Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
AuthorJia Tolentino
LanguageEnglish
SubjectsInternet culture
PublisherRandom House
Publication date
6 August 2019
Media typePrint (Hardback)
Pages303
ISBN9780525510543 (First Edition Hardcover)

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion is a 2019 book by American author Jia Tolentino. The book consists of nine essays. Topics addressed in the essays include internet culture, "scammer culture", and contemporary feminism.

Writing and composition

Tolentino began writing the collection in early 2017 and finished it in the fall of 2018.[1] Before the sale of the book to a publisher, Tolentino chose a "question" to address in each essay.[2] Tolentino selected the order of the essays so that each "builds" on the previous one.[2]

Contents

  • The I in the Internet
  • Reality TV Me
  • Always Be Optimizing
  • Pure Heroines
  • Ecstasy
  • The Story of a Generation in Seven Scams
  • We Come from Old Virginia
  • The Cult of the Difficult Woman
  • I Thee Dread

Reception

The collection received mostly "Positive" reviews, according to the online literary review aggregator Book Marks.[3] In their review, Kirkus Reviews compared Tolentino to Joan Didion and described the collection as "exhilarating, groundbreaking essays that should establish Tolentino as a key voice of her generation."[4] Writing for Slate, reviewer Laura Miller called Tolentino "a classical essayist along the lines of Montaigne."[5] The Guardian called Trick Mirror "a bold and playful collection of essays from a hugely talented writer."[6] NPR's Vincent Acovino called the collection "phenomenal" and praised Tolentino's "trademark brand of freewheeling wit and intelligence."[7]

One highly critical review, written by Lauren Oyler for the London Review of Books, received much publicity and generated so much online traffic that the London Review of Books website crashed.[8][9]

For the week of August 25, 2019, Trick Mirror debuted on The New York Times Bestseller List at #2 in the category Combined Print & E-Book Non-Fiction.[10] It remained on the list for five weeks.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Acovino, Vincent (6 August 2019). "'Trick Mirror' Finds Hope That Little Truths Will Emerge Amid Absurdities". NPR. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  2. 1 2 Ransom, Brian (7 August 2019). "Please Fire Jia Tolentino". The Paris Review. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  3. ↑ "Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion". Book Marks. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  4. ↑ "Trick Mirror". Kirkus. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  5. ↑ Miller, Laura (2019-08-13). "Jia Tolentino's Debut Is a Hall of Mirrors You'll Never Want to Leave". Slate.
  6. ↑ Haas, Lidija (2019-08-02). "Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino review – on self-delusion". The Guardian.
  7. ↑ Acovino, Vincent (2019-08-06). "'Trick Mirror' Finds Hope That Little Truths Will Emerge Amid Absurdities". National Public Radio.
  8. ↑ Silman, Anna (January 25, 2021). "What Does Lauren Oyler Like?". The Cut. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  9. ↑ Joseph, Richard (13 January 2022). "Everyone's A Critic". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  10. ↑ "Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction". The New York Times. 2019-08-25.
  11. ↑ "Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction". The New York Times. 2019-09-22.


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