Jia Tolentino is an outstanding author, and I was so glad to see that her move from Salon to the New Yorker to published book author has gone so well. This book is an excellent critical take on modern society and the absolute absurdity of the world we live in.

I really liked Tolentino's writing style, but I have to admit that it felt a little too smart for me. I didn't know a ton of words she used! Her examinations into a lot of different topics were super in-depth and interesting (especially her musings about rape culture and feminism). However, it was a tad difficult to follow her train of thought at times. One essay was about her experience being raised in a mega-church, then morphed into a story of Texas hip-hop, then proceeded into her explorations with drugs (ecstasy in particular). It was tough for me to see how all of these things were linked and left me disconnected from where she was trying to take the reader.

Even though this book was only written three years ago, there were aspects that already felt a tad dated (maybe because we're living in a post-Trump presidency world). This does make me curious to read some of her more current essays to see how she's interpreting societal issues occurring now. I'd recommend this collection to people in my demographic (female millennials) but it might not be relevant for a larger readership.

Excellent reflections on gender, technology, culture, and what it means to live in these modern times. Humorous, moving, and heartbreaking all at once. I've enjoyed Jia's writing over the years, and it was a pleasure to dive into this collection.

I have been following Jia since she was writing for The Hairpin (her takedown of "Rude" by Magic! is a work of genius that I have to revisit at least once a year) and was very excited to read this. It's everything I thought it would be and more.

This took my forever to get through but I was glad to have read it. Some essays were so fucking good but most were just too long to have a real impact. Im sure my attention span is to blame.

Incisive essays that provide cultural commentary on all things internet, virtual identity, consumption, and others that compelled me to offer a double-take on the salvos of cultural conventions readily accepted as what they are branded to be. Tolentino synthesizes disparate topics together to allow for a more integrated understanding of the world and does not deprive us of her very iconic wit.

Tolentino is clearly a very smart, well read, thoughtful person. Some of her essays went I found hard to connect with, but I was still in awe of her ability to comment on the current culture. I particularly appreciated how she acknowledged that her own life experiences have a direct effect on how she filters and interprets the world. Sometimes essays can be a bit too "this is the way it is" without making sure to address how those opinions have come about.

Jia Tolentino's essays in Jezebel and then The New Yorker have long been some of my favorites; this collection was the one book of 2019 I simply could not wait to get my hands on. A few of the pieces within aren't quite as incisive as her very best work, but her strong, unique voice and whip-smart observations kept me delighted throughout.

There are very few journalists whose work I seek out and The New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino is one of those journalists. My introduction to Tolentino’s work was in 2016 when she wrote a blog post for the New Yorker titled “The Worst Year Ever, Until Next Year” detailing how 2016 truly was the worst year, the presidential election being icing on the cake. Since that day, I became a fan of her work and was so excited to find out that she had a book of nine previously unreleased essays coming out August 6th. .
In “Trick Mirror”, Tolentino explores the idea of self and identity with essays on problematic landscape that is the internet, reality TV framed by her stint on a teen reality show, and why women feed into the concept of the “ideal woman” to name a few subjects. The essays are longform, covering many sub topics tittering on the verge of stream of consciousness writing, but at the end they all tie together and wrap up beautifully. She finds a way to talk about gender, culture, and society with such humor and thoroughness. I just want her to be my friend and never stop writing.

I'm pleased to report that it's every bit as good as everyone says it is. Jia Tolentino probes the oddities of modern [female] life with the precision of a scalpel; she's a tremendously talented writer and a skilled observer, a critical combination when it comes to this sort of essay collection. My favorite essay was the one about Tolentino's time on a reality tv show as a teenager, and my least favorite was the last essay about weddings, but I think each of those speaks to my personal interests more than objective quality. I don't think there was a weak essay in here and I look forward to reading anything by Tolentino in the future.

Jia is a talented writer and her observations on culture and society are impressive! Love how well researched her thoughts are and she blends her personal narrative into each essay. You get a sense of why what she's saying matters, and why she took the time to write on the topic. Her takedown of the wedding industry was amazing! Tightly written and flowed well. Love her analysis of UVA and rape culture. Her other essays felt long and winding, and it felt like she lost her way in some of them. Overall, a really solid collection and I look forward to more from Jia!

There are always books that enter the cultural zeitgeist that one ends up missing for some reason or another. Luckily, holiday travel is a perfect time to catch up. In nine essays, New Yorker staffer Tolentino goes long on topics including her relationship with ecstasy (both the drug and the frenzied religious state), #MeToo on college campuses, her stint on reality TV in the pre-Twitter era, the legacy of literary heroines, the wedding industrial complex, the act of creating a cult of personality on the internet, and much, much more. Tolentino’s ability to precisely capture the confusing, infuriating, and (sometimes) magical world we live in today with intelligence and humor will leave you buzzing. When you read it, both time and space (and long layovers) evaporate; you’ll emerge brimming with topics to chat about over any holiday occasion.
—HERE Magazine, "6 Book Recommendations for Travelers, December 2019"
https://www.heremagazine.com/articles/best-books-december-2019

I usually have a hard time with short story collections but I really enjoyed the cultural criticisms within this body of work.

The greatest essayist of our time! Is that too much? Too soon to say? I don't think so. Her writing style had me hooked from the get go. We talk a lot about "voice" and who has it and who doesn't and well, she's got it!

This book of essays was remarkable, and I plan to buy a copy in hardcover for my sister. Jia Tolentino summarizes what I think - even when I’m not sure. She makes persuasive arguments about society and media that are perfectly of the moment, for 2019. I will curious to reread it in a few years.

Tolentino beautifully navigates the life of millennial women in this book of essays. I saw myself and the world I'm (upsettingly) part of sometimes.

Jia Tolentino is a brilliant and incisive writer. These essays are a fascinating look at the Internet age.

“Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self Delusion” by Jia Tolentino is a thought provoking collection of essays on how we fool ourselves. She tackles a variety of topics from how we build our identity on social media to the #metoo movement. Her essays were entertaining and insightful..

I would give this six stars if I could. Jia Tolentino has written the definitive work on the effects of growing up in the digital era. I could not put this down. Can’t wait to purchase and keep on my bookshelf.

I wasn't familiar with Jia Tolentino when I requested this. I was intrigued by the title, cover, and blurb. When I started reading, I was a little worried I was falling into some sort of Millenial-takes-herself-too-seriously world, one in which being on a reality show as a teen meant she thought she should be an arbiter of pop culture and that this somehow earned her chops as a *real* thinker/writer/personality.

Wow, was I mistaken.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of essays, finding them thoughtful and provocative and very well written. Tolentino may have started out on her path to fame in a way that made me roll my eyes (sorry!) but somewhere along the way she developed a keen sense of herself, her generation, and the world around her - and her ability to translate that sense into language that is engaging, thought-provoking, and brutally upfront about the realities of being a woman in the modern world caught me off guard.

This was a marvelous collection of essays - I've talked her/the book up to my step-daughter, who is also a young woman making her way in this hot mess of a contemporary world we find ourselves in, and think she could do way worse in finding a guide along the way. True, there were a few eye-rolling moments (Tolentino, as is the case with so many writers who expound on the nature of the world around them, occasionally takes herself a wee-bit too seriously), but on the whole I found this to be a powerful collection of thoughts on the way the world looks - and works...