Member Reviews
Title: I’m Glad my mom Died
Author: Jennette McCurdy
Ch: 91
Hours: 6hrs and 26 mins
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 5 stars
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
I wasn’t as much as an icarly fan as my sister was. But I did follow Jennette's music career. I’m also not going to lie I picked the book up because of the title. Because it is a stocking title but after reading the book and seeing Jennette's journey the tile makes perfect sense. I listened to the audio book which Jeannette narrates and its A punch to the gut. I laughed I cried and after finishing it I just wanted to hug her.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.
I’m Glad My Mom Died is a poignant memoir that answers all the questions we’ve had about Jennette McCurdy for years. McCurdy dives deep into her past including years of abuse at the hands of her mom. This book is a heavy read so make sure you’re in the right head space before beginning. Overall one of the best celebrity memoirs I’ve ever read.
This audiobook crushed my soul.
I was older so I never got into iCarly but my little sister loved it so I was familare with Jennette's work and boy did this story crush me.
The is a part at the end of the book where Jennette is talking about being in therapy and realizing everything that her mother put her through where her voice breaks while narrating it and that was all it took to have me crying at work.
My heart goes out to her and I truly hope that she is able to find peace in her life and I hope she can be proud of how far she has come.
10/10 one of the best biographies I have read.
This was my favorite book of this year. Jennette is so resilient. I wish I could thank her for opening up and allowing us to understand her.
It's very refreshing when a celebrity memoir is honest and Jeanette McCurdy really peels back the curtain on what being a young actor in Hollywood is like. Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know what you're thinking. "I've heard this all before." You may have heard about the plight of child actors, but never in the way McCurdy does with such brutal honesty and humor.
This was such a raw, emotionally, rough read. Such a heartbreaking story, this woman lived through absolute hell at tue hands of a woman who should have done nothing but love and protect her. I commend her for have the bravery to voice her truth and to write it so beautifully.
Jennette McCurdy wrote one of the most honest and open books about the life of a child actor growing up in the Nickelodeon world and the stresses of life behind it. No one watching iCarly or Sam & Cat could have predicted a lot of the variables in the life of such a popular and fast rising star. The Dan Schneider stories are the talking points from this book, but everything about the Nickelodeon time and Jennette's life provide an interesting journey anyone can relate to.
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy is a great memoir. It, naturally, spends a lot of time unpacking the mother-daughter dynamics so if you are in it for the Nickelodeon gossip you can gather all that from the headlines. The voice used throughout was really well done. When she wrote about her younger years it really felt like you were “hearing” a younger person. As she aged the prose too matured.
It is always a bit fascinating to peak into other people’s lives. This one mores since it involves a high profile career that a lot of people idolize or just find fascinating - the world of child stars. It is an easy and enjoyable read - the audio is read by the author which I think would also be interesting.
One of the very best memoirs I’ve ever encountered. What a life! And she shares with us what she’s learned from it all. Huge applause for this excellent writer.
Jennette McCurdy's I'm Glad my Mom Died is an absolutely riveting read. If you've ever been interested in the life of a child actress, read this book. If you've ever been interested in mental abuse by a parent, read this book.
The writing will pull you in, and the storyline will keep you engrossed throughout. I don't want to give anything away, but the author shares a heartfelt and honest look into her life. As a child, she was forced into a lifestyle she never really wanted, and a sense of responsibility she never deserved.
The author lays it all out for the readers. Her mother's abuse. Her own OCD. Her aversion to growing up and her physical changes. Her battle with food. Her mother's cancer.
It's all tough to read. Everything about her story made me want to wrap her up, protect her, and keep her safe from everything she had to face.
Just read it.
This was such an interesting and well written memoir! I don’t know whose idea it was to write this book, but it’s not hard to imagine her telling her story to others and getting told she needs to write a book. Her life so far has been very interesting, but heartbreaking. I’m glad it ended on a hopeful note when she’s been in recovery for a few years.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!
Similar to Crying in H-Mart, "I'm Glad My Mom Died" chronicles the death of the author's mom. But this book couldn't be more different but still amazing.
This is hands down the best celebrity novel I've read. Jennette is brilliant at balancing humor and dark topics in a way that feels authentic. Definitely a title I've been recommending everyone to pick up.
With a title like that I knew I had to read this book and I was NOT disappointed. Jennette pulled no punches in sharing the harsh reality of her childhood and early adulthood. I was devastated again and again by her experiences but couldn't tear myself away from these pages. This book was a triumphant exaltation of a woman who has freed herself from the chains of her traumatic past.
Only knowing her through my sons watching I Carly whe they were little- I found this memoir mesmerizing. I read it in 2 days. Jeannette was so messed up by her mother and had so much pressure put in her. She gives you an inside look at Hollywood and how life isn’t always as great as it seems. She is brutally honest and some scenes- her pain is palpable. Y only critique is I wish we learned more about her mothers family and why she was the way she was
Jennette McCurdy’s memoir has a provocative title, but you’ll understand why after reading just a few chapters. There’s not much to say about this one that hasn’t already been said, but this book is worth all of the buzz it’s been getting. McCurdy is brutally honest and surprisingly open about the personal and professional hardships she faced over the years and how she has worked to overcome them. If you like to read memoirs of any type, I’d highly recommend adding this one to your list. (But be sure to check out the content warnings if you do – there are a lot of them!)
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the eARC!
This book is raw and brutal. Jennette gave us a view into the controversial world of child actors and their parents. I am so proud of her strength to tell her story. We're living in a world where influencers are idolized and exploiting their children for views. This is a story that needed to be shared. I enjoyed this book and ended up purchasing the audiobook!
Props to Jeannette McCurdy for her bravery and willingness to speak up against abuse. She gave her stories so eloquently, and went into quite a bit of detail as well. It was so difficult to listen to sometimes, because what she has gone through in her life was tragic. She is clearly very strong to have made it through all of this. I quite enjoyed the short chapters as well.
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.
In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.
Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.
Jennette McCurdy doesn't shy away from the hardest topics, and that's what makes this memoir so powerful.
I think the title will throw a lot of people off--it's jarring, unkind, and something that you may be like, oh, there's NO way--but that's what makes it perfect.
I see exactly why McCurdy titled this what she did, and after everything she went through, I don't blame her one bit. I particularly found her information regarding her time at nickelodeon extremely enlightening--and disturbing.