Book Review: I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to watch Nickelodeon or Disney Channel. So I missed out on what is seemingly an otherwise shared experience of 90s-early 2000s kids– but for that, perhaps, I should be grateful. Since this book has come out, I have been going into a deep dive of reading about Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider and man. I’m glad now that my parents didn’t let me watch iCarly.

About the Book

Title: I’m Glad My Mom Died

Author: Jennette McCurdy

Published: 2022

Series: (standalone)

Genre: memoir

My Rating: 5 stars

My Thoughts

Jennette McCurdy’s memoir explores her childhood, child stardom, and complicated relationship with her emotionally abusive mother. From the title of the book, I somewhat assumed that she’d take an unequivocal stance against her mother, but that really wasn’t what the book was. Throughout the memoir McCurdy writes eloquently and genuinely about her feelings and her mother’s behavior, showing the heartbreaking difficulty of having an abusive parent but loving them anyway because they are your parent.

The biggest takeaway from this book in my opinion is that fame and fortune can hide a lot and you can never know what someone is struggling with behind closed doors. I cannot imagine the pain of being a celebrity, shoved into the spotlight in a career you hate, with people everywhere jealous of your popularity without knowing about all of the suffering you are going through, with a mom with cancer, abuse from your mom and your producer, an eating disorder, OCD, and constant pressure to succeed.

I honestly believe that child stars should not be a thing. In so many cases, it’s parental exploitation and people wanting to live vicariously through their child at that child’s expense.

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