With the sun setting earlier and temperatures dropping quickly, you might be looking for some warm and cozy entertainment, and a new book might be the perfect place to start. I’ve been reading a lot of memoirs this year because I find they can be both intellectually stimulating and entertaining. Learning about someone’s real life, especially when it is someone you know or admire, can often be even more interesting and engaging than fiction.
My favorite memoir I’ve read so far this year is Jennette McCurdy’s book I’m Glad My Mom Died, which was released in early August of this year. McCurdy is well known for her time spent as a child actor on the hit Nickelodeon show iCarly, and her memoir tells the story of her coming of age on television and her complicated relationship with an abusive mother. The book does contain a fair amount of triggering content, so it’s important to be aware of that before going into the book, but it’s such an important story to be told.
The memoir goes in chronological order, following McCurdy’s childhood of auditioning for movies and television shows, her young adulthood spent on iCarly, and her life post-iCarly and after her mother died. The relationship between McCurdy and her mother is the center of the book, as the title suggests, and McCurdy portrays the complex dynamic of growing up with an abusive parent in a really honest and authentic way. She opens up about her struggles with an eating disorder as well as the toxic work environment created on set during her time with Nickelodeon and her experiences in romantic relationships throughout her early twenties. The stories she tells have both humor and sadness, wisdom and joy. The humor of the book is one of its strongest factors. The dark subject matter is made easily digestible as McCurdy orchestrates comedic timing and sarcasm to her advantage. It’s a beautiful portrait of a former child star growing into her own identity and reclaiming her childhood, and a really refreshing take on the celebrity memoir. McCurdy’s book has style and substance many celebrity books often lack. It’s clear she’s an incredibly talented writer and storyteller, beyond the bounds of acting.
The book itself was originally a one woman show McCurdy wrote and performed, and her adaptation of the show into a full memoir is seamless. The audiobook, read by McCurdy herself, is an incredible performance and it makes the memoir feel even more poignant and intimate. I would recommend listening to the audiobook either by itself or alongside the physical copy. Once I started the audiobook I finished the entire book in about a day and a half, which is certainly a testament to why the book is the perfect recommendation for this weekend. When McCurdy started to tell her story, it was impossible to put down.
McCurdy’s book has been a massive commercial and critical success so far, and she recently signed a seven figure book deal with Penguin Random House for two future books. It will certainly be exciting to see where she goes from here as her resurgence of fame has brought a new wave of supporters and fans to her art.