About this item
A "provocative and seductive debut" of desire and doubleness that follows the life of a young Palestinian American woman caught between cultural, religious, and sexual identities as she tries to lead an authentic life (O, The Oprah Magazine) On a hot day in Bethlehem, a 12-year-old Palestinian-American girl is yelled at by a group of men outside the Church of the Nativity. She has exposed her legs in a biblical city, an act they deem forbidden, and their judgement will echo on through her adolescence. When our narrator finally admits to her mother that she is queer, her mother's response only intensifies a sense of shame: "You exist too much," she tells her daughter.Told in vignettes that flash between the U.S. and the Middle East -- from New York to Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine -- Zaina Arafat's debut novel traces her protagonist's progress from blushing teen to sought-after DJ and aspiring writer.
About the Author
Zaina Arafat is a Palestinian American writer. Her debut novel, You Exist Too Much, is forthcoming from Catapult Books in June 2020. Her stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Granta, The Believer, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, VICE, and NPR. You can follow her on Twitter at @ZainaArafat.
