You Exist Too Much
On sale
22nd June 2020
Price: £10.99
‘Deeply compelling… sexy.’ Roxane Gay
‘Takes you on a dizzying tour of love addiction, rehab, homophobia, betrayal, obsession and the aching need for a mother’s unconditional love. At different times throughout, you’ll find the protagonist needy, reckless and selfish but also smart, intuitive and trapped between two cultures – because as we all know, humans are nothing if not complicated. Roxane is right: this deserves five stars.’ Stylist
Told in vignettes that flash between the US and the Middle East, Zaina Arafat’s powerful debut novel traces her protagonist’s progress from blushing teen to creative and confused adulthood.
In Brooklyn, she moves into an apartment with her first serious girlfriend and tries to content herself with their comfortable relationship. Soon, her longings, so deeply hidden during her teenage years, explode out into reckless romantic encounters and obsessions with other people, which results in her seeking unconventional help to face her past traumas and current demons.
As heard on Radio 2 Book Club, this captivating novel is perfect for readers who love Maggie Nelson and Garth Greenwell. Opening up the fantasies and desires of one young woman caught between cultural, religious and sexual identities, You Exist Too Much is a captivating story charting two of our most intense longings – for love, and a place to call home.
What people are saying about You Exist Too Much:
‘Real and deliciously messy.’ Attitude
‘An elegantly written debut… A thought-provoking exploration of love and belonging, and how the two come together to create a sense of self.’ New European
‘Exquisitely written and crafted with a compelling lightness of touch.’ Living Magazine
‘A nuanced, sparky debut.’ Observer
‘A wonderfully written, queer, coming-of-age story.’ i newapaper
‘A novel of self-discovery following a Palestinian-American girl as she navigates queerness, love addiction and a series of tumultuous relationships.’ The Millions, One of the Most Anticipated Books of the Year
‘Powerful… With You Exist Too Much, Arafat announces herself as a provocative and insightful writer.’ Irish Times
‘Takes you on a dizzying tour of love addiction, rehab, homophobia, betrayal, obsession and the aching need for a mother’s unconditional love. At different times throughout, you’ll find the protagonist needy, reckless and selfish but also smart, intuitive and trapped between two cultures – because as we all know, humans are nothing if not complicated. Roxane is right: this deserves five stars.’ Stylist
Told in vignettes that flash between the US and the Middle East, Zaina Arafat’s powerful debut novel traces her protagonist’s progress from blushing teen to creative and confused adulthood.
In Brooklyn, she moves into an apartment with her first serious girlfriend and tries to content herself with their comfortable relationship. Soon, her longings, so deeply hidden during her teenage years, explode out into reckless romantic encounters and obsessions with other people, which results in her seeking unconventional help to face her past traumas and current demons.
As heard on Radio 2 Book Club, this captivating novel is perfect for readers who love Maggie Nelson and Garth Greenwell. Opening up the fantasies and desires of one young woman caught between cultural, religious and sexual identities, You Exist Too Much is a captivating story charting two of our most intense longings – for love, and a place to call home.
What people are saying about You Exist Too Much:
‘Real and deliciously messy.’ Attitude
‘An elegantly written debut… A thought-provoking exploration of love and belonging, and how the two come together to create a sense of self.’ New European
‘Exquisitely written and crafted with a compelling lightness of touch.’ Living Magazine
‘A nuanced, sparky debut.’ Observer
‘A wonderfully written, queer, coming-of-age story.’ i newapaper
‘A novel of self-discovery following a Palestinian-American girl as she navigates queerness, love addiction and a series of tumultuous relationships.’ The Millions, One of the Most Anticipated Books of the Year
‘Powerful… With You Exist Too Much, Arafat announces herself as a provocative and insightful writer.’ Irish Times
Reviews
A dizzying tour of love addiction, rehab, homophobia, betrayal, obsession and the aching need for a mother's unconditional love. At different times throughout, you'll find the protagonist needy, reckless and selfish but also smart, intuitive and trapped between two cultures - because as we all know, humans are nothing if not complicated. Roxane [Gay] is right: this deserves five stars.
You Exist Too Much is a first novel that is exquisitely written and crafted with a compelling lightness of touch.
A stunning debut . . . [You Exist Too Much is] a devastating portrayal of what it's like to feel as though you never fit in . . . Arafat handles these weighty topics with real compassion.
A wonderful illustration of how our most significant formative relationships can be simultaneously the most positive and negative force in our lives.
A wonderfully written queer coming-of-age story.
Arafat's writing is fresh, witty and packs a heavy punch.
Elegantly written . . . A thought-provoking exploration of love and belonging, and how the two come together to create a sense of self.
Navigating queerness, bisexuality, love, and addiction, this captivating story takes readers on a journey to find two of the things we all long for the most: love, and a place we can call home . . . This really is one you don't to want to miss.
Powerful . . . With You Exist Too Much, Arafat announces herself as a provocative and insightful writer.
The first-person narrator has a distinctive voice and is a magnetic presence on the page; the scenes with her mother are electric . . . A nuanced, sparky debut.
You Exist Too Much gets desire at a deep level . . . A keen study in how our wants are bound to place, race, gender, religion, psychology, and family. Zaina Arafat speaks for the persistently hungry.
What a breath of fresh air! . . . You Exist Too Much is a moving, irreverent, darkly entertaining novel about the agony of family, the mysteries of romantic love, and the painful work of learning where we stop and others begin. Arafat is a true original.
At once complicated and engaging, this is the kind of debut novel that announces the arrival of a powerful new author who, besides writing beautifully, has a lot to say.
This story about love, identity, gender and family is brilliantly written and questions the effects of maternal love.
[A] provocative and seductive debut . . . Novels like these don't exist enough.
This multifaceted story reflects the ever-tricky journey to finding one's place in the world.
An unlimited space for those whose identities have always been too uncomfortable for society . . . When being a queer Muslim seems too complex for the world to handle, You Exist Too Much is a testimony as otherwise.
Thankfully we have moved beyond tedious questions about the 'likability' of fictional women, because the most interesting characters rarely are at all times. Arafat's heroine is no exception, but the author writes her with great tenderness and just enough self-aware dark humor to allow readers to become invested in this young woman's efforts to make herself whole.
Arafat's novel is a direct resistance to pinkwashing and other homo-nationalistic ideologies, one that centers Palestinian memory and generously unpacks the underlying sociopolitical contexts of Palestinian society for non-Palestinian readers.