A review by jpfriday
The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life by Michael Warner

4.0

“Get over yourself. Put a wig on before you judge. You stand to learn most from the people you think are beneath you.” I took my time finishing this: its dense intellectual tone can deter. But “The Trouble With Normal,” even twenty years after release, is a book of enduring questions and high stakes. In examining the ties between sex, respectability, queer ethics, the institution of marriage, and private/public space, Warner reveals the spiderweb cracks in society we would do well to address – and in most cases, break wide open. This book speaks to ways of living that slice through “every form of hierarchy you could bring into the room.” It feels adventurous.