Jannette McCurdy is most recognized for her role as Sam Puckett on the hit kids’ TV show iCarly, although most fans of the show would never have guessed that McCurdy despised being known for the character Sam. In her newest explosive memoir, McCurdy opens up about child stardom and the toxic relationship she had with her mother, hence the inflammatory title of her book, I’m Glad My Mom Died. The autobiography explores countless themes, from generational trauma to religion, and McCurdy’s candid voice carries through powerfully.
Mom kicks in a cupboard door. Her foot gets stuck in the wood. She yanks her foot out. The wood is fragmented and splintery.
Parental relationships are some of the longest and most important relationships in one’s life. How parents treat their children echoes throughout their adult lives, and bad parenting has devastating consequences. By speaking so honestly and unapologetically about the abusive behavior she endured at the hands of her mother and grandmother, McCurdy bravely opens the door to discussions of toxic parent-child relationships. After reading McCurdy’s unfiltered and painful recollections of these relationships, even critics of the book’s title will likely find themselves agreeing with it.
Mom loves recounting her cancer story.
McCurdy’s mom once suffered from breast cancer. She eventually died of cancer recurrence, but after recovering the first time around, she would often speak about her experience merely for personal gain. On several occasions, McCurdy and her brothers were all forced to watch a home video of their mother battling cancer every week. On Sundays, their mom would put on the film and provide commentary to her children, chastising or praising them depending on how they dealt with her illness. She would condemn McCurdy for taking her mother’s cancer “too lightly”, despite McCurdy being only two years old at the time. The weaponization of illness is a major theme in the autobiography and will inevitably raise many internal ethical questions among readers.
Who needs God when you’ve got clear mammograms and a series regular role on Nickelodeon?
The most under-discussed aspect of the novel is its exploration of religion. McCurdy grew up Mormon; as a child, she believed that the Holy Ghost was speaking to her. In I’m Glad My Mom Died, McCurdy grapples with her relationship with religion and religious people. When her boyfriend lets McCurdy in on his belief that he himself is Jesus Christ re-incarnated, she is at odds with how to react, and whether she is willing to be religious again for his sake. Her struggle is a refreshing look at religion through the eyes of someone so disconnected from the impact it used to have on them.
Through writing, I feel power for maybe the first time in my life.
I’m Glad My Mom Died is written in a personal and often humorous manner. It is difficult to joke about a mom who obsessively controls her daughter, but McCurdy sticks the landing with her unique drily humorous voice. Through the rapid escalation of the events in the book, audiences truly experience the dysfunctional family dynamic from an inside point of view. It is impossible to cover even a fraction of the events played out in McCurdy’s recounting of her young adult life, and it is clear that the autobiography served as a way for McCurdy to close the door on that chapter of her life.
McCurdy undoubtedly bit the bullet when writing her incredibly personal account. Throughout her retelling, McCurdy’s perspective is skewed by the manipulation she faced, as well as her age, making the story even harder to swallow. Readers can expect to feel overwhelming sympathy, disgust, and fascination with the events documented in I’m Glad My Mom Died, but what matters most to readers is that the autobiography may give them a new perspective. At the end of the day, people’s lives will always be far more colorful than what they may seem to be from the outside.
Book information
Title: I’m Glad My Mom Died
Author: Jannette McCurdy
Publisher: Simon & Shuster
Publication Year: 2022
Pages: 320