Read this when
I'm Glad My Mom Died
The title is the thesis: you can love your mom, grieve your mom, and be relieved she's gone. Jennette McCurdy says it so you don't have to.
Who it's for
McCurdy narrates her childhood in the voice she had at the time, eager to please and fully devoted to her mother, which lets readers watch control disguise itself as love before the adult narrator can name it.
Feelings it meets
What it is
I'm Glad My Mom Died is a 2022 memoir by Jennette McCurdy, the former child actor known for Nickelodeon's iCarly and Sam & Cat. It describes how her mother, Debra, pushed her into acting at age six and controlled much of her childhood and adolescence, including the restrictive eating and body-image problems that began then.
Where to find it
In print (Simon & Schuster); widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla) and as an audiobook read by the author. Not public domain.
Before you start
Heads up: Eating disorders and parental abuse.
Age: Ages 16+
When I stand before thee at the day's end thou shalt see my scars and know that I had my wounds and also my healing.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, no. 290
