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4.5 AVERAGE
4.5 AVERAGE
Wow. A very well written journey into the authors experience with trauma, self-discovery, and healing. The story was raw, emotional, and progressed in a beautiful way through each chapter.
This was an amazing memoir. I couldn't put it down.
dark
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
I get it your life sucked. This reads like a therapy session where the patient has been ordered to write exactly what happened and what their child self thought at that moment without adding a single new thought or insight to it. Which works… for maybe one chapter. I wasn’t expecting anything like a feel good book at all, but just reading about a mother who was very clearly mentally struggling and expressing that in an abusive way to her husband and children, who have no clue how to deal with it except to weather the storm also isn’t exactly nice to read. Especially because it started to feel like it’s all only building up to saying “I’m glad my mom died” with some context. That doesn’t need a whole book. More people have complicated relationships with their parents, it’s not that unrelatable. I’m sad this book wasn’t in anyway insightful as I would’ve hoped, but very happy to put this book behind me.
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
informative
fast-paced
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
I really enjoyed this memoir. I deeply resonate with the way Jennette talks about the trauma she endured and the coping mechanisms she developed to deal with that. And the healing process that comes thereafter.
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
This therapeutic memoir of a former Nickelodeon child star was not at all what I expected - well, the first half actually was as McCurdy extensively recounts how unbelievably abusive her mentally ill her narcissistic mother was as she pushed her child protégée into self-serving stardom. What was thoroughly unexpected is how this morphed into McCurdy’s unfortunate battle with her own mental illnesses ranging from anorexia (thanks to her mom for severely and cruelly restricting her caloric intake so she would keep her daughter a child star “forever”), bulimia, alcoholism, and OCD, and how McCurdy made the brave choice to exit the Hollywood lifestyle to put her mental health first.
I don’t think she ever actually says she’s glad her mom died, but you will admit to being silently happy for McCurdy because her mom, though suffering from mental illness, was so utterly horrible to Jennette that you feel the vicarious relief she must have felt as she literally fights a mountainous uphill battle to get her life back and develop her own identity away from stardom and her mom’s constant chaos and confusion.
I feel for this young woman and applaud her courage to write this book and begrudgingly thrust herself back into an unwanted limelight to tell her story. She doesn’t play the victim - she just tells it like it is. I remember now when I used to watch her, and now my memories of fond reminiscence are tainted with the brutal reality that Jeanette aka “Sam Puckett” experienced throughout her brief, entertaining tenure of a former child star. Part of me wants her to try acting again, but the other part of me wants her to stay sane and take care of her fragile self without undue risk or further harm.
Thank you, Jennette, for telling your difficult story that will hopefully make a therapeutic difference to other young women. You are enough.
I don’t think she ever actually says she’s glad her mom died, but you will admit to being silently happy for McCurdy because her mom, though suffering from mental illness, was so utterly horrible to Jennette that you feel the vicarious relief she must have felt as she literally fights a mountainous uphill battle to get her life back and develop her own identity away from stardom and her mom’s constant chaos and confusion.
I feel for this young woman and applaud her courage to write this book and begrudgingly thrust herself back into an unwanted limelight to tell her story. She doesn’t play the victim - she just tells it like it is. I remember now when I used to watch her, and now my memories of fond reminiscence are tainted with the brutal reality that Jeanette aka “Sam Puckett” experienced throughout her brief, entertaining tenure of a former child star. Part of me wants her to try acting again, but the other part of me wants her to stay sane and take care of her fragile self without undue risk or further harm.
Thank you, Jennette, for telling your difficult story that will hopefully make a therapeutic difference to other young women. You are enough.