Take a photo of a barcode or cover
First, Jia Tolentino is a very talented researcher, writer, and seems like a person I would love to have a cup of coffee with. I appreciated her perspective on the subjects she discussed- and picking this up right before the inauguration felt extremely timely.
I was left wanting both more and less weirdly at the end of some of the essays though. I genuinely enjoy and appreciate reading material written by people much smarter than me (Jia is definitely one of those people- I promise I’m not being self deprecating she’s really fucking smart), but her choice in vocabulary or sentence structure had me reaching for a dictionary or re-reading more than once while she discussed topics I find myself to already be very familiar with. It was distracting vs helpful in framing the subject matter.
Her conclusions to some essays also left me wanting more at times. I read some reviews praising her “solutions”, but I got the sense she’s still trying to figure things out herself… which I mean, same girl.
Overall, glad I finally picked this one up. I really loved her reflections on the internet, literary heroines, and hearing about her time as a teen on reality tv. I also feel very seen as a former full-time volunteer after college girlie… honestly I really need to look up if she ever wrote more about that experience!
Graphic: Drug use, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Gaslighting, Classism
Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Slavery, Transphobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking
Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War
Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual violence, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Genocide, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Classism
Moderate: Body shaming
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism
Moderate: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Classism
Minor: Drug use, Suicide