Trick Mirror

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion is a 2019 book by American author Jia Tolentino. It contains nine essays about topics including internet culture, marriage, scams, and contemporary feminism.

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion

Author	Jia Tolentino
Language	English
Subjects	Internet culture, feminism
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	6 August 2019
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages	303
ISBN	978-0525510543 (First edition hardcover)

Writing

Tolentino began writing the collection in early 2017 and finished it in the fall of 2018.^[1] Before she sold the book to Random House, 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

On August 25, 2019, Trick Mirror debuted at #2 on The New York Times Bestseller list in the category Combined Print & E-Book Non-Fiction.^[3] It remained on the list for five weeks.^[4]

The collection received mostly "Positive" reviews, according to the online literary review aggregator Book Marks.^[5] 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."^[6] Writing for Slate, reviewer Laura Miller called Tolentino "a classical essayist along the lines of Montaigne."^[7] The Guardian called Trick Mirror "a bold and playful collection of essays from a hugely talented writer."^[8] NPR's Vincent Acovino called the collection "phenomenal" and praised Tolentino's "trademark brand of freewheeling wit and intelligence."^[9]

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