You Exist Too Much

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. – Tony Tulathimutte, author of REJECTION
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. * Stylist *
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. * Observer *
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. – Nina Renata Aron, author of GOOD MORNING, DESTROYER OF MEN’S SOULS
A wonderfully written queer coming-of-age story. * iNews *
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. * Happiful *
Powerful … With You Exist Too Much, Arafat announces herself as a provocative and insightful writer. * Irish Times *
A wonderful illustration of how our most significant formative relationships can be simultaneously the most positive and negative force in our lives. * The Arts Desk *
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. * Press Association *
Arafat’s writing is fresh, witty and packs a heavy punch. * The Skinny *
Elegantly written … A thought-provoking exploration of love and belonging, and how the two come together to create a sense of self. * New European *
You Exist Too Much is a first novel that is exquisitely written and crafted with a compelling lightness of touch. * Living Magazine *
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. * NPR *
This story about love, identity, gender and family is brilliantly written and questions the effects of maternal love. * Good Morning America *
[A] provocative and seductive debut … Novels like these don’t exist enough. * O, The Oprah Magazine *
This multifaceted story reflects the ever-tricky journey to finding one’s place in the world. * Esquire *
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. * Teen Vogue *
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. * Salon *
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. – George Abraham * Public Books *

Zaina Arafat is a Palestinian American writer and the author of the novel You Exist Too Much, which won a 2021 Lambda Literary Award and was named Roxane Gay’s ‘favourite book of 2020’.

Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Granta, Guernica, Harper’s Bazaar, The Believer, Vice, and BuzzFeed.

She has received fellowships from the Hawthornden Foundation and Jack Jones Literary Arts, and was named a Champion of Pride by The Advocate.

She is a professor at Hunter College and also teaches at Barnard College. She lives with her family in New York.

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