so fucking good! i can't in good faith give it a five-star review because it is admittedly a huge mind fuck in certain sentences, with some confusing phrasing and wordplay which simultaneously makes my head hurt and makes me chuckle (see: "in an atmosphere atwittter with the cries that echo between those who merely watch and those who hunt such birds, what matter who killed cock robin? the logic of sinthomosexuality justifies that violent fate in advance by insisting that what such a cock had been robbing was always, in some sense, a cradle.")

alongside this, though, it also has some prose that is simply sublime, not only in its phrasing but in the fascinating ideas in which it is expressing. i say this about many of the books of this type i read, but it really fundamentally changed the way i view both my own queerness and the role of queerness (or, as edelman would say, the sinthomosexual) in broader society. and the concept and analysis of reproductive futurism alone makes this book worth the read. i will be thinking about this book for a long time to come, and i'm excited to read it again in the future when i am fully steeped in the field and can more fully understand all of the material.

i would put some favorite quotes here, but there are too many to choose from.
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update fall 2024: 

i never really agreed with the ideas lee edelman was expressing, but was moreso interested in how he articulated those ideas and the existence of those ideas themselves. after reading some really poignant critique of the hopelessness (and whiteness) of edelman's anti-futurity, i've realzied just how much i disagree with his ideas. at the same time, though, i retain a respect for his prose and don't beleive he is ill intentioned. i will continue to recommend this book, though with caution and with critique presented alongside it.