This article mentions suicidal thoughts.
I’ve been an avid reader since childhood. I would spend hours with my nose stuffed in a book and my head up in the clouds. As I grew into adulthood, my love for reading evolved and introduced me to a genre that I never encountered in my youth, memoirs. In recent years, I’ve read a variety of memoirs written by a variety of authors from many different walks of life. In honor of Women’s History Month, I thought it would be fun to look back at my favorite memoirs written by women and tell you a bit about each of them. So let’s get started!
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
This memoir written by Jennette McCurdy was one of the first memoirs that I read and it definitely still remains as one of my favorites. This memoir was really eye-opening to me as someone who frequently watched iCarly and Sam & Cat as a child, so hearing McCurdy explain how miserable she was while filming these shows made me realize how you truly never know what someone is going through behind the scenes. What made me really enjoy this memoir was the way that McCurdy doesn’t hold back when talking about the experiences she went through. From being forced into the industry by her mother who wanted to live vicariously through her to the eating disorders she endured to be deemed “perfect” by not only her mother but the studios she worked for as well.
This memoir doesn’t shy away from explaining the issues with child stars. McCurdy examines how growing up in the spotlight, and especially on Nickelodeon, caused her to fall into an alcoholic depression that took her years to recover from. She talks about how hard it was to deal with being constantly scrutinized by the media as she grew up, and how that was worsened by her mother. While reading this memoir, I felt like I was watching McCurdy heal her wounds in real time, and although she does talk about how she still has a long way to go, I’m so proud of her for even making it to the point where she can write this memoir and display her trauma to the world in this manner. I highly recommend I’m Glad My Mom Died to anyone who wants to start reading memoirs or to anyone who was a fan of Jennette McCurdy and the shows she was on.
In The Country We Love by Diane Guerrero
This next memoir made me sob like a baby while I was reading it. It follows the life story of actress Diane Guerrero, who you might recognize from hit TV shows like Orange Is The New Black or Jane The Virgin. The child of Colombian immigrants who were deported when she was only 14-years-old, leaving her alone in a country that did not want to see a brown girl succeed. I felt very connected to Guerrero while reading this memoir because I myself am also a child of immigrant parents. I love this memoir and I truly believe that everyone should read it, especially those who have never experienced living with the fear of the government taking your family away from you. Guerrero tells the story of coming home from school to find her home empty, her parents gone, and her entire life crumbling in front of her. Reading that while thinking about how I would’ve felt if that happened to me at 14 absolutely broke me.
Guerrero goes on to explain that despite the potential she had shown before her parents deportation in school, having to navigate life on her own at such a young age ruined her chances. She didn’t have the resources she needed to continue to pursue her passion in art, being an avid singer in her youth. She explains the terrible decisions she made financially, and personally, in her attempts to survive in the world. The part of her story that got me the most was her issues with depression and suicidal thoughts because it absolutely shattered me to hear her say that she felt like a failure even though nothing was her fault. Thankfully, her story has a happy ending with Guerrero discovering a passion for acting and booked roles that gave her the opportunity to succeed and support her family. This book was an amazing story of how Latina women, even though society doesn’t want us to succeed, are some of the strongest people on the planet.
Loud by Drew Afualo
The next memoir on my list is the latest that I’ve read, but one of the most impactful. If you’re on TikTok, I’m sure that you know who Drew Afualo is, even if you don’t know her by name. This incredible woman took the app by storm due to how she stands up against bigoted men, calling out their disgusting behavior and how poorly they treat women. Afualo, who currently has 8.2 million followers on TikTok, has taken her brand from the app to the literary world with a book that is not only a memoir, but also a book that uplifts women, which is exactly what Afualo is all about.
I absolutely love this book and I genuinely think that everyone should give it a read, especially women. Afualo starts the book by explaining her own upbringing and how it has shaped her into the person she is today. Her Samoan background has given her the resources to not only see what real love looks like from watching her parents, but also how women should be treated with respect, especially by their romantic partners.
I love this memoir so much because I have followed Afualo since she first rose to TikTok fame in 2020, but also because I love seeing a loud-mouthed woman sharing her opinions and knocking down bigoted men. Afualo writing this book felt like the perfect way for her to expand on what she has already been saying on the app since she started posting. Afualo dives deep in this memoir with the experiences that have led her to wanting to be a guiding light for other women, such as being a pick-me in middle school and having to deal with her own internalized homophobia when her older sister came out to her in high school. This book has quite literally changed my life, and it feels so refreshing to hear another woman tell me that I’m not crazy for wanting to be respected, loved, and wanted solely based on who I truly am. I cannot recommend this memoir enough.
These are only a small number of the incredible memoirs written by women out there, and I definitely will continue to read these incredible books. Women are so incredible and hearing them tell their life stories, and how they rose from the ashes never fails to bring me to tears. I hope that from reading this article you’ve been propelled to read not only these memoirs yourself, but also other books written by women across multiple different genres.