Reviews with content warning for Lesbophobia - You Exist Too Much

Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat

25 reviews

sydnec's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring 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

4.0

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bashsbooks's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective 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

3.5

Enjoyed this book well enough. It was a nice exploration of the difference between love and obsession, the dysfunction between mother and daughter strewn across cultures, and those cultures that the daughter feels stretched between.

I found the characters to be complex and well-fleshed, suited for the concepts they were exploring. I thought that who got names and who didn't was compelling and thought-provoking detail.

That said, I think that it was somewhat lacking in balance in the scenes in which it spent lots of time with versus the times and places it skipped through. And I felt like the thread of the Ledge and the mental health aspect fell out of the plot a bit awkwardly.

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courtneyfalling's review against another edition

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slow-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

4.0

This was such a weird book. I still have such mixed feelings. Very in the "sad girl" genre a la Ottessa Moshfegh. The main character is a TRIP but I feel like the subtle throughline of how the trauma of Palestinian diaspora amidst ongoing genocide intersects with her personal family experiences and childhood trauma as well as her relationship decision-making was well-crafted. My main issues are plot-related. The center is a strange interlude and her "love addiction" was written justtttt enough where I wasn't sure how critical the book wanted to be of the center. Lots of ambiguous space and reactions. Also

I feel like having a main character with difficulties forming overly intense emotional relationships too quickly, then busting apart, is not solved by her suddenly getting into a good intense emotional relationship, without entirely clarifying what separates her capacity to suppress her self-destructive interiority and truly commit to handling interpersonal conflict this time... especially in the context of ongoing genocide and diaspora

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yasidiaz's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

Our unnamed narrator is a young Palestinian-American woman who struggles with a love addiction, as well as a complicated relationship with her mother, and the intersection of her identities. Through a series of vignettes, we see what led her to this point and her tumultuous journey to recovery.

This was a challenging book, the narrator is way too far from perfect, but you want her to get better. Reading through her trauma and the mistakes she makes along the way is difficult to go through. It’s very different from my usual reads. It’s serious, complicated, sad, a far cry from my fluffy preferences.

It’s beautifully written and hard to stop reading. However, it’s not a book I find myself re-reading any time soon. It’s not a book I will be grabbing and thinking about constantly. And that’s fine. I’m not the type to usually reach for literary and serious books, it doesn’t make it any less of a good book. I am glad to have read this book, it’s a very reflective and stunning book.

And in a time where Palestinians are being dehumanized, genocided, and silenced, it makes this book even more necessary. We need to read more from Palestinians, support them, make them known, and make them heard.

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flamesocks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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kathleenivy's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.25

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chaptertraveller's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

I enjoyed this a lot more than I may have expected to as it’s nothing close to what I normally read. It was interesting, thought-provoking, reflective, deeply funny at times, and felt very intimate in a way I don’t think I could well describe.

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