The final essays return to issues of feminism and womanhood.

She examines her own alma mater in 'We Come from Old Virginia,' which analyzes relationships between sex and power institutions at the University of Virginia. In 'The Story of a Generation in Seven Scams,' Tolentino positions scamming as the action that has defined the Millennial generation, referencing how these scams have affected her life from college to the present day. The following essay, 'Pure Heroines,' also focuses on women here, tracing the life cycle of the literary heroine from girlhood to adolescence to adulthood. Tolentino uses a combination of personal narrative and analysis of larger social trends in 'Always Be Optimizing,' in which she describes society's current ideal woman and the ways in which athleisure trends reflect her. Tolentino focuses on her personal history in 'Reality TV Me,' which describes her time on a reality show as a teenager. She then begins the collection with 'The I in Internet,' which traces the development of the internet in terms of its social and psychological effects, as well as Tolentino's own use of it. There’s also an audiobook, narrated by the author.Tolentino introduces her own work, contextualizing it as writing produced in the context of the 2016 presidential election and its aftermath. The book has been translated into twelve languages and is out in paperback now.

It was named one of the best books of the year by the New York Public Library, the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, NPR, the Chicago Tribune, GQ, and the Paris Review. Trick Mirror, published in 2019, was an instant New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize for Best First Book and the PEN America Diamondstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine and Pitchfork, among other places. In 2020, she received a Whiting Award as well as the Jeannette Haien Ballard Prize. She grew up in Texas, received her undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia, and got her MFA in fiction from the University of Michigan. Formerly, she was the deputy editor at Jezebel and a contributing editor at the Hairpin.

Jia Tolentino is a staff writer at the New Yorker, the author of the essay collection Trick Mirror, and a screenwriter.

Trick mirror jia tolentino