Let Us Luxuriate in the Next-Level Media Blitz for a Very Good Book

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Let Us Luxuriate in the Next-Level Media Blitz for a Very Good Book

On Tuesday, August 6th, the book of the season was released like 30 to 50 feral hogs: Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino. And the hype! Has! Been! Palpable! Uncharacteristically, I’m not even annoyed yet. If you don’t know Jia, she’s the New Yorker columnist behind last year’s seminal Juul deep-dive, this year’s viral athleisure investigation, and this important academic look into people begging celebrities to kill them. Or maybe you’ve read her Twitter, which is a work unto itself.

To the very pretty girl who came up to me at the bar at Joyface last night & said you liked my writing, I want to apologize for being extremely deep within a "bit" that involved me being a sort of "screaming possum" & not fully returning the focus & affection you deserved

— Jia Tolentino (@jiatolentino) July 27, 2019

I've never done ketamine but that seems like it could easily change with CATS

— Jia Tolentino (@jiatolentino) July 19, 2019

What’s the best hangover movie please help my family is dying

— Jia Tolentino (@jiatolentino) July 28, 2019

I’m only halfway through her book and can already vouch for it. I’ve ached and laughed and aged several years, and not unproductively. She really is, as her book jacket explains, “what Susan Sontag would have been like if she had brain damage from the internet”—a tagline I’ve read aloud to several friends, all of whom share my amazement (and envy?) at its aptness. I’m internet-damaged too! Maybe stars really are just like us….

I’d like to think I’m unique in my appreciation of Jia, but I’m joined by seemingly all of New York and New York media, who have collectively agreed on her genius. Look at all the people lined up for her reading in Brooklyn this week!