Whittall’s latest book is a short story collection centering on (mostly) queer relationships. Most of the protagonists struggled with a variety of mental health challenges and their relationships were complicated. Though I generally enjoy short stories, these left me wanting more. I don’t need stories to have a satisfying conclusion, but many of the stories ended abruptly. I am a fan of Whittall’s beautiful prose, but perhaps I was not the audience for this collection.

My thanks to NetGalley for an Advanced Readers Copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in any way.

This book had to have been therapeutic for the author. There's a lot laid out on these pages and the stories hit on a number of themes. And, as many short stories do, they end. Often with precious little understanding of what the heck just happened. Not saying they're bad stories, they're actually written well and the main characters are well-crafted despite the small timeframe you're given them. I just don't really "get it" if that makes any sense.

This was a really quick, very well written book of short stories with a thread through all of them of feminism and queerness. I really enjoyed this easy read and found some of the stories funny, some heartbreaking. This was a great introduction to Zoe Whittall and I will definitely be reading more from her.

Big Zoe Whittall fan here, and not just because she writes about things so close to my heart. Like being a queer woman, and mental health struggles, and living in Ontario!

This was a really great collection of short stories. I would like to meet Zoe and say wow holy shit you made me feel so seen, the way you write about living with anxiety felt pulled from my own brain.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for the e-arc. I will continue to read everything Whittall writes and feel bummed that I'm out of the province for the Kingston Writers Fest.

If you enjoy short stories, I cannot recommend Wild Failure enough. I found each story to be so unique and enjoyable. Short story collections are newer for my shelf but this one was so good.

I’m usually a big short story fan. But some of these were a hit or miss. There are some stories that I skipped over halfway but the ones I did like, I really enjoyed. So perhaps readers might find some stories here that they like.

Some stories were so sad that they were funny. But I did feel taken in by the humanity in each story. This is about being woman. Being queer. Being a person in today’s world that makes it so easy to disconnect while being seemingly connected at every moment of every day.

Short story collections are one of the best ways to sample an author's writing skills and test your interest in their longer titles. WILD FAILURE captures moments in the lives of these women as they do their best to get by in a world that labels them by their sexual preferences. Zoe Whittall does a great job of pulling readers into the moment quickly and giving them a glance of how their differences affect their immediate surroundings, give us an ending that will set better with some more than others, but the point is well taken. Ten stories, ten life chapters, ten snapshots that caused this reader to visit Whittall's back library. That's what short stories do best, stir interest and fill gaps between series reading.

I always enjoy Zoe Whittall's books and could not wait to read her short story collection WILD FAILURE. It delivers. The 10 stories in this collection offer a range of characters who make mistakes and mess things up, but feel like people who could be the local skate park or live in your neighborhood, and so on. I pre-ordered this book after reading the second short story and can't wait to use this in one of my fiction classes this fall.

Really enjoyed this collection of strange but lovely short stories! They all had a very wry sense of humor, while still dealing some very real queer experiences .I was especially fond of the titular "Wild Failure" and "I'm Still Your Fag".

Wild Failure by Zoe Whittall is a phenomenal debut collection of ten powerful, feminist, and queer short stories.
What a powerful and compelling book this was.
I truly enjoyed each story and was hooked immediately.

Thank You NetGalley and Ballantine Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

A super interesting anthology that hooked me in and left me unable to stop reading. All of these stories were morbidly fascinating in a way that I couldn’t put it down until I devoured it all. This book is morbid, often horrifying, and a great collection of messy, dark queer stories

I learned about Zoe Whittall’s short story collection Wild Failure through her publisher on social media. I was really excited to receive an advance copy for review. While the stories are varied in nature, I was hoping for a more central theme to help tie everything together. While I think there is a deep sense of cleverness to many of her concepts, they lacked on execution. I personally don’t enjoy reading stories focused on trauma and was immediately put off by the opening story “Half Pipe.” The story concept I was most looking forward to was “Wild Failure,” a tale of an agoraphobic woman and her wilderness hiker partner, but I found the story anticlimactic, and really needing more background and buildup. I think many of Whittall’s ideas have potential, but I don’t think I will be returning to her writing anytime soon. Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with this short story collection in exchange for my honest option.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Zoe Whittall, and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I always forget how much I adore short story collections until I pick up one after a long time!! This was an absolute treat that I devoured in less than 24 hours. Don't get me wrong, Whittall definitely deals with a lot of serious and tough themes throughout each story, and these definitely do not have happy endings. However, each story was perfectly crafted in terms of pacing and description. I left each one wanting MORE while also being so satisfied with what I had just read, which is hard to do! Whittall also included the perfect number of stories that were easily readable and not too long. I will definitely be checking out other work by Whittall because she did an excellent job of writing complex characters, especially queer ones. There was authenticity in this collection that I was pleasantly surprised by, and I know that several of these stories I will be thinking about for days to come.

Ten thoughtful and often lyrical short stories that explore the lives and loves of queer women. These see the women through ups and downs, confronting aging, homophobia, relationships, and most of all themselves. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Put this on your bedside and read one a day.

Zoe Whittall's debut story collection Wild Failure is made up of ten stories highlighting women and most, if not all have a queer component. The first story, "Half Pipe" may be my favorite, tracking the aftermath of a sexual assault of a high school-aged girl. In others, we meet a couple on one last road trip before their planned breakup, two writers on a book tour, a woman who dreams about being killed, and a woman reflecting back on her time as a stripper. As with many short story collections, some stories resonated more than other, but this is a strong debut and I look forward to what Whittall writes next, as some of the stories here I would have loved to have sit with longer.

Thank you to Ballantine Books for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

Lovely collection of short stories exploring the intricacies of coming-of-age, relationships, and exploring queerness. It's been forever since I've read a short story collection and thoroughly enjoyed these. I will say, I would have appreciated a content warning for the first story, as it was quite graphic. The present tense, matter-of-fact narration came through in all of the stories.. While I appreciate that it stayed consistent, it wasn't my favorite and distracted me from the novel itself.

Whew this was heavy. I liked it, but I felt like I needed to sit with my discomfort after a few of these stories. These vignettes into the lives of different (mostly queer) women left me feeling like I wanted more, but that I also didn’t. Often dark, and emotionally messy, these were interesting stories of complicated feelings. I won’t lie - I’m glad I read this in the summer and not during dark and dreary winter evenings.

A good collection of shorts focused on women. Super quick read.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is my third read by the author. I found her novel Spectacular decidedly less than, but really enjoyed her next one, The Fake. This collection landed somewhere in the middle of that for me.
Not because of the quality or writing, which is quite high, but because of how similar the stories read. Rather amusing, considering how much this collection is all about diversity representation.
The diversity represented here is primarily queer. Tale after tale of a dysfunctional relationship, featuring queer characters. The characters are often well into their 30s, yet profoundly unable to get their sh*t together. Their immaturity is almost Gen Z in a way, though also very heavily of the more current Gens.
The writing, as I mentioned, is so very good, and Whittall can do some great emotional engagement when she chooses to (some of it particularly tragic), but one screwed up character after another can leave a reader craving a bit more thematic diversity to go along with the talent.
Still, it's a solid read, one that goes by very quickly. I read the entire book in one afternoon sitting from about 2 to 5. Toward the end, the collection gets somewhat more ambitious. Thanks Netgalley.

3.75/5 stars for Storygraph, rounded up to 4/5 for Goodreads.

This was an ARC that I received ages ago. A reading slump has put me severely behind in all of my ARC reads, so I’m slowly catching up.

Anyway, Wild Failure is the first book I’ve ever read of Whittall, and honestly? I’m really glad I picked this up. Whittall has a way of writing that hooked me in and held me hostage, even if the short story wasn’t my favorite. I found myself wanting more of these stories, and I hope that Whittall takes some of them and lengthens them into full-length novels.

There isn’t a whole lot I can say about this collection of short stories other than I had a lot of fun reading it and, despite the fact that I’m on SSRIs (I can’t cry… iykyk), I got misty-eyed during some of the scenes. I think… I think that says a lot :)

Wild Failure is perfect for anyone who likes unapologetically queer and feminist storytelling, especially if they don’t tend to shy away from heavy topics.

Thank you to Ballatine Books (Random House) & NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.