written by the man who committed the crime. Here, Eric describes his childhood, adolescence, and early twenties, and events that led up to the crime. The book also includes a section about the interrogation, trial, and legal terms and documents pertaining to it that show that he was over-convicted, charged with murder when it should have been manslaughter. It’s an interesting read that shows the negligence and abuse of the American justice system.
Amazon allows us to read a few pages of a book, so I did. That, and what you say in your review about the book, appeals to me. And what I extremely like is that Eric starts by saying what he means with ‘man’ and that women are not excluded. 🙂
My whole life I have difficulty with the word man. And even more with the word guys for that matter. I always feel excluded!
Anyway, back to the book. I think the ideas of Nietzsche are greatly abused. The meaning of the words Ubermensch and Untermensch nowadays is horrible and leads to awful deeds.
Last week a man was murdered in a restaurant half an hour from our home. Why? Because he was originally from Morroco. The man who shot him had been bullying him the whole evening and also the waitresses for serving ‘this Untermensch’. When he left the restaurant everyone was relieved, until he entered again later with a gun. Awful.
So Eric’s Free Man is much more to my liking. How could we translate this term so that I would feel included? Your English is better than mine, Christine, do you have an idea?
Hi Hannie,
I agree, Nietzsche’s ideas have been misinterpreted and abused and used to justify terrible actions. The murder of that man at the restaurant is just horrible … Did the murderer get caught?
How can we translate the term to have women included? I also love that Eric pointed out that he means men and women in his book. If only we could find a word that implies both men and women. Even in Latin languages like Spanish and French there is plural for male and female, los and las in Spanish. However, when the plural refers to a bunch of women and only 1 man the article becomes male right away, “los”.
The best way to describe something for men and women I can up with would be (wo)men or wo(men), I don’t know, this is something to think about. I am going to ask Eric. I am sure that he will come up with a great answer.
Yes, they caught the murderer. That’s how we found out because the road into town was blocked when we were there. The court is on that road and they had his arraignment.
Language is a weighty means. Not only is Spanish ending on -os when there is only 1 man in a group of females, but the women themselves call each other ‘hombre’!! The Spanish minister of Equality had a good proposal: change everything to -es, but she’s been mocked by just about everyone.