“I have felt so many times that the choice of this era is to be
destroyed or to morally compromise ourselves in order to be
functional — to be wrecked, or to be functional for reasons that
contribute to the wreck,” Jia Tolentino writes in “The Story of a
Generations in Seven Scams,” an essay from her debut book “Trick
Mirror.” This is the kind of observation that sets “Trick Mirror”
apart from other recent cultural commentaries. In a sentence,
Tolentino names one of the defining dilemmas of modern life, and
in doing so she offers her readers a double-edged sword: She sees
us, but that means we are seen.
Do you remember that awful weekend in the beginning of
August, when Beto O’Rourke acknowledged that the shootings in El
Paso and Ohio might have something to do with President Trump’s
violent and racist rhetoric? “What the fuck? Hold on a second,” he
said, when a journalist asked him what President Trump could do
to make the situation better. Finally, he had lost it with the bullshit,
and it was a painfully gratifying to see someone express the raw
anger I felt. That’s what “Trick Mirror” feels like: Relief, because
finally someone has taken up the Herculean task of articulating all
the complication of being alive right now.
In “Trick Mirror,” subtitled “Reflections on Self-Delusion,”
Tolentino explores a number of topics: Feminism, politics,
capitalism, religion, technology, marriage. The book is at turns biting
and heartbreaking, and Tolentino never lets herself — or her reader
— off the hook. In what appears to be her strongest essay, “The Story
of a Generation in Seven Scams,” Tolentino meticulously describes
how scamming has become an integral part of American life.
Deception is woven into the fabric of American mythology. It’s the
basis for nearly everything: Joanne the Scammer and President
Trump, Elizabeth Holmes and LuLaRoe. Scamming, Tolentino
argues, scales itself out from the personal to the structural and
back again. We’re taught that scamming is how to get by. It’s how
we play the system, but it’s also how we play ourselves.
Tolentino zeroes in on a hard truth of capitalism in “Seven
Scams”: In an economy like ours, trying to buy responsibly is nearly
impossible. You buy something from Amazon — because it’s cheap,
and you’re poor or you’re busy or you have a disability — and you’re
directly contributing to a whole host of bad things that will soon
befall another human being, another person who is also poor or
busy or disabled. This is America, where we’re all screwing each
other over in a million different ways.
“Trick Mirror” doesn’t offer any answers to the question of
how we might begin to break this cycle. Still, there’s something
immensely satisfying in hearing the problem described so well.
Tolentino is a superb writer; she manages to accurately characterize
most complex social problems of our time with an ease that is
unmatched. Best of all, she always implicates herself. The book
is as much a reflection on culture as it is on her own relationship
to it, and it’s a pleasure to read about how Tolentino herself has
struggled to understand the world and her place in it.
Her essay “We Come From Old Virginia,” about sexual
assault on the University of Virginia’s campus, is an especially
personal piece, since Tolentino attended the school as an
undergraduate. She approaches the topic of the now-retracted
Rolling Stone article, “A Rape on Campus,” with both empathy and
anger. In the article, written by Sabrina Erdely, a woman (referred
to as Jackie) describes a horrifying story of sexual assault. Much
of the article was fabricated, however, and Erdely was sued for
defamation.
“There’s a part of me that feels as if Jackie and Erdely
inadvertently sentenced me to a life of writing about sexual violence
— as if I learned to report on a subject so personal that it imprinted
on me, as if I will always feel some irrational compulsion to try
to undo or redeem two strangers’ mistakes,” Tolentino writes.
Simultaneously, she understands something about the two women’s
mistakes. Jackie reminds her of her time in the Peace Corps, about
which she writes, “I felt, monstrously, that there was no boundary
between my situation in the larger situation, between my injustices
and the injustices everyone faced.”
This dilemma is at the core of “Trick Mirror”: What is personal?
What is political or structural or cultural, and to what extent can we
hold ourselves and others responsible for the wrongdoing caused
by our involvement in these larger systems? “Trick Mirror” avoids
attempting to answer these questions and instead tries simply to
articulate them. It’s clear upon reading “Trick Mirror” that part of
the problem is that the questions themselves are so obscured.
In this sense, “Trick Mirror” is more a work of philosophy and
less a book of solutions. It left me with the feeling that simply
understanding the many dilemmas of modern life would itself
be revolutionary. After all the scamming, all the delusion and
uncertainty, what we’re left with is the task of naming the vague,
ever-present feeling of chaotic wrongdoing. Luckily, “Trick Mirror”
isn’t a trick mirror at all. It shows us just as we are.
Jia Tolentino refuses simplicity in “Trick Mirror”
BOOK REVIEW
Trick Mirror
Jia Tolentino
Random House
Aug. 6, 2019
MIRIAM FRANCISCO
Daily Arts Writer
Anthony Jeselnik is a comedian who likes dark
comedy. “Good Talk with Anthony Jeselnik,” a
new Comedy Central series starring Jeselnik,
appears to be his first mainstream foray into
television, aside from a Netflix stand-up special
called “Thoughts and Prayers,” which happens to
be what one might call very dark. As is the case
with comedy, it seems as though there’s something
out there for everyone, and in order for something
to be enjoyable, it really has to appeal to one’s sense
of humor.
“Good Talk” is very much like a visual podcast.
It isn’t necessarily an interview, per se, but it
does have an interview-like quality mixed in
with comedic games. Anthony Jeselnik sits in an
unusually ornate room, adorned with low lighting,
red drapes and bookshelves stocked with leather-
bound copies. Across the wooden table sits another
comedian. In the series premiere, it’s Nick Kroll,
known most notably for voicing Nick Birch, among
other characters, on Netflix’s “Big Mouth.” The
format is very straightforward. Jeselnik asks Kroll
questions on topics ranging from Kroll’s career to
the theme of his bar mitzvah. Kroll proceeds to
answer the questions, and Jeselnik makes snide
jokes — all in good humor — throughout Kroll’s
interview. Peppered throughout are small stand-
ups clips, mainly used as jokes for what I believe is
their ineffectiveness.
To be clear, I am not one for dark humor. I go
to great lengths to seek out more wholesome
humor that isn’t really at the expense of others.
So Anthony Jeselnik and I probably would not be
acquaintances. But he isn’t so bad here. “Thoughts
and Prayers” is a genuinely terrifying special that
neither begins nor ends well. Most of that is absent
in “Good Talk,” even if he does poke a good amount
of fun at Kroll. The dynamic can be very awkward
at times because Kroll does his best to give very
genuine answers to the questions Jeselnik asks,
so — at least to me — Jeselnik’s jokes tend to feel
misplaced.
The show also features quick interview games,
like “Agree or Disagree” or everyone’s favorite,
“Does This Describe an Actual Turtle or Ya Boy,
Turtle, From ‘Entourage?’” The questions are more
fun than anything, of course. Much like the rest of
the show, if you respond well to Jeselnik’s style,
you’ll probably get a kick out of it. Jeselnik delivers
most of his jokes with the same even-paced,
slightly-mocking voice. Often, the punchline is
his knack for making genuine questions sound
completely disingenuous.
“Good Talk” is ultimately bound to be compared
to other successful comedian-centric interview
shows, such as “Comedians in Cars Getting
Coffee” or the very idiosyncratic “Between Two
Ferns”; however, I think all these shows appeal
to different tastes. Perhaps “Good Talk” offers
something different from what these other shows
can offer. Jeselnik’s style of humor is certainly
different. If you’re looking for interviews that
are more playful and less serious, you might get
a kick out of “Good Talk.” Ultimately, I can’t say
whether or not this show is good or bad, because
I’m not a fan of Jeselnik’s humor. But if you’re a fan
of Jeselnik, or enjoy the comedians who come on
the show, you may find something worthwhile in
“Good Talk.”
‘Good Talk’ is adequate, if that’s your sort of thing
TV REVIEW
MAXWELL SCHWARZ
Daily Arts Writer
RANDOM HOUSE / FACEBOOK
That’s what “Trick
Mirror” feels like:
Relief, because finally
someone has taken up
the Herculean task
of articulating all the
complication of being
alive right now.
COMEDY CENTRAL
Good Talk with Anthony Jeselnik
Series Premiere
Comedy Central
Fridays @ 11 p.m.
By Roland Huget
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/10/19
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
09/10/19
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Tuesday, September 10, 2019
ACROSS
1 For both men
and women, as a
school
5 “Now!” letters
9 White vin
14 Jason’s ship
15 Southwest
tableland
16 Piece between
steps
17 Smokes, for short
18 Nerve impulse
carrier
19 In tune
20 One on a dean’s
list
23 Eclectic musician
Brian
24 Put mileage on
25 Wood-shaping
tool
26 __-relief
29 Imperfection
related to an
inherited disorder
33 Word after ink or
knee
34 Small island
35 Horne of jazz
36 Help for a small
climber
39 Electrical unit
40 Civil War sword
41 “Well, start
talking”
42 __-Caps
43 Agnus __
44 “The Third Man”
or “Double
Indemnity”
48 Service charge
49 “Mr. Blue Sky”
rock gp.
50 Many times o’er
51 Old horse
54 Parliamentary
rules violation
... or what
each circled-
letter quartet
represents?
57 MD meeting an
ambulance
60 Parcel (out)
61 Subtle glow
62 Safari
heavyweight
63 Composer
Stravinsky
64 Bearded flower
65 Seth who played
Wozniak in
“Steve Jobs”
66 Feline feet
67 __-dish pizza
DOWN
1 Hidden supply
2 Mythological
night-sky hunter
3 Christmas drink
4 “I can only __
much”
5 Piled up
6 Hockey team on
the ice, e.g.
7 Not worth __
8 Way to watch
bamboo-
munching zoo
bears
9 Medal metal
10 Dryer fluff
11 Set a price of
12 French word in
bridal bios
13 Call out
21 Prepare to tackle
22 Whirling current
26 U.K. network,
with “the”
27 Clearasil target
28 Oater badge
shape
30 English derby site
31 Blood of the gods
32 Swing willy-nilly
36 Broadway hit, in
slang
37 “__ from
Muskogee”:
Merle Haggard
song
38 Eye rudely
39 Potato chip
go-with
40 Scuffle
42 Études, typically
43 Feels otherwise
45 Recent rightist
46 Like pitches that
bounce in the dirt
47 Last
52 Cliffside abode
53 Fully comprehend
54 Corn bread
55 Draped Roman
garment
56 Sudden attack
57 Go wrong
58 Letter after pi
59 Project for an
archaeologist
6 — Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com