Trick Mirror - Jia Tolentino

Essays

Rating: 9/10

A brilliantly written and observed collection of essays about everything from Reality TV to scammer culture.

The author tackles the conflicts and contradictions that define the times we are living in.  She boldly digs into how hard it is to see ourselves clearly through the forces warping our vision.  While I imagine the intent was to reach her own age demographic (thirty something), I found plenty that applied to my own (fifty something).  And while the slant may be a feminist one, that should not in any way be a deterrent to any gender.

If I was forced to choose my favourite essay, it would be the authors commentary on the internet and social media. She describes it as a three-ring circus of feverish banality that we embrace in order to publish our happiness and popularity to the world.  How we have come to a point where we hold our own opinions in the highest esteem. As we scramble for a virtual connection, we have little time left for anything besides social and economic survival. Try unpacking that!

I was relieved that thoughts I attributed to my inner curmudgeon were shared by smart thirty somethings!

Favourite Essays:

The I In Internet

Reality TV & Me

Always Be Optimizing

The Cult Of The Difficult Woman

Footnote: Often when I read, I find passages that take up residence in my head.  Buried among all the wonderful research here was the following.  Feminism is a trick mirror that carries the illusion of flawlessness as well the self-flagellating option to constantly find fault.