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A review by gj377
How to Fail: Everything I've Ever Learned From Things Going Wrong by Elizabeth Day
3.0
I picked up this book because I've enjoyed a few episodes of the podcast, and because people aren't often honest about failure.
I definitely identified with some areas of this book, but less so with others. Day's belief that she was failing "as a woman" by not having children was completely alien to me, even if her ultimate conclusion was that this isn't the case. It's a very reductive view of women and womanhood, and exclusive towards trans women, and any woman who either can't, or doesn't want, children.
I get that this book was Day's way of working through her own issues in this regard and perhaps how society had taught her to view womanhood, but considering this chapter was overly long, it coloured my whole view of the book. I can also understand that someone else struggling to conceive may instead find a lot of meaning in this chapter.
That said, there were parts that were refreshing, and comforting. And Day's ultimate message - that there is nothing wrong with failure, especially a failure you learn from (whether that's about yourself, or knowledge for future endeavours) - is meaningful. It's a message we could all do with internalising, and one that will hopefully make us kinder to ourselves.
I definitely identified with some areas of this book, but less so with others. Day's belief that she was failing "as a woman" by not having children was completely alien to me, even if her ultimate conclusion was that this isn't the case. It's a very reductive view of women and womanhood, and exclusive towards trans women, and any woman who either can't, or doesn't want, children.
I get that this book was Day's way of working through her own issues in this regard and perhaps how society had taught her to view womanhood, but considering this chapter was overly long, it coloured my whole view of the book. I can also understand that someone else struggling to conceive may instead find a lot of meaning in this chapter.
That said, there were parts that were refreshing, and comforting. And Day's ultimate message - that there is nothing wrong with failure, especially a failure you learn from (whether that's about yourself, or knowledge for future endeavours) - is meaningful. It's a message we could all do with internalising, and one that will hopefully make us kinder to ourselves.