Reviewed by Isabella Agostino

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Looking back, I was well advised before embarking on this collection that it would be, as the blurb states, “personal,” approached with “heartfelt honesty,” and infused with “King’s trademark humor.” All true. All a bit, well, understated. In retrospect, though, I was warned.

Backstory: After reading Chuck Klosterman’s The Nineties (2022), I scrambled to find a book of the same nature about the 2000s. Klosterman’s brilliantly researched and skillfully written deep dive gave me little bits of nostalgia I could respectfully claim, but I was constantly haunted by visions of my slightly older aunts and second cousins reading The Nineties and having far more anecdotes and memories about the subject matter than I ever could. I knew what I needed. And thus, after some brilliant research of my own (Twitter), I marched to the nearest Barnes & Noble and picked up Tacky.

All the stars present above are a reflection of King’s writing ability. She genuinely captures the feelings I—and, I suspect, most people—associate with early 2000s consumerist nostalgia. As promised, the book contains essays revolving around cultural artifacts of the decade. We’re talking Bath & Body Works’ Warm Vanilla Sugar spray and body wash, the Jersey Shore cast, America’s Next Top Model, Hot Topic, the Cheesecake Factory, and even a brief mention of Limited Too. King deciphers the momentum that propelled early teenagehood to covet these places, shows, and things.

And, genuinely, if I were looking for a memoir-driven reflection on culture, I wouldn’t need to look any further. But the issue is that I wasn’t. And, to that end, I wasn’t alone—according to Goodreads’ review section, at least.

Had the book started out as unabashedly personal and confessional as it later became, I probably would have put it down. By the time I found myself thinking, Wait a minute, are we just using Degrassi to check a box?, it was too late, I was already nearing the finish line.

Unfulfilled expectations aside, it’s clear that King has a particular gift for putting it all out there and being hilarious while doing so. She makes some truly traumatic moments read as if they happened to someone else. And maybe they did, though, I suspect the honesty in Tacky is genuine. In any case, know what you’re getting into before you dive in.