Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

2 reviews

genevieve_eggleston's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Terminal illness, Vomit, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Cancer, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Minor: Excrement, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Abandonment, Animal death, Drug abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

emory's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.75

A brilliantly haunting memoir propelled by it's vivid narrative storytelling and growing sense of dread as your adult self encounters the abuse that young Jennette McCurdy--her childhood thoughts and feeling evoked vividly through each detail--not only suffered, but was forced to rationalize for so long. The small asides on how young Jennette thought to herself about her mother's abuse is heart wrenching. From the very first chapter, the description of a happy birthday is undercut with a feeling of unease, and a stomach drop when the reader is told how a girl as young as six has had to figure out how to control her emotions to mirror what her mother needed from her. 

The openness with her experience is beautiful and moving on its own, and it carries the occasionally lackluster writing forward. I will stress 'occasionally', though, not throughout!

My only real criticism of this book is that I wish we as readers could've heard more from the Jennette that wrote this memoir. The narrative written entirely as Jennette would have felt it at that age was evocative and engaging, but I feel as if more discussion of her overall thoughts and retrospection on her mother's abuse and her experience in childhood acting as a whole could've served the book well, and the narrative style of writing, while quick to follow and suspenseful in it's own way, occasionally took me out of remembering that I was reading an account of reality. However, I can see that perhaps her purpose with this work was an emotional account of the way her childhood was stolen from her rather than a dissection of everything that has meant to her, and at that, she excelled. 

Overall, it's a gripping and heartbreaking account of the way this woman suffered as a young girl in front of thousands and also all on her own. The writing can be simple from time to time but is deeply felt, which is much more effective in it's storytelling than an abundance of loose metaphors or prose-y beating around the bush ever could be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Grief, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, Vomit, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Body shaming, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Misogyny, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, and Fatphobia

Minor: Kidnapping, Stalking, Physical abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, and Blood