April’s book of the month was I’m Glad my Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy. I’ve seen advertisements for this book and I know of Jennette McCurdy as I grew up in the iCarly! era, but I wouldn’t have been able to tell you anything about her before reading this book. I didn’t watch much TV growing up so I knew of the show, but that’s about it.

The title made me think (without any prior context) that this book was going to be satire and humorous (dark humor obviously), but that assumption was far from the truth.

Jennette’s memoir is a raw, dark, and a somewhat chilling story of the abuse she’s survived at the hand of her mother grooming her into the child-star she wanted her to be.

*Be Advised:

This book contains multiple triggering stories (self-harm, eating disorders, verbal abuse, and more)

As many mom’s do, Jennette’s mom wanted her daughter to be a star! Not just a star as in, I won a spelling bee in the 4th grade, but a real, famous, paparazzi followed kind of star and she would stop at nothing to make that happen.

As many little girls do, Jennette wanted nothing more than to please her mother and become whatever it was her mother wanted her to be.

Jennette’s mother died in 2013 and this is Jennette’s story of their relationship throughout her life.

She didn’t hold back, didn’t sugar coat the tough stuff, and sure as hell did not try to make her mom out to be a saint that she wasn’t.

Some say it was disrespectful or distasteful of Jennette to write so negatively about someone who has passed, but the way I see it, her mom passing gave her the freedom to share her story that otherwise may have never been told.

I have no problem with speaking ill of the dead if what’s being said is honest. There’s a time and a place though and Jennette found her own time and place to do so. It’s up to you if you want to read it or not.

I am hoping she didn’t write the book because she felt the need to explain to the world why she stopped acting in 2017, but I can see how that may have been one of the goals here. Jennette has found passion in writing and directing and in writing this, she’s proving she can be more than what her mother wanted her to be.

It’s hard to rate memoirs because who am I to judge how well someone shares his/her own story, but if I HAD to, I’d say this is a good one that I’d recommend. It’s fairly negative all around, things don’t really get all worked out and it doesn’t end with roses and butterflies, but I think that’s what I like about it. Jennette is saying “this is my story so far, but it’s not over yet” and allowing herself the space to heal and move on. I have a lot of respect for that.

Life isn’t perfect, no one’s story is perfect, and acknowledging that we all go through shit (some more than others) is 100% relatable. It couldn’t have been easy for Jennette to write this book and I hope everyone who reads it is a little nicer to those around them because of it. Everyone has their own struggles and most of the time we don’t even know about them.