Book review: Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy

In this memoir, Jennette McCurdy recounts her life as a successful child actress on Nickelodeon, her brief career in country music, and the troubled and controlling relationship she had with her mother, Debra, who died from cancer in 2013. The book is divided into two sections, 'Before' and 'After', detailing events before and after her mother's death. McCurdy discusses her struggles with eating disorders, addiction, and the systemic issues of the child star system. The memoir is praised for its raw honesty, dark humor, and McCurdy's unique voice, which makes the book both heartbreaking and engaging.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of I'm Glad My Mom Died comes Half His Age, a startlingly perceptive, mordantly funny, and keenly poignant rich character study of a yearning seventeen-year-old girl who disregards all obstacles in her effort to be seen, desired, and loved. Waldo is a ravenous, blunt, naïve yet wise, impulsive, and angry seventeen-year-old who desperately wants her creative writing teacher, Mr. Korgy, despite his wife, kid, and life circumstances. McCurdy expertly captures the dichotomy of feeling mature at 17 while remaining young and naïve.