Welcome to Litsy!

A soft pick. I picked this up because the essay about Tolentino‘s reality TV stint was referenced in “You Wanna Be on Top?” by Sara Hartshorne. Generally I found the collection to be interesting and smart, but maybe it‘s my attention span, the essays were all too long for me - about 30 pages each. I thought a lot about what I‘d have asked her to cut were I her editor. That said, essays aren‘t my usual fare.

#37by37 (only two more books to go!).

#WickedWhispers #Trick A book still on my TBR

I listened to this one over audio, read by the author. I liked some of the essays more than others (I can‘t remember the names since I‘ve listened to it over 2 months). Anyhow I felt that some of her essays were a good insight into so many relevant topics at this point in time. April review #bookspin

INSANELY GOOD. Such cool essays that jump around a lot but in a super insightful way. Especially liked “Ecstasy.“

I absolutely inhaled this book. It‘s reminiscent of Joan Didion‘s The White Album and Slouching Towards Bethlehem, in that it‘s a collection of essays that capture the zeitgeist written by an intelligent erudite analytical woman.

Unfortunately this was not for me. I expected new ideas, new insights or thought provoking statements, but there was nothing new for me. Maybe if you have never thought or read about media, feminism or the internet, this would be a good book to start, but as I have had many touchpoints with these topics it was boring. There was not one new thing for me. Some stories about her life were interesting to read so 2/5⭐️

Currently listening/reading this and am about 20% in. I did read mainly good reviews, but so far I‘m a bit unimpressed. It‘s much less thought provoking and smart as I expected. But we‘ll see, maybe it‘ll be different later on.

Really enjoyed this. Half memoir half cultural essays, Tolentino is a staff writer for The New Yorker. This collection ranges in topics from social media, to college rape culture, to analyzing the reality show she was on as a teen and more. It is thoughtfully written and though very left wing feminist I found myself bristling occasionally and having to look at situations differently which is also great.

"I would see myself in Jo March, but the world's Jo Marches would rarely, if ever, be expected or able to see themselves in me".

This is a fantastic essay not only about heroines, but about the history of literature and the effects of representation on culture.

I really enjoyed it. If that is something one can say when a very clear and honest voice points to a lot of awful things that happened and continue to. One or two of the essays didn‘t capture me entirely - mainly because of the subject matter not being my thing. I loved her voice, the humor, the self deprecation and yet somehow it felt like there is some hope left. Even if it is just about the fact that a voice like this is being printed and read.

As in most essay collections, I liked some more than others. Felt smart reading it and had to look up the meaning of a few words. I thought it would deal with more superficial topics like the cosmetic industry, but religion, rape, and the roles of the wife are interesting too.

3🌟 I think Talentino is a smart writer and this collection was well researched but it took a lot of me as a reader to get through. This is not a negative on the author. I think she did a great job mixing memoir and cultural criticism. I found some essays were better than others. But my favorite one was Pure Heroines, it was absolutely brilliant! How she examines classic female heroines in literature blew my mind! #bookreview #essays

I finished this today for my bookclub meeting next week. It‘s a collection of very good essays about the internet, campus rape culture, feminism during Trump‘s term, and several other topics. It made me think and made me angry, which I think was it‘s purpose, so good job Jia Tolentino!

Bought this today , again , I was in a B&N to buy something for someone else .😂Definitely a blame it on Litsy & blame it on @vivastory and his amazing review !

Recommended!

“I was learning that in the 21st century it would sometimes be impossible to differentiate between the pretext for an experience, the record of that experience, & the experience itself.”

Jia has written a sharp collection of essays encompassing contemporary problems, attitudes, & behaviours although some have been steeped in society for a long while. These essays are intertwined but very wholesome in their individual messaging 👇🏽

I'm a little late to the party, but here we (finally) are. Some of these essays forced me to look at things from a different perspective than my typical own, and for that, I'm always grateful. Relatable (to an extent), and smartly written, Tolentino gives a fuck about what she writes about; thoroughly explored, acknowledged, and summed up that nothing is ever perfect...

A scattered review, but hey! I read it over the course of a year! 💁🏼‍♀️

4⭐ This was a challenging read for me and I enjoyed taking my time with it and really thinking about what I was reading. The essays were dense and much more thought-provoking than those in other essay collections I've read lately.

I rarely listen to books on tape, but I had a road trip to do and this turned out to be an excellent choice. Interesting commentary on sociocultural structures and how we players in them see ourselves... how we delude ourselves. At one point I even pulled my car over to write down something Tolentino said 😂 So much to consider and reflect on here. I‘m very impressed with the author‘s insight and self-awareness— I wish I were more like her!

Excellent volume of essays. I especially liked "Pure Heroines" and "Ecstasy" but found all to be interesting.

#Bookmail 🙃

Essays on society from a youthful& formidable voice. 30something take on life today was fascinating to me. Her Intelligence pops. Learned many valuable things. Favorite: Pure Heroines #thenewyorker #currentevents #femininism #socialcommentary

TW: Book contains sexual violence, rape. I found these essays absolutely brilliant. She is like an easier to read Rebecca Solnit. Writing about growing up religious, feminism in politics, social media, the role of the literary heroine, etc, she seamlessly discusses her life connections to intense and complicated topics involving sex, gender, and race. She was relatable, intelligent, and strong in her words. Also her last essay on marriage helped..

I‘ve been really wanting to read this but so far it‘s been a mixed bag. The first essay didn‘t resonate with me, the second I liked and the third has me mostly bored. I guess essays are like that 🤷‍♀️

LOVED THIS. Jia Tolentino is one of the sharpest writers of my generation. I value her insights so much and would encourage everyone to read this

Tolentino's essays excel at taking familiar flashpoints of culture wars-- e.g. social media, feminism, sexual violence-- and peeling back the layers of popular views to find fresh insights. She achieves this end in some essays via exploring her personal history, as in one that chronicles her stint on a reality tv show, and structures others in creative ways that enhance her analysis. The perfect antidote to tired media tropes disguised as debate.

"In my journal, I...overestimate the impressions that I'm making on other people...wondering how my friends and classmates see me, and then trying to control whatever they see. This is, I write, an attempt to be more honest...But I worry that I'm more interested in narrative consistency...that all this self-monitoring has made me...too conscious of what 'Jia' would do in this situation--that I'm in danger of becoming a 'character to myself.'" ?

Meh. Emphatically meh. I know others have found this revelatory but for me it was just trying really hard. 🤷‍♀️

Ended up in the middle of three books again.

Not pictured: picnic at hanging rock

Amazing read.

I'm high on Jia Tolentino these days, after reading Trick Mirror. Her New Yorker essays are fierce ✨

I really enjoyed some of the essays in this collection, but there were a few that I totally skipped because they weren‘t on a topic that interested me. I thought the audiobook was well done, as Tolentino narrated it herself. Goodreads: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Uhhhhhhh my brain is tired and I don‘t feel like trying to condense my GR review even further than I did because I‘m just too BLEH to form many thoughts. This was good in parts, frustrating in others, needed better editing, yadda yadda. Go read my GR review for very slightly more scintillating thoughts or whatever. Semi-recommend, I guess. 3/5 ⭐️

No crime is confounding and punitive the way rape is. No other violent offense comes with a built-in alibi can instantly exonerate the criminal and place responsibility on the victim. [...] The best-case scenario for a rape victim in terms of adjudication is the worst-case scenario in terms of experience: for people to believe you deserve justice, you have to be destroyed.

TRICK MIRROR / 5 ⭐
It took me a while to finish this one but that doesn't mean I enjoyed it any less. These are essays about being a young woman in the age of the internet, virtual communication, industries that feed of of sex, reality TV, the pressures surrounding time- and body-optimization and Tolentino writes from a critical lense, examining how the world we live in has deformed our constructed images of the self.

I was learning that in the twenty-first century it would sometimes be impossible to differentiate between the pretext for an experience, the record of that experience, and the experience itself.

I set a goal this year to read at least two nonfiction books each month, and I realized today it‘s the 22nd and I haven‘t read any in March, sooooooo rectifying that 😬 I‘ve only read a bit from Tolentino here and there online, but I‘ve generally found her to be a sharp observer. Have heard mixed but mostly good things about this collection. #nowreading

Good audiobook!!

“The nature of a revelation is that you don‘t have to re-experience it; you don‘t even have to believe whatever is revealed to hang onto it for as long as you want.” I am LOVING this book.

I started with very high hopes for this book. I usually enjoy the pieces Tolentino writes and some of the essays met that expectation, but sadly most did not. There were several of the essays that could have been edited to be a bit more concise, because it is never a good thing when you think “This story isn‘t done yet??” Not a win for me 🌟🌟 1/2.

I am on a quest to read essay collections, very current ones. This book certainly fit the bill and I enjoyed each essay. I have avoided books about the current state of the world for too long and now run headfirst into the truth seekers and "cultural critics" like Jia. Her observations are smart, and present a challenge for all of us to hold a mirror up to our own lives. Now accepting further reading...drop your favorite (fairly recent) recs ⬇️

Newest #audiobook on #libby. I've been waiting on this for awhile and ready to see what Jia has to say!
#nonfiction #essays

Last line: Here, as in so many other things, the “thee“, that I dread may have been the “I“ all along.

NTS: kakistocratic

...deliciously twisted empowerment...

...cultural consumers...

...reading celebrity lives like tea leaves.

...creating the idea that harsh criticism of a woman is itself always sexist, and furthermore, more subtly, that receiving sexist criticism is in itself an indication of a woman's worth