I'm Glad My Mom Died

Starred review from May 23, 2022
In this explosive debut, former iCarly star McCurdy recounts a harrowing childhood directed by her emotionally abusive stage mother. A narcissist and “full-blown hoarder,” McCurdy’s mother, Debra, pushed her daughter into acting at age six in 1999, doling out her scarce affection in tandem with the jobs McCurdy booked (while weaponizing her breast cancer—which eventually killed her in 2013—for good measure). After McCurdy hit puberty around age 11, her mother steered her to anorexia via “calorie restriction,” and later began performing invasive breast and genital exams on McCurdy at age 17. As she recounts finding fame on Nickelodeon, beginning in 2007 with her role on iCarly, McCurdy chronicles her efforts to break free from her mother’s machinations, her struggles with bulimia and alcohol abuse, and a horrific stint dating a schizophrenic, codependent boyfriend. McCurdy’s recovery is hard-won and messy, and eventually leads her to step back from acting to pursue writing and directing. Despite the provocative title, McCurdy shows remarkable sympathy for her mother, even when she recalls discovering that the man she called Dad while growing up was not, in fact, her biological father. Insightful and incisive, heartbreaking and raw, McCurdy’s narrative reveals a strong woman who triumphs over unimaginable pressure to emerge whole on the other side. Fans will be rapt.

December 1, 2022

As emotionally exhausting as this relentlessly harrowing and downbeat memoir is for listeners, one can only imagine the toll it must have taken for McCurdy to write and read it aloud. McCurdy does an excellent job reading her brutally honest memoir about being forced into an acting career she never wanted, to please her obsessive-compulsive mother. "My mom emotionally, mentally, and physically abused me in ways that will forever impact me," she tells listeners. Her mother was a cancer survivor who used that diagnosis to leverage jobs for her daughter and to keep her family under her thumb. Her control over McCurdy, the family's meal ticket, was nearly complete. When McCurdy started developing breasts, her mother immediately put her on a restrictive diet to keep her small. Her mother's control tightens when McCurdy wins a costarring role on TV's iCarly. When her mother's cancer returns and she dies, McCurdy begins a downward spiral into anorexia, bulimia, and alcoholism. VERDICT McCurdy's battle over her demons will leave many listeners exhausted, but her excellent reading makes for a compelling audiobook.--Kevin Howell

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