''Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion'' is a 2019 book by American author
Jia Tolentino
Jia Angeli Carla Tolentino (born 1988) is an American writer and editor. A staff writer for ''The New Yorker,'' she previously worked as deputy editor of ''Jezebel'' and a contributing editor at ''The Hairpin''. Her writing has also appeared in ' ...
. 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. Before the sale of the book to a publisher, Tolentino chose a "question" to address in each essay.
Tolentino selected the order of the essays so that each "builds" on the previous one.
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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. In their review, ''Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...
'' compared Tolentino to Joan Didion and described the collection as "exhilarating, groundbreaking essays that should establish Tolentino as a key voice of her generation." Writing for ''Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'', reviewer Laura Miller called Tolentino "a classical essayist along the lines of Montaigne
Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...
." '' The Guardian'' called ''Trick Mirror'' "a bold and playful collection of essays from a hugely talented writer." NPR's Vincent Acovino called the collection "phenomenal" and praised Tolentino's "trademark brand of freewheeling wit and intelligence."
One highly critical review, written by Lauren Oyler for the ''London Review of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews.
History
The ''London Review of ...
'', received much publicity and generated so much online traffic that the ''London Review of Books'' website crashed.
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. It remained on the list for five weeks.
References
2019 non-fiction books
American essay collections
Books about the Internet
Random House books
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