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Half His Age
Win a free print copy of this book!
27 days and 02:22:09
50 copies available
U.S. only
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of I’m Glad My Mom Died comes a sad, funny, thrilling novel about sex, consumerism, class, desire, loneliness, the internet, rage, intimacy, power, and the (oftentimes misguided) lengths we’ll go to in order to get what we want.
Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Forceful. Hurting. Perceptive. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of all: Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch. She doesn’t know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films and things that she doesn’t? Or is it purer than that, rooted in their unlikely connection, their kindred spirits, the similar filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, it’s just enough that he sees her when no one else does.
Startlingly perceptive, mordantly funny, and keenly poignant, Half His Age is a rich character study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstacles—or attempts to overcome them—in her effort to be seen, to be desired, to be loved.
Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Forceful. Hurting. Perceptive. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of all: Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch. She doesn’t know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films and things that she doesn’t? Or is it purer than that, rooted in their unlikely connection, their kindred spirits, the similar filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, it’s just enough that he sees her when no one else does.
Startlingly perceptive, mordantly funny, and keenly poignant, Half His Age is a rich character study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstacles—or attempts to overcome them—in her effort to be seen, to be desired, to be loved.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 20, 2026
5288 people are currently reading
200561 people want to read
About the author
Jennette McCurdy
2 books10.2k followersJennette McCurdy is the author of I’m Glad My Mom Died, winner of the 2023 American Library Association Alex Award and the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Memoir & Autobiography. The book is a #1 New York Times bestseller and has spent more than eighty weeks on the list. It has been published in more than thirty countries and has sold more than three million copies. McCurdy is creating, writing, executive producing, directing, and showrunning an Apple TV+ series loosely inspired by I’m Glad My Mom Died, starring Jennifer Aniston. McCurdy’s debut novel, Half His Age, will publish January 2026.
source: Amazon
source: Amazon
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January 5, 2026post read: this was definitely a formidable read. the writing and characterization was intentional and crystal clear. the circumstances of the novel are harrowing to say the least. it's unabashedly honest to the point where it is sometimes grotesque but hey isn't that how things truly are? as someone who is gen z, i was throughly impressed by how mccurdy captured the unique hell that is growing up with everything a touch away thanks to phones and the mass internet. this has a lot to say about a lot of things that will definitely leave you staring at a wall and questioning what just happened. waldo as a main character is endlessly interesting and really challenges everything you make think about this type of story. she is worldly in a way she shouldn't have to be but also at times so naïve you can't help but want to protect her. at the end of the day this story is all about her. mr korgy is obviously a large part but he is so loserish and cringe worthy that he's not worth noting for me personally. i would throttle him given the chance, with no hesitation. not much i can express properly but this will definitely be a catalyst for lots of discussion and i am going to be thinking about this one for a while. my biggest thoughts are that capitalism is a disease and a weapon of mass torture and that young women are our strongest soldiers...
pre read: the second i get to read this it's OVER (positively)
early copy was accessible to me as i work at PRH. all opinions expressed are my own.
pre read: the second i get to read this it's OVER (positively)
early copy was accessible to me as i work at PRH. all opinions expressed are my own.
December 10, 2025
“I‘ve observed Mom long enough to know that nothing scares off a man like what a woman wants from him.”
Half His Age is vulgar. It’s bold, piercing, poignant. McCurdy has created something uncomfortably evocative. I ended up unable to sleep ‘til 3am because what I was reading made me so angry and uncomfortable. She really does not let us doubt for a moment what’s happening to Waldo, and yet she manages to balance that with some really careful nuance and characterisation that reveals so much if you take the time to notice it. The abuse is the story, yes, but it’s also a tale of power, neglect, how dangerous loneliness can be, over-consumption, mothers and daughters, internalised misogyny, friendship — and she handles it all.
It’s so refreshing to have one of these books where the girl isn’t a perfect victim: Waldo’s unlikeable; she’s self-centred in a way you’d call narcissistic if she were an adult. She judges everyone around her; she over-consumes; she’s sexually aggressive; she actively pursues this balding married man, her teacher, from day one. She thinks she understands everyone and everything; micro-analysing the way a woman smiles at her husband over dinner, the looks of pity in her best friend’s eyes. She projects what she wants to see, creating fictions of the people she interacts with, convinced she understands their motivations better than they do themselves. She invents a fantasy where his wife is a burden, a bore, a villain. Him, the poor, emasculated, helpless, miserable man who needs saving from his terrible wife/life.
Yet she doubts herself implicitly; buys makeup and clothes in excess to feel something, wants to shape herself into everything she thinks others want her to be. She is ashamed of her upbringing, she self-deprecates by calling herself white trash before others can make the comment themselves. She’s a walking contradiction in clothes she hates and makeup that doesn’t match her face — exactly as a 17 year old girl would be! I almost hated her, yet wanted so badly to give her a hug and give her the advice and care she clearly never received from her Mother.
I really appreciate how this book doesn’t shy away from parental blame — although, a few more sentences condemning the deadbeat Father wouldn’t go amiss. Other books I’ve read with similar themes do show how young girls with dysfunctional family relationships are more likely to be preyed upon, precisely because their family won’t notice what’s happening to them. This one takes it a little further; making so many direct parallels between inappropriate behaviour from her Mother and Mr Korgy, and how Waldo has to shape herself to satisfy them both in frighteningly similar ways.
She had to grow up too fast and never really got to be a child. Yet, every assertion of her maturity only serves to remind us how young she is. McCurdy expertly captures that dichotomy between how old and mature you feel at 17, and how young and naive you truly are. This book does not let us forget for a second that she is still a child (and quite clearly still looks like a child); whether that’s when her Mother doesn’t notice she hasn’t been home for weeks, or when her hand can’t fit around his [redacted].
He taunts and manipulates, he exerts his power and experience over her. She thinks she’s going crazy when she’s not completely happy with their arrangement, when she has to baby him and reassure him, beg him to be with her. His abuse is textbook, as is her Mother’s, and as is how she handles it. And yet reading it feels fresh and sharp. It makes your skin crawl; you almost want to stop reading but can’t look away. It perfectly captures that pretence of reluctance: the way the man in power will manipulate the situation until the underage girl is begging him to give her a chance, promising she won’t tell anyone. I cheered when she finally starts to put things together and questions his words, only then does she truly start to become her own person.
I don’t necessarily think this is a perfect book, but with the way I kept wanting to scream at the characters and throw it at the wall it feels wrong not to give it a 5. This could obviously be quite triggering for some, but if you can handle the subject matter I absolutely recommend it.
Half His Age is vulgar. It’s bold, piercing, poignant. McCurdy has created something uncomfortably evocative. I ended up unable to sleep ‘til 3am because what I was reading made me so angry and uncomfortable. She really does not let us doubt for a moment what’s happening to Waldo, and yet she manages to balance that with some really careful nuance and characterisation that reveals so much if you take the time to notice it. The abuse is the story, yes, but it’s also a tale of power, neglect, how dangerous loneliness can be, over-consumption, mothers and daughters, internalised misogyny, friendship — and she handles it all.
It’s so refreshing to have one of these books where the girl isn’t a perfect victim: Waldo’s unlikeable; she’s self-centred in a way you’d call narcissistic if she were an adult. She judges everyone around her; she over-consumes; she’s sexually aggressive; she actively pursues this balding married man, her teacher, from day one. She thinks she understands everyone and everything; micro-analysing the way a woman smiles at her husband over dinner, the looks of pity in her best friend’s eyes. She projects what she wants to see, creating fictions of the people she interacts with, convinced she understands their motivations better than they do themselves. She invents a fantasy where his wife is a burden, a bore, a villain. Him, the poor, emasculated, helpless, miserable man who needs saving from his terrible wife/life.
Yet she doubts herself implicitly; buys makeup and clothes in excess to feel something, wants to shape herself into everything she thinks others want her to be. She is ashamed of her upbringing, she self-deprecates by calling herself white trash before others can make the comment themselves. She’s a walking contradiction in clothes she hates and makeup that doesn’t match her face — exactly as a 17 year old girl would be! I almost hated her, yet wanted so badly to give her a hug and give her the advice and care she clearly never received from her Mother.
I really appreciate how this book doesn’t shy away from parental blame — although, a few more sentences condemning the deadbeat Father wouldn’t go amiss. Other books I’ve read with similar themes do show how young girls with dysfunctional family relationships are more likely to be preyed upon, precisely because their family won’t notice what’s happening to them. This one takes it a little further; making so many direct parallels between inappropriate behaviour from her Mother and Mr Korgy, and how Waldo has to shape herself to satisfy them both in frighteningly similar ways.
She had to grow up too fast and never really got to be a child. Yet, every assertion of her maturity only serves to remind us how young she is. McCurdy expertly captures that dichotomy between how old and mature you feel at 17, and how young and naive you truly are. This book does not let us forget for a second that she is still a child (and quite clearly still looks like a child); whether that’s when her Mother doesn’t notice she hasn’t been home for weeks, or when her hand can’t fit around his [redacted].
He taunts and manipulates, he exerts his power and experience over her. She thinks she’s going crazy when she’s not completely happy with their arrangement, when she has to baby him and reassure him, beg him to be with her. His abuse is textbook, as is her Mother’s, and as is how she handles it. And yet reading it feels fresh and sharp. It makes your skin crawl; you almost want to stop reading but can’t look away. It perfectly captures that pretence of reluctance: the way the man in power will manipulate the situation until the underage girl is begging him to give her a chance, promising she won’t tell anyone. I cheered when she finally starts to put things together and questions his words, only then does she truly start to become her own person.
I don’t necessarily think this is a perfect book, but with the way I kept wanting to scream at the characters and throw it at the wall it feels wrong not to give it a 5. This could obviously be quite triggering for some, but if you can handle the subject matter I absolutely recommend it.
December 21, 2025
Wow wow wow wow wow. The endless gaping wound of teenage girlhood and the sharpness and bite of the voice and observations
January 22, 2026
unfortunately i didn’t like this, which is a shame as i enjoyed the audiobook of ‘i’m glad my mom died’.
it’s repetitive and predictable, with juvenile writing that quickly becomes grating. it says nothing new, offering no nuance nor genuine introspection, despite being a book that includes themes of grooming, abuse and power. this shallowness is continued through the obvious insights such as: ‘women are slaves to the beauty industry! consumerism bad! i shop on shein to fill the void! gen z are always on tiktok!’ - which are repeated by the main character many times throughout the novel. the sex scenes and explicit language are also haphazardly thrown in for shock value, not really serving much purpose besides that. i’ve read stories like this many times before, and better
it’s repetitive and predictable, with juvenile writing that quickly becomes grating. it says nothing new, offering no nuance nor genuine introspection, despite being a book that includes themes of grooming, abuse and power. this shallowness is continued through the obvious insights such as: ‘women are slaves to the beauty industry! consumerism bad! i shop on shein to fill the void! gen z are always on tiktok!’ - which are repeated by the main character many times throughout the novel. the sex scenes and explicit language are also haphazardly thrown in for shock value, not really serving much purpose besides that. i’ve read stories like this many times before, and better
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Don't underestimate the literary skill of former child actress Jennette McCurdy: This is a version of Lolita, but from Lolita's perspective, and it goes into very uncomfortable territory - which brought the chronically online without any media literacy to tears before the novel was even published. Listen, you idiots: Literature does not owe you comfort, and it's not doomed to deliver clear messages that are easy to digest. So move on or get ready to get be disturbed, but not without purpose: McCurdy tells the story of 17-year-old Waldo who enters an affair with her teacher, and she describes how the teenager struggles with her perceptions and emotions, and how she grapples with the power imbalance. Waldo is not stupid, and while she is a victim, being a victim is not her personality. The fact that the author gives us a complex character that is easy to identify with renders the novel so intriguing.
Waldo lives in a trailer park with her mother who had her when she was a teenager, and she has known nothing but a single parent trying to get by on minimum wage jobs while testing out a string of men who she hopes could fix her, until her next bout of depression. Meanwhile, Waldo, whose only friend is a Mormon she suspects to pity her, feels like she has to take care of the household. Waldo lives off highly processed foods and struggles with a shopping addiction that she finances with a job at "Victoria's Secret". From the women there and her mother, she learns about the importance of beauty for a woman, and internalizes that she has to manage her body accordingly. Enter new literature teacher Mr. Korgy (whom she will call by that name throughout the whole book): The fourtysomething teacher for literature is a failed writer with a wife, young child, and midlife crisis, and Waldo is intrigued by him.
What plays out then is, until around the middle part of the book, rather predictable, which doesn't detract from the enjoyment of reading the text though, because the star is the perspective: A smart teenager who suspects what's going on the whole time, but who is naive and lonely enough to go through wit it anyway. McCurdy is never pitying or belittling her main character, she gives her agency and great psychological plausibility, which makes this narrative so valuable: There is desire, and power, and a sense of adventure, but all these aspects never exculpate Mr. Korgy, but show why Waldo would act like that.
The most ironic aspect of some people whining that Waldo should have been a grown-up, and that McCurdy shouldn't have written so many and such explicit sex scenes between a teenager and a grown man, is that I firmly believe that this novel will do more to protect teenagers from predatory grown men than all well-intended, clean advice. Because McCurdy's text is honest and believable, it takes Waldo seriously and shows how even an alert girl can get caught up in such a situation. The author employs her unique position as a media figure with a heavy backstory (I’m Glad My Mom Died) to give a voice to victims, but not by instructing them, but by telling a story.
And I applaud that.
Waldo lives in a trailer park with her mother who had her when she was a teenager, and she has known nothing but a single parent trying to get by on minimum wage jobs while testing out a string of men who she hopes could fix her, until her next bout of depression. Meanwhile, Waldo, whose only friend is a Mormon she suspects to pity her, feels like she has to take care of the household. Waldo lives off highly processed foods and struggles with a shopping addiction that she finances with a job at "Victoria's Secret". From the women there and her mother, she learns about the importance of beauty for a woman, and internalizes that she has to manage her body accordingly. Enter new literature teacher Mr. Korgy (whom she will call by that name throughout the whole book): The fourtysomething teacher for literature is a failed writer with a wife, young child, and midlife crisis, and Waldo is intrigued by him.
What plays out then is, until around the middle part of the book, rather predictable, which doesn't detract from the enjoyment of reading the text though, because the star is the perspective: A smart teenager who suspects what's going on the whole time, but who is naive and lonely enough to go through wit it anyway. McCurdy is never pitying or belittling her main character, she gives her agency and great psychological plausibility, which makes this narrative so valuable: There is desire, and power, and a sense of adventure, but all these aspects never exculpate Mr. Korgy, but show why Waldo would act like that.
The most ironic aspect of some people whining that Waldo should have been a grown-up, and that McCurdy shouldn't have written so many and such explicit sex scenes between a teenager and a grown man, is that I firmly believe that this novel will do more to protect teenagers from predatory grown men than all well-intended, clean advice. Because McCurdy's text is honest and believable, it takes Waldo seriously and shows how even an alert girl can get caught up in such a situation. The author employs her unique position as a media figure with a heavy backstory (I’m Glad My Mom Died) to give a voice to victims, but not by instructing them, but by telling a story.
And I applaud that.
January 24, 2026
In very plain words, a teenager, Waldo, meets a not-really-attractive-but-also-attractive school teacher and wants him, desperately. Sorry, a deranged teenager. That’s right, because as much as this book adopts a coming-of-age arc, it’s really just about an erratic girl who has no self control and awareness. Or as an alternative, this is just a badly written porno film.
I mean:
“My vagina pulses. It’s not about him being a failure. I don’t know whose vagina would pulse at that. It’s about him being able to call himself one. Him being able to be honest about his regrets, his status, his shortcomings.”
Though I believe not all books are meant to inspire intellectual thought or convey moral lessons, I’ve always felt—ever since I first began to comprehend words—that a decent work carries some hidden, underlying message. So now, for all the guys trying to catch a girl’s attention, maybe try honesty. It clearly worked for Waldo.
On a serious note, I can’t seem to grasp what takeaways this book is actually trying to convey. Waldo has a mom who got pregnant at 16, grew up in a trailer, and an absent father, while her mother fails to manage her emotions or recognise her daughter’s need to be seen. It’s nothing new, really. There are plenty of films and books that explore the same themes: difficult upbringings, single parents, etc. This just feels like a poorly written version of one of those—or at least, that’s how it comes across.
Beyond that, the story’s trajectory is largely mediocre. It circles over the same events—shopping, secret make-out sessions, grooming by her teacher, sex—without much variation or depth. Even near the last two chapters, I thought I’d finally reach the ending I’d been waiting for. In fact, I found myself smiling, thinking, “This is it—the moment Waldo desperately needs.” And then, it hit me like a punch in the face.
Waldo is clearly an unstable individual. She goes on shopping sprees to fill the void that haunts her—the emptiness that surfaces whenever what she truly desires is out of reach. At times, her desperation and aching longing to be wanted can even feel resonant. Despite her vulgarities, she often appears disheartened and pensive, and sometimes a glimpse of vulnerability. Yet that is not enough to excuse her wrongdoings. She is selfish, uncaring, and, dare I say, delusional—literally a psychotic presence whose actions is entirely unhinged and unsettling. To Waldo, making mistakes is growth. Then again, I see no growth, especially as she keeps making the same, recurring mistakes.
On the prose, the first-person writing’s blunt tone aligns with Waldo’s personality, enhancing the nuance of her character. Yet, it reads more like an obscene, disturbing diary of a troubled youth, with its truths spilling out unfiltered and unrestrained. Even though it was at times humorous, it remains unexciting.
I can see why people would enjoy this (I really can’t), as it tackles troubled teens and their struggle with acceptance. I didn’t enjoy this all that much, but some had, so cheers to that. Moreover, I’ve seen positive reviews for this, so maybe it’s partly my fault for not getting the gist of the novel. My distaste isn’t going to stop me from reading Jennette McCurdy’s previous work, though. In fact, I’m more enticed by the thought of reading it.
2 stars
I mean:
“My vagina pulses. It’s not about him being a failure. I don’t know whose vagina would pulse at that. It’s about him being able to call himself one. Him being able to be honest about his regrets, his status, his shortcomings.”
Though I believe not all books are meant to inspire intellectual thought or convey moral lessons, I’ve always felt—ever since I first began to comprehend words—that a decent work carries some hidden, underlying message. So now, for all the guys trying to catch a girl’s attention, maybe try honesty. It clearly worked for Waldo.
On a serious note, I can’t seem to grasp what takeaways this book is actually trying to convey. Waldo has a mom who got pregnant at 16, grew up in a trailer, and an absent father, while her mother fails to manage her emotions or recognise her daughter’s need to be seen. It’s nothing new, really. There are plenty of films and books that explore the same themes: difficult upbringings, single parents, etc. This just feels like a poorly written version of one of those—or at least, that’s how it comes across.
Beyond that, the story’s trajectory is largely mediocre. It circles over the same events—shopping, secret make-out sessions, grooming by her teacher, sex—without much variation or depth. Even near the last two chapters, I thought I’d finally reach the ending I’d been waiting for. In fact, I found myself smiling, thinking, “This is it—the moment Waldo desperately needs.” And then, it hit me like a punch in the face.
Waldo is clearly an unstable individual. She goes on shopping sprees to fill the void that haunts her—the emptiness that surfaces whenever what she truly desires is out of reach. At times, her desperation and aching longing to be wanted can even feel resonant. Despite her vulgarities, she often appears disheartened and pensive, and sometimes a glimpse of vulnerability. Yet that is not enough to excuse her wrongdoings. She is selfish, uncaring, and, dare I say, delusional—literally a psychotic presence whose actions is entirely unhinged and unsettling. To Waldo, making mistakes is growth. Then again, I see no growth, especially as she keeps making the same, recurring mistakes.
On the prose, the first-person writing’s blunt tone aligns with Waldo’s personality, enhancing the nuance of her character. Yet, it reads more like an obscene, disturbing diary of a troubled youth, with its truths spilling out unfiltered and unrestrained. Even though it was at times humorous, it remains unexciting.
I can see why people would enjoy this (I really can’t), as it tackles troubled teens and their struggle with acceptance. I didn’t enjoy this all that much, but some had, so cheers to that. Moreover, I’ve seen positive reviews for this, so maybe it’s partly my fault for not getting the gist of the novel. My distaste isn’t going to stop me from reading Jennette McCurdy’s previous work, though. In fact, I’m more enticed by the thought of reading it.
2 stars
Currently reading
January 23, 2026_just a few pages in n I think I need a new highlighter cuz the quotes are quoting 🧚
_Looks like the new year is cuddling me with a copy of this book 😍 Someone plz pinch me! 👻
_Looks like the new year is cuddling me with a copy of this book 😍 Someone plz pinch me! 👻
January 3, 2026
What an uncomfortable read and yet I couldn’t put it down for a single moment 🧍♀️
January 22, 2026
This was terrible. Like. . . So fucking bad.
Most of it read like a terrible porno that was trying really hard to be relatable. Some moments I was interested but most of it I was cringing. Especially the scene with her period blood all over his face and her asking him to hit her face with his bloody dick.
Not to MENTION that we are having graphic sex scenes with a minor laid out for us on page. I fear if a man or someone not famous wrote this we would be rioting dare I say. The MC gives atrocious pick me vibes and “I’m not like other girls” energy.
But back on the gross topic, let me just read you some quotes.
“I fantasize that I lift his shirt and touch his paunch. Watch it jiggle. Study the curly hairs on his belly and lick them straight”
HELLO????
And
“I fantasize that I crouch down under his desk and unbuckle his pants. . . Then reach into his boxers and cup his wrinkly balls.”
But wait
“I lift my skirt and look at him. He smiles, blood smeared on his lips and cheeks like he’s having the best meal of his life. It’s not a creepy gesture, something out of a slasher film. It’s something deeper. More substantial. It’s evidence that I can cling to in my moments of doubt.”
Not to shame but… cling to what girl your period blood is clinging to his mouth and face and I’m GAGGING that is nasty.
But… she goes
“Slap my face with your bloody dick”
Like oh okay. She says it TWICE.
I’ll pass.
Special thanks to the author and publisher for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Most of it read like a terrible porno that was trying really hard to be relatable. Some moments I was interested but most of it I was cringing. Especially the scene with her period blood all over his face and her asking him to hit her face with his bloody dick.
Not to MENTION that we are having graphic sex scenes with a minor laid out for us on page. I fear if a man or someone not famous wrote this we would be rioting dare I say. The MC gives atrocious pick me vibes and “I’m not like other girls” energy.
But back on the gross topic, let me just read you some quotes.
“I fantasize that I lift his shirt and touch his paunch. Watch it jiggle. Study the curly hairs on his belly and lick them straight”
HELLO????
And
“I fantasize that I crouch down under his desk and unbuckle his pants. . . Then reach into his boxers and cup his wrinkly balls.”
But wait
“I lift my skirt and look at him. He smiles, blood smeared on his lips and cheeks like he’s having the best meal of his life. It’s not a creepy gesture, something out of a slasher film. It’s something deeper. More substantial. It’s evidence that I can cling to in my moments of doubt.”
Not to shame but… cling to what girl your period blood is clinging to his mouth and face and I’m GAGGING that is nasty.
But… she goes
“Slap my face with your bloody dick”
Like oh okay. She says it TWICE.
I’ll pass.
Special thanks to the author and publisher for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Want to read
August 28, 2025the bookstore staff told me to leave, it’s not out until 2026. but i can’t. i am simply too ready for this book
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!!
i’m very torn on whether or not i liked this, and i was also torn on whether or not i would rate it; the main reason being this is a novel following an underaged girl having a sexual relationship with her high school english teacher.
of course, discomfort in the glaring power imbalance of this relationship is the whole point that jennette was trying to make, but it still didn’t make it any easier to read.
on top of the sexual relationship between a child and a grown man, there is also child neglect and addiction — waldo’s mom was a teen mom who ultimately provided very little parenting for her child and left her extremely emotionally neglected, not to mention practically abandoning her child for any man that shows the slightest interest in her; waldo also has an insane shopping addiction she can’t afford.
also, i just hate the name waldo lol.
while jennette does a very good job at depicting an emotionally unstable and depressed teenage girl, i’m torn on whether or not i also enjoy her writing. i feel as though her voice shone through in her memoir, and while i technically flew through this novel (the chapters were very very short) i’m not sure i’m impressed with her writing here.
overall, i think that because of the fact she depicted such a horrible topic in a way that left me so unnerved and alert, i would recommend this to others, but only with the explicit understanding of knowing the author’s personal unfortunate history.
——
no one talk to me until i finish reading jennette’s debut novel
i’m very torn on whether or not i liked this, and i was also torn on whether or not i would rate it; the main reason being this is a novel following an underaged girl having a sexual relationship with her high school english teacher.
of course, discomfort in the glaring power imbalance of this relationship is the whole point that jennette was trying to make, but it still didn’t make it any easier to read.
on top of the sexual relationship between a child and a grown man, there is also child neglect and addiction — waldo’s mom was a teen mom who ultimately provided very little parenting for her child and left her extremely emotionally neglected, not to mention practically abandoning her child for any man that shows the slightest interest in her; waldo also has an insane shopping addiction she can’t afford.
also, i just hate the name waldo lol.
while jennette does a very good job at depicting an emotionally unstable and depressed teenage girl, i’m torn on whether or not i also enjoy her writing. i feel as though her voice shone through in her memoir, and while i technically flew through this novel (the chapters were very very short) i’m not sure i’m impressed with her writing here.
overall, i think that because of the fact she depicted such a horrible topic in a way that left me so unnerved and alert, i would recommend this to others, but only with the explicit understanding of knowing the author’s personal unfortunate history.
——
no one talk to me until i finish reading jennette’s debut novel
January 7, 2026
4.5⭐️ Being a teen girl means having a deep, disgusting, cavernous desire that can never be satisfied.
Half His Age is equally gross and engrossing. all the characters felt real, the writing was blunt, and pacing was fantastic. I couldn’t put it down!
thank you LibroFM for the ALC
Half His Age is equally gross and engrossing. all the characters felt real, the writing was blunt, and pacing was fantastic. I couldn’t put it down!
thank you LibroFM for the ALC
January 4, 2026
This book felt very icky to me. A 17 year old and her almost 40 year old teacher with extremely explicit sex scenes throughout. It was very obvious that the author’s trauma was put into this book (Nickelodeon, her mom), and I just couldn’t separate that from the story. The writing felt very simplistic, and some sentences felt like they were added in to try to create depth, but instead ended with me going, “Huh? Why did this random thing need to be mentioned?” Overall, I didn’t feel as though this had enough depth for me to justify the point of the novel. I was hoping for something closer to My Dark Vanessa, but that didn’t happen.
Want to read
October 17, 2025people screaming crying throwing up over this book's premise because they think jennette mccurdy is writing a taboo age gap dark romance reminds me of when suzanne collins wrote the ballad of songbirds and snakes and people threw fits because they thought writing from president snow's point of view meant she was glamorizing him
January 8, 2026
Gonna get a little cynical and say I don’t think this would have been picked up by any publisher had it not come attached to a name that would make it a guaranteed bestseller no matter what. It’s very blandly written and has nothing particularly poignant to say about the subject matter. The one aspect I found semi-interesting was the dynamic between the protagonist and her mother, but of course the book mostly wasn’t about that.
Thank you to Libro.FM and Random House Audio for the ARC!
Thank you to Libro.FM and Random House Audio for the ARC!
January 10, 2026
Being a woman is so fucking hard.
January 22, 2026
I’m actually sorry that I feel this way. I really enjoyed her memoir, but this was vulgar and deeply off-putting.
I rarely give one-star ratings. I understand the effort it takes to write a book and put it into the world, and for that alone, it feels harsh to rate something so low. Still, this left me with no other choice.
So what went wrong?
The short answer: everything.
There is NO finesse to this book. It feels raw, not raw in a way that feels real, but raw in a way that stinks and I feel offended. The book opens with a sex scene involving seventeen-year-old, Waldo and her choppy, intrusive inner monologue. It isn’t the presence of sex itself that disturbed me, but our main character’s voice. Waldo’s narration feels deliberately engineered to shock and unsettle the reader, to provoke discomfort rather than insight.
There’s a glaring disconnect between the sexual awareness attributed to her and the way her voice is written. At times, she reads like a 10 year old.
I am aware that sometimes this kind of dissonance is an intentional literary choice, used to add depth into a character and show the extent of their abuse. Here, it’s hard to tell whether it’s deliberate or simply the result of careless writing. Either way, the prose feels fractured and disjointed, and it ultimately detracts from the story.
Giddy bouncing sex. Right. And texts like these are littered across the book.
Now even if the writing were easier to forgive, there’s still the issue of emotional distance. I never knew how I was meant to feel about Waldo. Was I supposed to pity her? Be repulsed by her? Root for her? Mourn her? In the end, I didn’t care for her at all — and that is the book’s greatest failure.
It feels as though the author takes a familiar narrative about a young girl with a dysfunctional mother and a traumatic upbringing and tries to make it feel transgressive by leaning into crassness and shock. Waldo is positioned as both victim and participant in her own harm, but the framing never feels thoughtful or interrogative. Instead, it feels exploitative.
What could have been a meaningful exploration of power, abuse, childhood trauma, and vulnerability instead reads as hollow and sensationalized.
Which leaves me asking: what was the point of writing a story like this? What, exactly, was the target?
I rarely give one-star ratings. I understand the effort it takes to write a book and put it into the world, and for that alone, it feels harsh to rate something so low. Still, this left me with no other choice.
So what went wrong?
The short answer: everything.
There is NO finesse to this book. It feels raw, not raw in a way that feels real, but raw in a way that stinks and I feel offended. The book opens with a sex scene involving seventeen-year-old, Waldo and her choppy, intrusive inner monologue. It isn’t the presence of sex itself that disturbed me, but our main character’s voice. Waldo’s narration feels deliberately engineered to shock and unsettle the reader, to provoke discomfort rather than insight.
There’s a glaring disconnect between the sexual awareness attributed to her and the way her voice is written. At times, she reads like a 10 year old.
I am aware that sometimes this kind of dissonance is an intentional literary choice, used to add depth into a character and show the extent of their abuse. Here, it’s hard to tell whether it’s deliberate or simply the result of careless writing. Either way, the prose feels fractured and disjointed, and it ultimately detracts from the story.
”My vagina pulses. It’s not about him being a failure. I don’t know whose vagina would pulse at something like that. It’s about him being able to call himself one. Him being able to be brutally honest about his regrets, his status, his shortcomings.”
“My body turned off. I became a block of flesh with no soul inside it. A fuckable ghost. As he railed me, I stared at the ceiling and tried to remember if I was out of Cocoa Pebbles or needed to pick some up on the way home.”
“His laugh turns into a moan of agonizing pleasure. I gradually escalate my riding to bouncing - a happy, gleeful, giddy bounce.”
Giddy bouncing sex. Right. And texts like these are littered across the book.
Now even if the writing were easier to forgive, there’s still the issue of emotional distance. I never knew how I was meant to feel about Waldo. Was I supposed to pity her? Be repulsed by her? Root for her? Mourn her? In the end, I didn’t care for her at all — and that is the book’s greatest failure.
It feels as though the author takes a familiar narrative about a young girl with a dysfunctional mother and a traumatic upbringing and tries to make it feel transgressive by leaning into crassness and shock. Waldo is positioned as both victim and participant in her own harm, but the framing never feels thoughtful or interrogative. Instead, it feels exploitative.
What could have been a meaningful exploration of power, abuse, childhood trauma, and vulnerability instead reads as hollow and sensationalized.
Which leaves me asking: what was the point of writing a story like this? What, exactly, was the target?
January 20, 2026
messy messy fun!
December 3, 2025
This book was so gross. It was also honest in ways that is hard to put in words, and so much of it made me uncomfortable but I can’t pretend that I didn’t love feeling that way as I read. It has the overwhelming sensation of being 17/18: how you think you know everything, thinking you are better than who came before you but unknowingly (and sometimes knowingly) repeating their mistakes, dreaming for the future, but overall, the wanting. Wanting so much for yourself and not knowing how to get to it. And if you get it, then what? What do you want next?
While the writing was simple, it created such messy complex characters and didn’t shy away from addiction and poverty and the overall vibrancy of obsession; I found myself obsessed with it as I read it and devoured it so quickly. Do I think this is going to be the most incisive look at abusive relationships and power dynamics between class, age and gender? No. But for what it was, it was deeply compelling, unfailingly human and very much contained in its truth. I think it was a hell of a ride.
Waldo, I am so sorry sweetie, you deserved more than what you got. Men like Mr Korgy, I hope you never find peace. Jennette McCurdy I would like another
While the writing was simple, it created such messy complex characters and didn’t shy away from addiction and poverty and the overall vibrancy of obsession; I found myself obsessed with it as I read it and devoured it so quickly. Do I think this is going to be the most incisive look at abusive relationships and power dynamics between class, age and gender? No. But for what it was, it was deeply compelling, unfailingly human and very much contained in its truth. I think it was a hell of a ride.
Waldo, I am so sorry sweetie, you deserved more than what you got. Men like Mr Korgy, I hope you never find peace. Jennette McCurdy I would like another
January 23, 2026
This was such a miss for me but did in fact get me out of my reading slump so.... silver linings!!!!
Whilst this book had SO much to offer in the conversation of teacher x student relationships, I found it lacked nuance, included a ton of self insertion and pretty surface level character development. Jennette McCurdy is by no means a bad writer and there were moments were I couldn't put this book down however paired with the subject matter, the subpar imperative conversations left me feeling slightly icky. I adored the exploration of how messy being an adolescence / teenager can be and often is. Waldo's inexplicable desire, craving to be understood and seen was an element that I did love reading about: it was raw. However, the character development essentially felt like it stopped there.
Whilst this book had SO much to offer in the conversation of teacher x student relationships, I found it lacked nuance, included a ton of self insertion and pretty surface level character development. Jennette McCurdy is by no means a bad writer and there were moments were I couldn't put this book down however paired with the subject matter, the subpar imperative conversations left me feeling slightly icky. I adored the exploration of how messy being an adolescence / teenager can be and often is. Waldo's inexplicable desire, craving to be understood and seen was an element that I did love reading about: it was raw. However, the character development essentially felt like it stopped there.
Review of advance copy
I think aside from the obvious discomfort this gave me, what I didn't like is the deliberate self-insertion? I'm not sure how to articulate my feelings. I liked the writing for the most part, and I understand the point of the story, which is coming-of-age and disgustingly raw & messy adolescence. I also appreciated that McCurdy narrates the audiobook, but at the same time, knowing the Nickelodeon situations, that made it even harder to separate the story from her real-life experiences.
Currently reading
January 20, 2026Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov was probably one of my most favorite literal studies almost 20 years back, so when I read the blurb of McCurdy’s new book, I couldn’t help but notice the comparison between the two. Clearly, this peaked my interest immediately as its a dive into complex topics and an exploration of themes like desire and power. Just by looking at the cover page, I sense this will be a bold, vulgar and provocative take on sexuality and power and abuse that often comes with it when it’s entrusted into the wrong hands.
January 20, 2026
Nah I was just drafting my ~official~ review and I gotta drop this to 2 stars
January 6, 2026
2.5. Look, this is a dynamic that, at this point, has been written about ad nauseum. We've explored it from every angle, from every gender, from the top to the bottom and the bottom to the top. In my humble opinion, if you're going to write about a relationship between a student and their teacher in 2026, it's got to have something fresh about it. It needs to feel subversive, be a twist on the age-old tale, or at least be damn well-written. This is none of those things. Sure, maybe it's cruder than the many iterations that have come before it, but I'm not sure that's the originality I'm looking for. It follows along its predictable trajectory, stays nice and comfortable up on the surface, and ends just as you would expect.
Want to read
December 30, 2025this can go one of two ways ...
January 10, 2026
I really liked this one. Dark. Funny. Full of bad decisions. Some clever commentary and perspective on the teacher student affair story. The perfect length, short, bc just when I was starting to tire of it, it ended. I think some people will hate this book, but it mostly worked for me.
January 22, 2026
„Half His Age“ ist aus der Perspektive einer 17‑Jährigen geschrieben, die in Armut aufwächst und eine emotional wie körperlich abwesende Mutter hat. Waldos Mutter war bei der Erziehung vor allem eines wichtig: ihrer Tochter von klein auf beizubringen, wie man (toxische) Männer im eigenen Leben hält – und wie entscheidend Aussehen dafür ist. Wenn er dich nicht will, musst du eben hübscher werden.
Auch wenn es mich nicht überrascht hat, hat es mich als Leserin unglaublich verletzt, als Waldo sich in ihren deutlich älteren und unattraktiven Lehrer verliebt und eine Affäre mit ihm beginnt. Mr. Korgy ist mein absoluter Albtraum: Er betrügt nicht nur seine Frau und seinen Sohn, sondern manipuliert die minderjährige Waldo und übernimmt keinerlei Verantwortung für sein Handeln.
„Half His Age“ ist eine Geschichte über Emanzipation. Ein Befreiungsschlag aus toxischen Denk‑ und Verhaltensmustern. Waldo lernt, dass ihr Wert an keine Person und keinen Erfolg gekoppelt ist. Es ist eine sehr ehrliche Geschichte, die uns viel zu oft den Spiegel vorhält.
Auch wenn es mich nicht überrascht hat, hat es mich als Leserin unglaublich verletzt, als Waldo sich in ihren deutlich älteren und unattraktiven Lehrer verliebt und eine Affäre mit ihm beginnt. Mr. Korgy ist mein absoluter Albtraum: Er betrügt nicht nur seine Frau und seinen Sohn, sondern manipuliert die minderjährige Waldo und übernimmt keinerlei Verantwortung für sein Handeln.
„Half His Age“ ist eine Geschichte über Emanzipation. Ein Befreiungsschlag aus toxischen Denk‑ und Verhaltensmustern. Waldo lernt, dass ihr Wert an keine Person und keinen Erfolg gekoppelt ist. Es ist eine sehr ehrliche Geschichte, die uns viel zu oft den Spiegel vorhält.
January 24, 2026
Was this romance? No. But who here is really shocked that the woman whose autobiography was about her being glad her mom died also wrote a gritty, obscene (at times downright profane) novel that is reflective of the filthiest and most unfiltered parts of female rage, power, sex, modern consumption, and desire wrapped up in a teen student package? (more review below)
▹My ⭐ Rating: ★★★.25 out of 5
▹Format: 🎧Audiobook (Narration rating: 5/5 (narrated by the author herself))
─────────────────────────
○★○ What to Expect from This Book: ○★○
– About: 17-year-old Waldo is in search for something to feel good. Amazon, Shein, makeup, the latest trendy crop top, face wash, add to cart, return to store, add to cart, repeat. When the boys her age don’t fulfill her anymore, and her friendships start to go stale, she turns her eyes on Mr. Korgy, her (married with a child) English teacher. Will he fulfill the deep hole she feels from neglected parents, the pressures of being a hot teen, and untapped potential?
– Location: Anchorage, Alaska
– POV: Single first-person
– Spice: Several (more than 5) open-door explicit and vulgar spice scenes
– Tropes: student x teacher relationship, age gap (she’s 17, he’s in his 30s), she’s not wealthy, consumerism, female rage
– Content warning: infidelity/adultery, flippant use of the word “ret*rd”, power imbalance, intimacy during menstruation (graphic), grooming, manipulation, negativity against LDS, neglectful parent, parental abandonment
– Representation: nothing noteworthy
─────────────────────────
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺ 1:00 ──ㅇ────── 4:12
Now Playing: Baba O’Riley by The Who
─────────────────────────
★○ If You Like the Following, You Might Like This Book ○★
➼ Sydney Sweeney’s character arc on Euphoria
➼ Listening to your much older boyfriend tell you how incendiary Faulkner, Kubrick, and The Pixies are ad nauseum
➼ Stories that feel like a mirror being held up to the grossest parts of humans
➼ Simplistic, blunt writing styles (e.g., “We walked two blocks. He took my hand. He held me and kissed me.” versus something like, “We meandered through the pathway, hands entwined, and he kissed me with the passion of lovers who can’t be separated.”
─────────────────────────
⍟»This or That«⍟
Character Driven—✧——————————Plot Driven
Fast Burn————✧———————Slow Burn
Sweet——————————✧—Spicy
Light/Fluffy————————✧———Heavy/Emotional
─────────────────────────
🎯 My Thoughts:
This is where marketing can sometimes fail me. While I wasn’t expecting a contemporary romance, I was thinking that—despite knowing a little about Jeanette McCurdy’s writing style from her biography—it would be more of a romantic piece since that was a tag being used by the publishers.
This was romance in the same way that My Dark Vanessa or Lolita could be tagged as romance. Which to this reader is not romance. This book instead is more like….erotic fantasy weird girl literary fiction? That’s not a negative judgement, just trying to set expectations for others.
While the word “erotic” may turn you away (and listen, I hate that word but what other word do I use?), this story actually grabbed me in a way I was not expecting. I think this book had a way of accurately reflecting the acute desire to be “filled” by any means necessary, no matter the detriment it has on one’s psyche or other relationships.
Where it sometimes lost the plot for me was how cliched it was. Of course this teen, whose dad left at a young age, and whose mom is also in search of finding wholeness in men, and who is constantly feeling pressured by society and peers to be cuter, hotter, sexier, purer would retaliate and set sights on what she thought was the epitome of stable, educated success—a male educator in his 30s. It felt like a story that could be told any day of any year by any person.
But what made this fresh to me was how blunt the delivery was. There were no moments of “is this too far?” that McCurdy shied away from. Some readers will hate that. Some will appreciate it. I’m in the latter group. It made me uncomfortable while still being relatable and I think that’s brilliant because what about this story should feel comfortable?
And, apologies for the comparison because they are two very different books, but where My Dark Vanessa was about a predatory male and the loss of agency for his prey, Half His Age almost felt like a role reversal—though it should never be said that a 30-something man couldn’t/shouldn’t stand firmer against the advances of a misguided 17-year-old girl.
Would I Recommend?: Definitely not to every reader. But if the content warnings seem like something that you’re OK with being uncomfortable with vs. it being a trigger for your mental health, I enjoyed this story for the fact that it did make me uncomfortable.
———————
Pre-read thoughts: I pre-ordered this on Audible a month ago because I loved her autobiography. But the reviews don’t look so good… Hopefully I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
▹My ⭐ Rating: ★★★.25 out of 5
▹Format: 🎧Audiobook (Narration rating: 5/5 (narrated by the author herself))
─────────────────────────
○★○ What to Expect from This Book: ○★○
– About: 17-year-old Waldo is in search for something to feel good. Amazon, Shein, makeup, the latest trendy crop top, face wash, add to cart, return to store, add to cart, repeat. When the boys her age don’t fulfill her anymore, and her friendships start to go stale, she turns her eyes on Mr. Korgy, her (married with a child) English teacher. Will he fulfill the deep hole she feels from neglected parents, the pressures of being a hot teen, and untapped potential?
– Location: Anchorage, Alaska
– POV: Single first-person
– Spice: Several (more than 5) open-door explicit and vulgar spice scenes
– Tropes: student x teacher relationship, age gap (she’s 17, he’s in his 30s), she’s not wealthy, consumerism, female rage
– Content warning: infidelity/adultery, flippant use of the word “ret*rd”, power imbalance, intimacy during menstruation (graphic), grooming, manipulation, negativity against LDS, neglectful parent, parental abandonment
– Representation: nothing noteworthy
─────────────────────────
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺ 1:00 ──ㅇ────── 4:12
Now Playing: Baba O’Riley by The Who
╰┈➤ ❝The exodus is here, the happy ones are near, Let's get together, Before we get much older…Teenage wasteland, It's only teenage wasteland❞
─────────────────────────
★○ If You Like the Following, You Might Like This Book ○★
➼ Sydney Sweeney’s character arc on Euphoria
➼ Listening to your much older boyfriend tell you how incendiary Faulkner, Kubrick, and The Pixies are ad nauseum
➼ Stories that feel like a mirror being held up to the grossest parts of humans
➼ Simplistic, blunt writing styles (e.g., “We walked two blocks. He took my hand. He held me and kissed me.” versus something like, “We meandered through the pathway, hands entwined, and he kissed me with the passion of lovers who can’t be separated.”
─────────────────────────
⍟»This or That«⍟
Character Driven—✧——————————Plot Driven
Fast Burn————✧———————Slow Burn
Sweet——————————✧—Spicy
Light/Fluffy————————✧———Heavy/Emotional
─────────────────────────
🎯 My Thoughts:
This is where marketing can sometimes fail me. While I wasn’t expecting a contemporary romance, I was thinking that—despite knowing a little about Jeanette McCurdy’s writing style from her biography—it would be more of a romantic piece since that was a tag being used by the publishers.
This was romance in the same way that My Dark Vanessa or Lolita could be tagged as romance. Which to this reader is not romance. This book instead is more like….erotic fantasy weird girl literary fiction? That’s not a negative judgement, just trying to set expectations for others.
While the word “erotic” may turn you away (and listen, I hate that word but what other word do I use?), this story actually grabbed me in a way I was not expecting. I think this book had a way of accurately reflecting the acute desire to be “filled” by any means necessary, no matter the detriment it has on one’s psyche or other relationships.
Where it sometimes lost the plot for me was how cliched it was. Of course this teen, whose dad left at a young age, and whose mom is also in search of finding wholeness in men, and who is constantly feeling pressured by society and peers to be cuter, hotter, sexier, purer would retaliate and set sights on what she thought was the epitome of stable, educated success—a male educator in his 30s. It felt like a story that could be told any day of any year by any person.
But what made this fresh to me was how blunt the delivery was. There were no moments of “is this too far?” that McCurdy shied away from. Some readers will hate that. Some will appreciate it. I’m in the latter group. It made me uncomfortable while still being relatable and I think that’s brilliant because what about this story should feel comfortable?
And, apologies for the comparison because they are two very different books, but where My Dark Vanessa was about a predatory male and the loss of agency for his prey, Half His Age almost felt like a role reversal—though it should never be said that a 30-something man couldn’t/shouldn’t stand firmer against the advances of a misguided 17-year-old girl.
Would I Recommend?: Definitely not to every reader. But if the content warnings seem like something that you’re OK with being uncomfortable with vs. it being a trigger for your mental health, I enjoyed this story for the fact that it did make me uncomfortable.
———————
Pre-read thoughts: I pre-ordered this on Audible a month ago because I loved her autobiography. But the reviews don’t look so good… Hopefully I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Even tho I only read like half of this book (it just came in and i had literally nothing to do at work) I need to get these words off my chest;
This book is absolutely horrible (imo). I feel sooooooo icky. I don't want to read explicit smut involving a minor. Its just weird.
I thought they would address the topic in a different way (focus on the problematic aspects of the situation and how this "relationship" can cause serious harm towards her well being in the future. Idk maybe her future self is narrating the story and looking back at it.) but I was wrong. What's the moral of this story. Why was this written and who is this written for?
This feels like PLL all over again but worse 💀😭. I thought we were done with romanticising student x teacher romances. Pls leave it in the early 2010s.
This book is absolutely horrible (imo). I feel sooooooo icky. I don't want to read explicit smut involving a minor. Its just weird.
I thought they would address the topic in a different way (focus on the problematic aspects of the situation and how this "relationship" can cause serious harm towards her well being in the future. Idk maybe her future self is narrating the story and looking back at it.) but I was wrong. What's the moral of this story. Why was this written and who is this written for?
This feels like PLL all over again but worse 💀😭. I thought we were done with romanticising student x teacher romances. Pls leave it in the early 2010s.
Read
January 12, 2026mccurdy’s first foray into fiction writing is an absolutely harrowing look at intergenerational trauma and the wreckage it can leave behind
i find this book so difficult to rate. the graphic sex scenes between adult and minor were vile (purposefully so) and made my reading experience demoralizing, yet the imagery and writing never felt gratuitous. rather, i felt deeply connected to the protagonist and her desperation for love, understanding, and emotional depth.
the scenes with waldo and her mother were some of my favorites, and they were also some of the hardest to read. the writing was bitter yet tender and vulnerable, and it made me think of my own mother as i reflected on the jagged edges of our relationship
can we ever truly outrun the traumas our parents passed onto us? is there any point in searching for love and meaning in this consumerist, capitalist world? are we all just floating from one “add to cart” button to the next, waiting for either death or enlightenment to find us?
i’ve come out of this read a bit more brokenhearted than i was going into it, but not in a wholly unwanted way
tldr: a heavy read for the thought daughters with mommy issues who keep looking for connection in all the wrong places
thank you to libro.fm for this arc!
i find this book so difficult to rate. the graphic sex scenes between adult and minor were vile (purposefully so) and made my reading experience demoralizing, yet the imagery and writing never felt gratuitous. rather, i felt deeply connected to the protagonist and her desperation for love, understanding, and emotional depth.
the scenes with waldo and her mother were some of my favorites, and they were also some of the hardest to read. the writing was bitter yet tender and vulnerable, and it made me think of my own mother as i reflected on the jagged edges of our relationship
can we ever truly outrun the traumas our parents passed onto us? is there any point in searching for love and meaning in this consumerist, capitalist world? are we all just floating from one “add to cart” button to the next, waiting for either death or enlightenment to find us?
i’ve come out of this read a bit more brokenhearted than i was going into it, but not in a wholly unwanted way
tldr: a heavy read for the thought daughters with mommy issues who keep looking for connection in all the wrong places
thank you to libro.fm for this arc!
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