Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

150 reviews

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I’m late to the party and don’t think there’s anything I can say about this that hasn’t already been said at least 1000 times, but this is truly excellent. It’s not news that life as a child actor is far from glamorous, but this is a bleak, honest look at the reality we fear around ethics and child labor and the Hollywood beauty standard, among a slew of other important conversations. I never watched a single thing that Jennette was in (I was the right age for the Amanda Show, not iCarly) and I went into this knowing nothing about her. You don’t have to feel nostalgically connected to her or her work for this to deeply impact. 

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This book was amazing, and even better than I thought it was going to be. I knew it would be good, but wow. Jennette blew me away. She was raw and emotional and very honest about a life that she was forced into. I would recommend to everyone who wants to see the truth of what child actors go through. 

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Wow. Listened to this straight through. Hearing Jennette read her story out and do so with such matter-of-factness and steadiness is captivating. Her story is heartbreaking and relatable and unfortunate. It is raw and real. I think it's one thing to try and read this, it's a whole other thing to hear it read by the author herself. Definitely look at the trigger warnings because it's quite graphic, but it's so so beautiful. 

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never thought i'd relate to jennette mccurdy but here we are 😅 def too triggering to ever read again, and wow did i forget that this type of media fucks me up.

anyways, jennette's tone is like nothing i've ever seen, so blunt in such a selfless way,

let me add that booktok bitches need to get their hands off this book if all they're reading is coho, this is a real woman you people, not some fictional woman going through awful things you've been desensitized to.

my favorite quotes:
"I throw on my best fake smile. Mom doesn’t notice the smile is fake. She thinks I genuinely love the gift. She tells me to put the outfit on for my party." (ch.1)

"Suddenly I’m embarrassed I gave Mom my screenplay. I’m ashamed. How could I be so stupid? She would never support this."  (ch.24)

"She wanted this. And I wanted her to have it. I wanted her to be happy. But now that I have it, I realize that she’s happy and I’m not. Her happiness came at the cost of mine. I feel robbed and exploited."

"I’m allowed to hate someone else’s dream, even if it’s my reality." (ch.65)

"'Jennette…' Laura says, pausing to rub her lips together, which she does every time she feels like she’s about to say something important. 'This is what recovery looks like.' (ch.71)

"I want my life to be in my hands. Not an eating disorder’s or a casting director’s or an agent’s or my mom’s. Mine." (ch.87)

and for a more light-hearted quote::

"There is such finality in Steven’s eyes that I know I’m getting nowhere near that dick for the foreseeable future." (ch.74)


i think i need additional TWS bc the ones i have are not specific enough. graphic descriptions of bulimia and anorexia, and more specifically severe purging. along with mommy issues, body dysphoria, intrusive thoughts,  panic attacks, addiction, and OCD spirals. 

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i haven't read many memoirs but among the ones i've picked up, this was the most honest. one of the few that bears humanity in itself. one of the few that admitted being human is most of the time ugly and exhausting and disgusting. and i loved jennette mccurdy for that. her experience with her mom hit home in ways i'm too sad to admit myself. writing this book must have been hard; must have included a lot of crying and breakdowns. because it's hard enough to rummage through the past with a trauma that you do not want to recollect over and over, much more reminiscing the memory of a person you deeply loved and idolized almost half of your life while she robs you of as much of it. i should say that this is her brave take in a lot of unspoken aspects of her life as a forced actress, a daughter, and a child. this is her reclamation of her name, her integrity. and i admire her; i respect her, deeply. i could hug this book if this was a person.

a bit of critique: i wish i had more glimpse of the process of how and when she gradually accepted the fact that her mom abused her before she finally came to acknowledge it. 

anws, looking forward to her debut novel! she has written her story so strategically with humor on this book and still managed to be HONEST about her feelings and experiences. i anticipate and am even curious about what would it be like for jennette to write a novel, and pursue the dream that her mom initially did not support. i am especially curious about her ideas and creativity that is more than acting as this, i claim to be, is her transition era where we finally see her as Jennette McCurdy, no more as Sam Puckett. i'm sure with a bestselling book as this, she is just starting, and she still has a lot more to show. (i hope especially in the literary world) ;')

ps. nickelodeon sucks.

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