A review by outoftheforesticome
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

I’m Glad My Mom Died is a heartbreaking memoir about Jennette McCurdy’s life and her relationship with her mother, which is much more complex than one might think at first, starting before her career as a child actor even began. We get to see how much of her life was shaped by her mother and their relationship with one another, as well as Jennette’s recovery from its toxicity. 

Simply written and easy to read, I’m Glad My Mom Died is a memoir with an intriguing title. Though it serves its purpose as a title, which is to be attention-grabbing, it fails in my sense to encompass the complexity of Jennette’s feelings about her mother, which we get to discover in depth in the memoir. Her story is shocking and heartbreaking, even more so as I listened to the audiobook narrated by Jennette McCurdy herself. Multiple reviews have called the memoir ‘hilarious’ and I almost wonder if we read the same book. While there is indeed snark and wit repeatedly throughout the memoir, the book is not funny and didn’t feel to me like it was meant to be. It’s dark and hard because it is about abuse, toxic relationships, and recovery, and gives an authentic and unapologetic recounting of all of these, which is precisely why I liked reading it so much. 

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys memoirs or wishes to discover the autobiographic genre with an easy read and to anyone interested in learning more about Jennette McCurdy. Those expecting, based on reviews they have seen, to read a funny book will, however, be disappointed. 
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