Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - You Exist Too Much

Beautiful and poignant look at mental health and mother/daughter relationships.

Our main character is Palestinian / American (never named), which leads to constant flashbacks to her summers in Palestine and her mothers own experience growing up. During the present timeline, our MC is dealing with her addiction to love, and her relationship with her mother who refuses to accept our MCs bisexuality. We see her learn to come to terms with her traumas, and create connections with those around her beyond her usual sexual and obsessive ones.

There is a lot of beautiful and personal introspection throughout the text, but it all gets lost with the constant time jumps. At times they all feel separate from each other, and it leaves you with a sense of vagueness, never truly getting to the root of each theme. The ending especially felt rushed, as we jump from relationship to relationship and the role of the mother (which seems to be the core relationship of the book) being put off to the side.

I could definitely relate to the mother/daughter relationship, as it reminded me of my own. Especially in regards to being a bisexual woc whose mother dismisses, ignores, or at worse condemns their sexuality. I was also moved by the exploration of the mother as an individual outside of her role as mom to remind us that she is just human and not some evil manipulative monster. I simply wish that we had had more interactions between mother and daughter in the present and not only in the past.

I will say, the title of this book? to me was the most powerful statement made. I think in some ways, I wish the book lived up to the title.

Content Warnings

coffeenoldbooks's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Read for Pages4Palestine readathon

I first want to say that I really enjoyed this book and wasn’t what I was expecting. This book has a flawed protagonist who discusses their journey of being a bisexual Palestinian American who suffers from addiction and anorexia. She goes through her self destructive habits and trying to better herself even after sabotaging her relationships one after the other. She discovers a lot of her root cause is a very emotionally unavailable mother whom she craved love and affection from.

The bulk of the story is told while she is in rehab with flashbacks on where things went wrong for her and the decisions she made that she seemed to regret. She talks about her mother’s past and her childhood where she grew up in an occupied state and married young and gave up a lot of her dreams to only end up emotionally detached and regretting many things. We see how the protagonist understands this but does not pardon her mother for not being there and providing the love and affection she needed herself.

Other points of note in the book are talks of her feeling othered in many ways. Never feeling like she has a place to fit in. She is a Palestinian American and doesn’t fully feel like she fits in the American world but also not an Arabic world either. She feels like she has no place she truly belongs and it makes her longing for love an affection much deeper; craving some sense of belonging.

The one thing I do truly wish there was more talk about is the last relationship she has with Anouk. I’d love to know more of how they were able to come to trust eachother and find the love she was craving.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and recommend it. I’d say to check some trigger warnings beforehand.

Content Warnings

nikia4's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

fallingdownrabbitholes's review against another edition

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challenging 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

Content Warnings

bkschwartz's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny 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

3.0

Bookclub read, probably not one I would have chosen. It was very well written though. The story pops between present day and memories constantly. The lead is messy, a complex woman who self sabotages.

Content Warnings

halloweenie's review against another edition

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reflective 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

Content Warnings

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