A review by moonpix
The Queer Art of Failure by Jack Halberstam

3.0

Starts promisingly, with the argument that it is better to fail than to succeed if succeeding requires you to contribute to a heteronormative and capitalist society. The idea that failing can often create better ways of existing in the world does feel refreshing in that it is genuinely life affirming without giving into idealism. This definitely reflects my lived experience of failing (and in fact being incapable of succeeding) at being feminine and able bodied. But unfortunately when Halberstam goes into any greater depth the evidence given and the arguments made (especially the central one of animation, and the section on feminist passivity) just do not cohere. I don't necessarily think that's due to his reliance on ‘low theory’, rather he's just not that convincing a writer, but alas if I still want to find reasons to feel less alienated from popular culture I will have to look elsewhere