Trick Mirror

Reflections on Self-Delusion

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Trick Mirror

By: Jia Tolentino

Narrated by: Jia Tolentino

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About this listen

A Times book of the year

A Guardian book of the year

We are living in the era of the self, in an era of malleable truth and widespread personal and political delusion. In these nine interlinked essays, Jia Tolentino, the New Yorker’s brightest young talent, explores her own coming of age in this warped and confusing landscape.

From the rise of the internet to her own appearance on an early reality TV show; from her experiences of ecstasy – both religious and chemical – to her uneasy engagement with our culture’s endless drive towards ‘self-optimisation’; from the phenomenon of the successful American scammer to her generation’s obsession with extravagant weddings, Jia Tolentino writes with style, humour and a fierce clarity about these strangest of times.

Following in the footsteps of American luminaries such as Susan Sontag, Joan Didion and Rebecca Solnit, yet with a voice and vision all her own, Jia Tolentino writes with a rare gift for elucidating nuance and complexity, coupled with a disarming warmth. This debut collection of her essays announces her exactly the sort of voice we need to hear from right now – and for many years to come.

Education

Gender Studies

Politics & Government

Social Sciences

Women

Socialism

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Critic reviews

"A whip-smart, challenging book. It filled me with hope." (Zadie Smith)

"Jia Tolentino is the best young essayist at work in the United States, one I’ve consistently admired and learned from. All through the book, single sentences flash like lightning to show something familiar in a startling way, but she also builds extended arguments with her usual, unusual blend of lyricism and scepticism, and in the end, we have a picture of America that was as missing as it was needed." (Rebecca Solnit)

"Magnificent." (The Times)

Most relevant

Some of Tolentono's phrasing left me breathless and whispering 'yes' on the train. Her ability to delve down into seemingly trivial facets of contemporary western culture and emrge with salient points that strike the heart of the matter every single time is unmatched among other essayists I have read. Loved this Audiobook from start to finish. For anyone who has ever felt torn between feelings cynicism and seduction towards ubiquitous 21st century manifestations of phenomena like self-optimisation, marriage, feminism, religion and spirituality, drug-induced euphoria... And bloody expensive leggings. Bravo Jia.

Astounding, relatable, impeccably composed