bladelikesbooks's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
This is a beautifully written memoir of Jennette McCurdy’s life, following her from the age of 6 to the present day. McCurdy discusses living on the poverty line, paycheck to paycheck and how even as a child she had constant financial anxieties. Her mom is very controlling and emotionally manipulative.
McCurdy discusses an array of heavy topics throughout this memoir and I was sobbing through most of it. I can relate to Jennette on so many of her experiences, a lot of what she was saying hit close to home for me. I loved the way she talked about the romanticisation of the dead as this is something that I’m currently struggling with, with my family.
This was such a great read, it’s such a privilege to experience what it’s like in another person’s brain. I loved that Jennette narrated it herself, it added so much more to the experience. Even if you’re not someone that would usually enjoy a nonfiction book, I think you’ll still love reading this one!
Some quotes I loved:
“I don’t like to be observed, I like to do the observing”
“Why do we romanticise the dead? Why can’t we be honest about them? Especially moms, they’re the most romanticised of anyone”
Representation - Anxiety; OCD; Schizophrenia
TWs/CWs - Abuse; Adoption; Adultery; Alcohol; Alcoholism; Animal Death; Anorexia; Blood; Breast Cancer; Bulimia; Cheating; Child Abuse; Child Acting; Coercion; Cussing; Divorce; Domestic Violence; Drug Use; Drunk Driving; Eating Disorders; Emotional Abuse; Excrement; Fatphobia; Financial Abuse; Hoarding; Homophobia; Hospital; Illness; Manipulation; Medical Detail; Mental Abuse; Misogyny; Murder; Panic Attack; Physical Abuse; Poverty; Purging (ED); Rape; Religious Bigotry; R-slur; Seizure; Sex; Sexualisation of a child; Suicide; Violence; Vomit
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Terminal illness, Medical content, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, Vomit, Drug use, and Misogyny
Minor: Rape, Excrement, Animal death, Homophobia, Murder, and Suicide
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