A review by barbiepicasso
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

2.0

Overall, this book was fine. While it seems incredible that McCurdy was put through all of this to be a character on a show like “iCarly,” which was such a blip in time and largely forgotten, it framed the extremity of Hollywood, fame and the lengths people will go to (aka her mother) to even just try to be star, regardless of how a career actually turns out—McCurdy didn’t even “make it.” I would venture to say the provocative title is definitely the biggest source of hype, but the book itself was just kind of—fine. I’m not really sure what I was looking for in this book, but what I walked away with was like, yeah the industry is rlly fucked up and I’m sorry all this happened? The book has a LOT of dialogue (which so often made it feel like I was reading a novelized version of her life), the writing is basic and overall seemed devoid of any deep kind reflections that I might expect from a memoir. Her discussions about her ED is very detailed and I definitely triggering for people who do or have experienced disordered eating— if this is you, all I can say is tread carefully, it’s hard to read at points.

I checked out her “podcast” “Empty Inside” that’s listed in the “about the author” blurb at the end of the book, and calling it a podcast was generous — a handful of 5 minute episodes with poor sound quality. I thought maybe like yes! she’s made it at least as a podcaster, but um, no. This made me feel like I’m rooting for her to be some kind of successful when this striving (her mothers striving) for fame totally wrecked her life.