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A review by toggle_fow
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
5.0
So I don't read a lot of biographies and have never seen a Nick show in my life other than Avatar: The Last Airbender and a few random SpongeBob episodes.
This was great. In a way that means "very well done and compulsively readable," not in a way that means "fun."
McCurdy tells the story of her childhood, young adulthood, and what feels like a new beginning after her mom's death. What jumped out to me most was how well her writing allows you to inhabit the mind of the little girl she used to be.
It's crystal clear how much that little girl idolized her mom. How she thought her mom was wonderful, her best friend, her role model, someone who loved her and wanted the best for her. How much she wanted to make her mom proud, and carried the bone-deep need to make all things in life work out the way her mom wanted them to.
It's equally clear from the actual events related that McCurdy's mom was an abhorrent, selfish witch.
The narcissism, hoarding, and eating disorder-laden story told here is shocking. It's mind-bending to think of a teenage girl acting on the set of a nationally-watched TV show and then going home and being forced by her mom to undergo naked shower inspections. The two universes just don't mesh in my mind, but they did in McCurdy's life.
She does a similarly vivid job of portraying her eating disorder, which looms large in the second half of the book. I cannot emphasize enough that if you have ANY doubt whether reading eating disorder content would be triggering for you, avoid this. She conveys the feelings, thought patterns, and shame so evocatively that it becomes a rough read in parts. (The teeth... the TEETH.)
I was pleasantly surprised. I was horrifically surprised. Overall, this book's tone is real and human, and a fantastic portrait of an emotionally abusive dynamic. It's pretty clear that if McCurdy's mom were still living, she would still be firmly in her grasp one way or another.
I hope she goes on to live a life she can look in the face and be proud of.
This was great. In a way that means "very well done and compulsively readable," not in a way that means "fun."
McCurdy tells the story of her childhood, young adulthood, and what feels like a new beginning after her mom's death. What jumped out to me most was how well her writing allows you to inhabit the mind of the little girl she used to be.
It's crystal clear how much that little girl idolized her mom. How she thought her mom was wonderful, her best friend, her role model, someone who loved her and wanted the best for her. How much she wanted to make her mom proud, and carried the bone-deep need to make all things in life work out the way her mom wanted them to.
It's equally clear from the actual events related that McCurdy's mom was an abhorrent, selfish witch.
The narcissism, hoarding, and eating disorder-laden story told here is shocking. It's mind-bending to think of a teenage girl acting on the set of a nationally-watched TV show and then going home and being forced by her mom to undergo naked shower inspections. The two universes just don't mesh in my mind, but they did in McCurdy's life.
She does a similarly vivid job of portraying her eating disorder, which looms large in the second half of the book. I cannot emphasize enough that if you have ANY doubt whether reading eating disorder content would be triggering for you, avoid this. She conveys the feelings, thought patterns, and shame so evocatively that it becomes a rough read in parts. (The teeth... the TEETH.)
I was pleasantly surprised. I was horrifically surprised. Overall, this book's tone is real and human, and a fantastic portrait of an emotionally abusive dynamic. It's pretty clear that if McCurdy's mom were still living, she would still be firmly in her grasp one way or another.
I hope she goes on to live a life she can look in the face and be proud of.