I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Amy   


memoir

I’m Glad My Mom Died is written by Jennette McCurdy, the young actress who played Carly’s best friend, Sam, in the Nickelodeon show iCarly beginning in 2007. It’s about her life under the rule of her manipulative mother who exploited and abused her and it describes the struggle she’s experienced to move on. 

The subject matter of this book really didn’t appeal to me. I could barely remember this actress and figured it would be a sad story about a pushy mother living vicariously through her daughter. But a friend literally handed me her copy of the book and said it was great. So I felt I had to give it a try.

The writing was conversational and in present tense. I’m guessing she actually wrote this herself. The story was exactly what I thought it was going to be, only sadder than I imagined since so much about Jennette’s life was sad. Her family life was hostile, mostly because her mother was a selfish, moody hoarder, her father was useless and largely absent, and their family was dysfunctional. Jennette was raised to be a mommy-pleaser. She was cognizant enough to realize that her mother was sometimes ridiculous but was so desperate to keep her mother even-keeled that she’d do anything to keep life calm whenever possible. She learned early to not think about what she wanted but, rather, what Mommy wanted.

The more I read, the more her life was revealed to be a train wreck. It got really uncomfortable to read. It was tough reading about a girl being mentally abused and manipulated by her mother. And then, after her mother died, seeing how Jennette was unequipped to handle her own life situations due to the way her mother purposefully stunted her emotional intelligence was infuriating.  Thankfully, all the chapters in this novel are very short. So when I got tired of reading about the shit show that was her life, I could just close the book. All the details of bulimia were eye-opening and upsetting. 

I’m glad she finally got the help she so obviously needed. But I really did not enjoy this reading experience. I’m sure this book will help some people who need it, though.

Nothing to do with the contents of the novel, but the cover art is awful and this is coming from someone who doesn’t pay a ton of attention to covers. This cover looked like a 1980’s Harvard Graphics creation with non-complimentary colors of yellow and bright pink. McCurdy is unrecognizable in the photo as the actress from iCarly. I just don’t understand any of these choices. Plus the prime quote on the cover promised this novel would be funny. Um, not at all.