Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat

8 reviews

nikia4's review

challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Sexual content

Moderate: Eating disorder, Biphobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Physical abuse, War, and Suicidal thoughts

dangselena's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The timeline jumped around so much with little context so it was a bit hard to read. Side characters weren’t fleshed out enough to feel meaningful. The MC isn’t like able, which is fine, but there wasn’t much of a plot besides her being horrible to other people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Biphobia, Islamophobia, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Alcohol, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Homophobia, and Drug use

noahsingh's review

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Interesting but couldn't hack the sheer amount of annoying men the main character was attached/attracted to.
The main interesting aspects to me (Palestinian heritage + relationship with their mother + the instances of Islamophobia/ acism & Zionism she faces) had very little space in the book.

Also I do think her outing that woman was unforgivable and I Hate Hate Hated that that (trigger warning) literal rapist white guy at The Lodge is, if anything, forgiven/absolved by the narrative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, War, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Islamophobia, Colonisation, Confinement, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Racism, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Rape, Emotional abuse, Outing, Pedophilia, Addiction, Self harm, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Drug abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Rape

readingwithkaitlyn's review

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Child abuse

Moderate: Racism, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Outing, Abandonment, Misogyny, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Addiction, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Body shaming, Alcohol, Colonisation, Genocide, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Blood, Classism, Xenophobia, War, Religious bigotry, and Police brutality

DUI.

marissasa's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

With a title like You Exist Too Much, I knew this book would revolve around trauma. What I didn't expect was for our main character to be so deeply toxic and messy along the way to healing. The most compelling part about this book to me was the mother-daughter dynamic and how layered it was with their Palestinian immigrant identities and the daughter's queerness. However, I found a lot of the rest of the book a bit dull and repetitive, specifically the way that each of the main character's romantic relationships was detailed. She repeated the same mistakes or fell into the same toxic habits in each relationship and it felt like the story unnecessarily hammering home a fact about the main character (that she has a love addiction) that we already knew from the start since the book is told out of chronological order. While I loved the representation of her journey with bisexuality and her struggles with her mother, overall this book didn't leave as much of a lasting impression on me as I hoped.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Biphobia, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia

rhi_'s review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

Moderate: Eating disorder, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

sapphicbookfae's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Racism

readbetweenthespine's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Violence, Homophobia, Death, Child abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Alcohol