Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

1945 reviews

juksu's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

A life in vignettes, following McCurdy's experiences becoming a child actor by the will of her narcissistic mother, whose influence casts a long shadow on her life. Given how recent media such as the documentary Quiet On Set have revealed the abuse that happened behind the scenes of children's TV, I'm not surprised to read accounts of abuse in the home as well. While McCurdy's mother is the elephant in the room, there are yet others: inappropriate touching and comments from men such as the Creator, incessant intrusion by fans and paparazzi, the complex relationships within the McCurdy family, and OCD. Even knowing by the very fact of this book's existence — to say nothing of the shifts in tone and language to characterize each point in time — that she's getting better, it felt like watching a three-hour train wreck. Left me feeling frustrated to know that writing this piece, while momentous, is still not the end of McCurdy's recovery. I hope she's having a good day.

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flamesocks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


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_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5


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amerid's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


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sommer22's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

This book is a testament to how authenticity is the true key to success in terms of both notoriety as well as self-embodiment.

McCurdy's use of short sentences and dialogue create a fast pace that makes her retelling of memories blur together, which ultimately is more reflective of reality. Most people remember bigger details and especially in long-term traumatic situations, the brain largely blocks out details as a defense mechanism. McCurdy's writing cements us in her shoes, which makes her failures feel acutely intense and her successes that much more joyous.

McCurdy also masterfully uses tone to depict herself at different stages of her life. Her language as a child is simplistic and straightforward and gets more emotionally laden and vulgar as she grows. This makes her writing that much more immersive.

There were several times when I had to take a break from reading this book because the story was getting too intense. This is absolutely not a failure of the book itself -- in fact, I would call it a strength -- but it did affect my reading experience.

This book also made me want to never watch iCarly again. What McCurdy describes was happening during the filming of that show would just haunt me. As her books illustrate, some things are just better left in the past.

This is truly one of the best books I've read in a while. McCurdy writes with an honesty that levels with the reader regardless of how similar their experience is to hers. It will prompt you to similarly re-examine your own childhood and wonder if/when you were made to cater to someone else's needs and how that has shaped your own identity.

Something tells me McCurdy had to write this in order to heal her trauma. If she never writes again, I'll be satisfied, but I'll be equally as excited to read anything else she has up her sleeve.

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emilypriddy's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

4.25


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katieryan723's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

5.0


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naoml's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective fast-paced

4.25

Jeanette's writer voice is incredibly strong, and the book is organized in a way that could only have been thought up by her, but she guides the reader through the timeline and I was never once confused.

I appreciated the honesty of this book, and think it's a very important read as it doesn't let you romanticize the performance industry, but rather gives a very nuanced look into what fame does to a life.

The content revolving around family dynamics and mental health is also very well portrayed but it is done in a manner that is VERY TRIGGERING. I don't think that's a problem necessarily, but you HAVE to make sure you are in a healthy spot to be consuming that sort of content

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deparme's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0


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reg_litbytes's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0


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