If the purpose of cultural criticism is to spark further conversation, Jia Tolentino has succeeded with Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, a readable, honest and at time damning collection of short non-fiction that bridges personal essays and cultural criticism. Both challenging and affirming, it is a smörgåsbord of snapshots from the (amorphous) ‘millennial experience’, though the meandering quality of these essays might put off readers who prefer the drive of a crystalised thesis.

There is an element of ‘preaching to the choir’ - many of these insights will be familiar territory to a progressive woman, the target readership likely to share many Tolentino’s opinions. The experience of reading Trick Mirror is akin to nodding with a “yesssss sis!” as you chat with a smart, saavy, well-read mate.

It was somewhat jarring and somewhat refreshing to read cultural criticism from pre-COVID times. Remember when we didn’t have to understand everything through the lens of the pandemic?

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TO TEACH? 🍎
Actually, yes - though I’d caution you to be very careful about which essays you share with students. I have shared the online version of her essay Always Be Optimising (originally published by The Guardian) with my year 12 students as an example of how a piece of writing can maintain a discursive and exploratory and a distinctive personal perspective, without morphing into persuasive writing.  With the discussion of drug-taking and sexual assault through (particularly in Ecstasy and We Come From Old Virginia, respectively), be cautious about keeping the book on your classroom library shelf for student reading below the year 12 level (depending on your context, of course!)