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4.5 AVERAGE
4.5 AVERAGE
i'm not as big a fan of this as many others seem to be, maybe its because i'm not the ideal audience for deadpan humour, maybe because some hurtful words, although mostly citations of what her mom said, were written out (i'm talking derogatory words for native americans and disabled people, not asshole or fuck, just to be clear :). she also doesn't seem very aware of certain problematic ways of thinking, of internalized misogyny for example. still, i really liked this one. jennette's story may not be the most culturally impactful or important of the memoirs i've read in terms of the subjects it treats, but it felt very honest, very personal, her voice was clear, it was written and edited well and had good structure. i'm sorry for what her mom did to her and i'm so glad she's better now.
fast-paced
reads like a 13-year-old's rant journal -- very weak language. also didn't appreciate the ways mccurdy seemed to interpret female friendship.
omg.. this is way deeper than i expected, i literally dont even know what to say..
reading it felt like going into a tunnel and waiting excruciatingly for the light at the end of it
& im not even sure if there’s light or even an end to that tunnel
reading it felt like going into a tunnel and waiting excruciatingly for the light at the end of it
& im not even sure if there’s light or even an end to that tunnel
reflective
fast-paced
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
I listened to the audiobook and felt like I was sitting in on McCurdy’s therapy session. Her stories are intensely vulnerable, even if the writing didn’t blow me away.
First, pros: I liked how short the chapters were and I actually liked the usage of present tense. To reviewers asking how she could have remembered specific conversations: I think this genre would suffer without recreating them. Is she recalling verbatim what her mother said when she was six years old? Probably not, but the dialogue keeps us intrigued and reveals the essence of the communication/relationships. I also didn’t think her descriptions were gratuitous as some others have suggested. If the ED was secondary to the book maybe I’d feel like that, but the truth of bulimia is chunks of vomit streaking your hair and I like that McCurdy didn’t skip or sanitize that.
Honestly, I didn’t find it very funny and thought the jokes (abt the Rock being god, etc.) were a lil cringey but hey, she’s a millennial. More importantly though, it seemed like some things were glossed over; what happened with her OCD? Did that manifest into the ED? How has her mom passing impacted the OCD “voice”? McCurdy accepts that it isn’t the Holy Spirit, but after this realization doesn’t really mention it again in the book iirc. I just think there could have been more explanation here. Lastly, I found perceived overgeneralization about “moms” at the end a weird tonal shift (and also not necessarily true). Maybe I just generally consume more media that vilifies mothers than glorifies them lol
I can see this being a really important book for others. It operates as a peek-behind-the-curtain of child stars, but also manages to have something more generally relatable about slowly having the scales fall from your eyes about your parent.
First, pros: I liked how short the chapters were and I actually liked the usage of present tense. To reviewers asking how she could have remembered specific conversations: I think this genre would suffer without recreating them. Is she recalling verbatim what her mother said when she was six years old? Probably not, but the dialogue keeps us intrigued and reveals the essence of the communication/relationships. I also didn’t think her descriptions were gratuitous as some others have suggested. If the ED was secondary to the book maybe I’d feel like that, but the truth of bulimia is chunks of vomit streaking your hair and I like that McCurdy didn’t skip or sanitize that.
Honestly, I didn’t find it very funny and thought the jokes (abt the Rock being god, etc.) were a lil cringey but hey, she’s a millennial. More importantly though, it seemed like some things were glossed over; what happened with her OCD? Did that manifest into the ED? How has her mom passing impacted the OCD “voice”? McCurdy accepts that it isn’t the Holy Spirit, but after this realization doesn’t really mention it again in the book iirc. I just think there could have been more explanation here. Lastly, I found perceived overgeneralization about “moms” at the end a weird tonal shift (and also not necessarily true). Maybe I just generally consume more media that vilifies mothers than glorifies them lol
I can see this being a really important book for others. It operates as a peek-behind-the-curtain of child stars, but also manages to have something more generally relatable about slowly having the scales fall from your eyes about your parent.
I didn’t know anything about Jennette beforehand, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Her narration was excellent. Highly recommend!
Interesting, fast read. TW for disordered eating. It’s great to hear a celebrity talk about their relationship with food, body, acting, and parenting.
dark
emotional
fast-paced
4/5 - I picked this book up not knowing who the author was, or after even the plot of iCarly or Sam and Cat since I was not a DIsney channel/Nickelodeon kid. However that is not the point as this memoir goes beyond that and is the ultimate culmination of the experiences of living your parent's dream, in this case being an actor.
It was very fast paced and you never lose interest (this book made a 2.5 hour flight feel like a mere school car ride), however sometimes the narrative and timeline is slightly lost or you feel you've somehow missed an entire chapter of her life. It starts of in the present tense so you're thrown in with her starting acting as a kid and being overwhelmed, and you think the narrative is that you're going to grow up with her but then it suddenly switches to past tense and its more of a recollection of memories. Maybe it's a stylistic choice but it made the reading slightly jagged.
It was a raw memoir, and writing this must have been so healing for her and evidence of how far she has come.
It was very fast paced and you never lose interest (this book made a 2.5 hour flight feel like a mere school car ride), however sometimes the narrative and timeline is slightly lost or you feel you've somehow missed an entire chapter of her life. It starts of in the present tense so you're thrown in with her starting acting as a kid and being overwhelmed, and you think the narrative is that you're going to grow up with her but then it suddenly switches to past tense and its more of a recollection of memories. Maybe it's a stylistic choice but it made the reading slightly jagged.
It was a raw memoir, and writing this must have been so healing for her and evidence of how far she has come.