In her New York Times review, Maggie Doherty noted that Tolentino “writes with an inimitable mix of force lyricism and internet-honed humor. Reaction to the book was widely positive. These include the intersection of the personal and political, the malleability of identity, the mutual relationship between images and reality, the failures of popular feminism, and the absence of easy answers. However, in doing so, she consistently circles back to and builds upon central themes. Throughout the essays, Tolentino explores a range of topics from the rise of the internet to campus rape. Finally, in 'I Thee Dread,' Tolentino examines her own attitude towards weddings, weaving in historical and cultural perspectives on the institution. In 'The Cult of the Difficult Woman,' Tolentino crafts an argument about the dangers of celebrating 'difficult' women, as feminists have lately done. 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. Tolentino introduces her own work, contextualizing it as writing produced in the context of the 2016 presidential election and its aftermath.

Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino