You Exist Too Much : A Novel
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4.0 • 5 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
On a hot day in Bethlehem, a twelve-year-old Palestinian-American girl is yelled at by a group of men outside the Church of the Nativity. She has exposed her legs in a biblical city, an act they deem forbidden, and their judgement will echo on through her adolescence. When our narrator finally admits to her mother that she is queer, her mother’s response only intensifies a sense of shame: "You exist too much," she tells her daughter.
Told in vignettes that flash between the US and the Middle East, Zaina Arafat's debut novel traces her protagonist's progress from blushing teen to sought-after DJ and aspiring writer. In Brooklyn, she moves into an apartment with her first serious girlfriend and tries to content herself with their comfortable relationship. But soon her longings, so closely hidden during her teenage years, explode out into reckless romantic encounters. Her desire to thwart her own destructive impulses will eventually lead her to The Ledge, an unconventional treatment center that identifies her affliction as "love addiction." In this strange, enclosed society she will start to consider the unnerving similarities between her own internal traumas and divisions and those of the places that have formed her.
You Exist Too Much is a captivating story charting two of our most intense longings—for love, and a place to call home.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A young Palestinian American woman living in New York must deal with the consequences of her poor life choices in this incisive exploration of modern romantic relationships. As an up-and-coming DJ, our protagonist, who goes unnamed, basks in the love of her audience from afar, yet never seems to be able to commit fully to her partner, Anna, who ultimately leaves her after discovering a series of emotional and physical affairs. Seeking professional help, she is diagnosed as a “love addict” and signs on for an intensive in-patient therapy that forces her to confront the root causes of her behavior. We loved how author Zaina Arafat used the setting of group therapy to explore our protagonist’s childhood experiences living in patriarchal Jordan, and how her mother’s disgust of her bisexuality and father’s neglect has her searching for love yet sabotaging relationships. We laughed at the often-contentious interplay between the members of the therapy group, which was captured perfectly by narrator Zehra Jane Naqvi. With biting humor balanced by truly poignant moments, You Exist Too Much is an entertaining and eye-opening listen.
