Super strong conceptually but not quite as radical or transformative as I had hoped.

Trick Mirror lives up to its name as Tolentino picks apart different ideas about selfhood, and the complicated ways identity intertwines with consumerism and societal pressure. Scrutinizing yourself against the backdrop of modern American life is something like a funhouse mirror; a dizzying feeling of not knowing what's real or fake.

While I agreed with Tolentino's ideas and liked what she had to say, its scope is extremely limited. Tolentino is a middle-upper-class millennial, and that perspective shows in her writing. While I don't fault her for writing what she knows, I could tell that it limited her arguments in many ways.

A lot of women will find themselves in Tolentino's analysis. This will be especially relatable to corporate millennials who have struggled to come to terms with the facade of the American dream, especially during the advent of celebrity culture, reality television, and social media. Especially especially for women who struggle with overconsumption and wanting to "fit in".

Even though this book didn't quite deliver what I expected, I found this to be a good introduction to investigating and unlearning the pitfalls of liberal/white feminism and how the patriarchy and capitalism are connected. There's always something satisfying in seeing someone completely pick themselves apart before attempting to fit themselves back in to their new political reality.

Tolentino's writing is accessible and entertaining; she knows which details to focus on to boost her argument and she has a tendency to be off-the-cuff funny with her slight self-deprecation and relatable cultural analysis. A lot of her points transfer beautifully to the age of TikTok, which brought with it a new era of parasocial celebrity worship, cultural surveillance, and peer pressure.

However, even just 6 years later, much of the content feels redundant and outdated to anyone familiar with feminist analysis. Particularly, many concepts have been talked about by Black feminists, indigenous feminists, and queer activists, especially on the topic of capitalism co-opting social movements for profit and disruption.

I left feeling like Tolentino, at least at the time of writing Trick Mirror, still had a lot of deconstruction to do and was just beginning to explore feminism beyond the culturally accepted #Girlboss libfem of the time. Her points are strong but felt like they weren't pushed far enough. She seemed to talk around the point of consumerism but didn't quite name capitalism as a structural issue, which ultimately still landed as a more liberal feminist perspective.

Recommended as an introductory feminist text and an interesting collection of self-reflective essays, but overall skippable for more experienced feminists looking for a deep deconstructive challenge.