Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat

9 reviews

intotheecosmos's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

this book is easily one of the best i’ve read in a while. i love the way in which it’s structured—with fleeting thoughts and flashbacks perfectly timed to provide the reader with a depth of understanding the main character. being apart of her therapy journey felt like getting a chance to become more connected with a friend, whilst simultaneously uncovering parts of myself that i didn’t realize needed attention. it’s an amazing read and my finishing in one day can attest to that!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Eating disorder

as for content warnings, a lot of this book follows our narrators journey through love, childhood, therapy. she’s a queer palestinian uncovering a lot of biases engrained deeply in herself, her culture, and society.

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. 

---

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

chunri's review

slow-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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Eating disorder, and Sexual assault

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

---

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.

skudiklier's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.75

I was really engaged with this--after I got through the beginning bits and got properly into the story, I read almost the whole thing in a day. I found the protagonist relatable in a messy she-needs-help kind of way, and some of her struggles with things like abandonment and generational trauma were hard to read, but in a good way. I like the way the timeline jumps around and you don't find out things in chronological order, and I also like how the book addresses why the narrator's mom is the way she is, without excusing the way she treats the narrator. I'd recommend this book but I'd also definitely say to look at the content warnings first, since this book can get pretty heavy at times.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Abandonment, Homophobia, Addiction, Eating disorder, Infidelity, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, War, Drug abuse, Racism, Outing, Self harm, Sexual content, Death, and Pedophilia

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Blood, Suicide, and Pregnancy

kitten's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder

Minor: Sexual assault

candournat's review

informative reflective tense 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

3.5

I have such mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I loved it. It has great representation, and offers an exploration of the intersectionality of being queer and Palestinian. I loved the protagonist even though she was extremely unlikable and had so many flaws. 

But, the forgiveness and even defending of Greg after he admitted to taking advantage of a woman just really spoiled the entire book for me. It was such an unnecessary plot line that added absolutely nothing to the story, except maybe that the protagonist was very flawed — which we were already very aware of by this point in the book. 

I was also disappointed by the ending, I feel like we were introduced to some of the protagonists flings more than Anouk, and I don’t really feel that her mother’s homophobia was ever truly explored or given any sort of resolution. It was just implied that they had maybe? an OK relationship despite her mother hating that she was dating a woman. Maybe the resolve was supposed to be that her mother was just getting on with it but I just feel it could have been explored a bit more.

Despite this though, I did really enjoy the book and it did have a lot going for it — I loved the non linear narrative, and would recommend the book overall. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Addiction

Moderate: Alcohol, Outing, Biphobia, War, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, and Sexual assault

kierscrivener's review

challenging emotional medium-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

3.25

I am not completely sure how I feel about it. I expected something vastly different. The title and the synopsis really focuses on her relationship with her mother, heritage and sexuality. And it was. It did advertise vignettes, but I guess it was told a little too progressively to be snippets and too scattered to feel progression.

We follow a twenties something bi Palestinian woman as she navigates a breakup and her constant need to go for the unattainable and to cheat out of fear. We see beautiful and poignant moments throughout but there's something missing. And it might be what I came in looking and didn't see. But we see her acting out and reacting because of fears and insecurity, and her realization of her own mother's trauma but I never feel like she ever fully lowers her guards, and the end has some poignancy but not enough to feel resolved or as if this is a stepping off point.

I love quiet stories but I like when we explore things and she never quite had enough introspection or conversation to fully invest me.

I enjoyed my way throughout and would definitely give Arafat another book 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Racism, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Infidelity, and Biphobia

Moderate: Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Addiction, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

cheye13's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I procrastinated reading this book all year because I knew it would be a tough read, especially if/because I might identify with the protagonist. For some reason (probably the tags/lists I found it in), I was not prepared for it to be so beautifully written. The content also took me by surprise, and I feel the synopsis doesn't do the story justice at all. In addition to being about the intersection of the narrator's racial/ethnic, queer, and gender identities, it's also very much about trauma, cyles, and addictive and destructive behavior.

The gorgeous writing makes the difficult subject matter easy to consume, but I still felt as though the book as a whole turned me inside out. I did find the narrative impossible to conceptualize linearly, but I liked that. The meandering, nonlinear timeline combined with the evocative language and vivid detail allowed me to become fully immersed in every individual scene before being pushed or pulled into another without warning.

In a lesser novel, a number of stereotypes would stand out as flaws, but they instead translate as realistic due to the nuances and depth of this story and the narrator. A beautiful book that I absolutely recommend.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Grief, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

A lot of the listed content warnings are mentioned in a flashback mode or treated as though they're completely in the past, regardless of the nonlinear storyline (i.e. the disordered eating is discussed only in post-recovery terms, the drug abuse was emotionally reactionary and explored, etc). The pedophilia is in the terms of an underaged character in sexual situations, not in terms of an adult actively engaging in pedophilia.