Too Soon

Oprah Daily Books That Got Us Through 2025 NPR Books We Love 2025 “The novel, which opens in 2012, has all the beats of a romantic comedy—one that unfolds partly in the West Bank… . The ribald humor, the over-the-top-ness that Shamieh brings to describing this struggle, reminded me—surprisingly—of mid-century Jewish American writers, especially Philip Roth… . These women are all antiheroes of a sort … . Shakespeare would approve.” —Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic“Palestinian-American playwright Shamieh makes her wonderfully brash and sparkling fiction debut with this novel of three generations… . Funny, sexy, and often furious, this book fills in gaps in our understanding.” —Oprah Daily“The novel prompts the reader to ask what it means to participate in a larger story and still maintain a self, and like so much good character fiction, it examines the ways we are complicit in our own troubles. Too Soon is not only right on time, but evergreen.” —Washington Post“This début comic novel, by an accomplished playwright, stitches together the lives of three generations of Palestinian women as they search for personal freedom… . As Shamieh balances her characters’ painful family history and their boisterously funny voices, the women navigate between the ‘push to be modern, radical, and free’ and the ‘pull to find comfort in a community and identity’ born of tradition.” —New Yorker“This fiercely funny, sexy, and culturally resonant saga follows the interwoven threads of three generations of Palestinian women… . A drama about displacement, love, and freedom.” —PEOPLE, “Best Books of January 2025”“With scathing humor and raw emotion oozing off of every page, Too Soon is an engrossing 80-year saga that still ends too soon, leaving you ravenous for more.” —WBUR“Hope and laugh­ter animate Betty Shamieh’s debut… . For a subject so weighty, the novel feels surprisingly efferves­cent thanks to the witty and resolute women who make up the three main characters… . Together, they spin a resonating tale of hope’s potential to survive through terrible atrocity… . A page turner that is not only funny and of its time, but also steeped in history, questioning the age-old adage that time heals all wounds.” —BookPage (starred review)“An astute, engaging portrayal of three generations of feisty, resilient women who are, each in their own way, forced to start over from the bottom and claw their way back to the top.” —San Francisco Chronicle “For a book titled Too Soon, you will certainly not soon forget these powerful voices Shamieh presents to us.” —Chicago Review of Books“Shamieh’s tone—present throughout, but strongest in Arabella’s sections—is confiding and chatty, a Carrie Bradshaw if Carrie had to worry about getting detained at Ben Gurion Airport by Israeli guards for eight hours. But this book isn’t fluffy: Its ethically complex characters carry heavy weights. Shamieh refuses easy moral lessons, aiming for complexity and nuance with a light, voicey touch.” —Kirkus Reviews “A vibrantly affecting debut novel … Too Soon is rich in history, wit, and heart. Shamieh’s assured voice tells a complicated story in nuanced and meaningful ways.” —WBUR“Too Soon is about what it means to leave home, what it means to return home, and what happens when home is an elusive concept. Sharp, propulsive, and irreverent, this story is profound without ever becoming ponderous—and I haven’t been this excited about a debut novel in a long time.” —Rebecca Makkai, author of I Have Some Questions for You “Too Soon braids the lives of three passionate Palestinian women as they move through a turbulent century. From a sparkling harborside home in Jaffa in the forties, to the slums of Detroit in the sixties and the stages of contemporary New York theater, each generation must contend with patriarchy within her community and prejudice from outside it. A deft, honest novel that refuses to shun complexity as it explores the costs of love and motherhood.” —Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize–winning author “Too Soon is a multi-generational tale of ambition, war, and reinvention. Its fierce and witty narrators are women, grandmother, mother, and daughter, struggling to plot lives and destinies beyond history’s confines. History here is nations at war; history is embattled families; history is expecting wives and daughters to put marriage before art and duty before desire. Arabella, the granddaughter, is a theatre director who stages Shakespeare’s tragedies as if they were comedies and vice versa. This is exactly what Shamieh does in this book. Simplicities disappear. New interpretations and intricacies emerge. A writer outwits the confines of history.” —Margo Jefferson, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, author of Constructing a Nervous System “An unpredictable and expansive novel of history’s intimate grip on the present. Three generations of Palestinian women fight for their lives, passions, and talents while facing exile, male power, and a corrupt art world. They each strategize survival in specific and recognizable ways, stretching the possible. Betty Shamieh’s characters are real-to-life complex individuals who will keep readers surprised and moved. A book that expands the range of American fiction.” —Sarah Schulman, author of Let the Record Show

Betty Shamieh (she/her) is a Palestinian American writer and the author of fifteen plays. She is the playwright-in-residence at the Classical Theatre of Harlem. Her six New York play premieres include the sold-out off-Broadway runs of Roar and Malvolio, a sequel to Twelfth Night, which were both New York Times Critic’s Picks. Shamieh was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and named a UNESCO Young Artist for Intercultural Dialogue. She is a founding artistic director of The Semitic Root, a collective that supports innovative theatre cocreated by Arab and Jewish Americans. A graduate of Harvard College and the Yale School of Drama, she lives with her family in San Francisco.

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