 that's horrifying what she went through. I'm a white girl who got a job in Hollywood so I like how unadorned her honesty is before war. It's not a light read but it is a really really good read. I'm glad my mom died by Jeanette McCarty is a book. It's a book that everyone was talking about. I feel like I found out about it like because everyone was talking about like I didn't anticipate this or know about this and suddenly it was just in my feed and I was like what? What is this? Why is everyone reading this? Also I never had cable growing up so I'm not exactly sure if I was the right age for it when it was out but I never watched like Nickelodeon. I never watched like Carly. I never watched any of the stuff that she's from. I don't really know who she is and I've never really heard of her until now and so when everyone was talking about it I was like well I'm interested so I went to my Libby app. I was like I'll get on the waiting list for the audiobook for it. See what the hype's about and I was able to get a skip the line copy. I was like ready immediately and I was like well my better grab this. It's super short so I finished it in you know a couple hours. This book is not for the faint of heart. It is very very short but it packs a punch and trigger warnings abound. I'm not particularly triggered by any of the content in it and even I found it a bit difficult at times and her writing style makes it okay I guess is the best way to say it. Her writing style she talks about some pretty heavy subject matter in a kind of casual deadpan way which I quite enjoy deadpan humor. That is my flavor of humor so she treats a lot of this in a non melodramatic way. If she had really been super emotional about it it would have been even more difficult to read about but she's not so the subject matter is again quite difficult even for me who's not triggered by the content but as she dealt with a lot of eating disorders her relationship with her mother as the title suggests is awful and I have to say even though I read the title of the book and I kind of knew what I'd be getting myself into because the title tells you even so I was kind of surprised at how awful her mother was and you read a book called I'm glad my mom died you're like okay so mom's gonna be awful but reading the book I was like my god my god that's horrifying what she went through at the same time you know it's very small scale horror you know like and she she makes a point of acknowledging her own privilege she makes a point of saying you know like I had it better than a lot of people you know I I had a roof over my head I had a family that their way cared about me I'm a white girl who got a job in Hollywood you know boohoo my sad story but at the same time like it doesn't minimize how awful what she went through was um just because she did have certain levels of privilege does not mean that what she went through was fine it does not mean that she's not allowed to complain about what happened or what happened to her was was horrifying I really liked her writing style her authorial voice is is very strong and there's points in the book where she talks about how she definitely liked writing better than being an actor she didn't really like being in front of the camera but didn't wasn't given a choice and it's clear reading this book that you know she does have a talent for writing and that's unfortunate that for so long she was forced to do something that is not where her heart lies not where her passion is not what she's interested in doing and not where her true talents lie um I think she is a good author I would read more books from her beyond just memoirs she has a really strong authorial voice that really does work for me and I think anytime you read a memoir where then an audiobook is narrated by the person whose memoir this is makes it I guess there must be exceptions to this but it makes it stronger because you feel like this person is really sharing with you their story in their voice and so the things that happen to them when they you know retell what happened to them you know that they're giving it at least according to their own memory of how things happened they're giving you a sort of accurate impression of it you know if they like recount a conversation with a parent then the way that they recount it you can trust is like sounds kind of like how that happened it was it was a hard book to read but it was it's weird to say an enjoyable experience for anything that dark and that personal because I mean like yes I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your awful childhood what a great time but I did enjoy reading it because it was well written it was well told it was harrowing but I felt like it was an important story to tell and I feel like it is the kind of story that a lot of young girls would need to hear again I wasn't I've never personally had an eating disorder but I do you know I was around how horrible diet culture was especially in the 90s and 2000s and even if I didn't have an eating disorder you know I was certainly influenced by that being around and my own view of myself was influenced by things like that so well I never experienced anything to that degree I could relate to the feelings that she's talking about and how that just went a lot further for her and for a lot of other young girls I also you know have had I have a mother and I have a relationship with my mother I have obviously a much much better relationship with my mother it's not a very high bar to have a better relationship with your mother than didn't Jeanette had but you know again even if you didn't have anything as toxic as she did there's still things about it that will probably ring true or things about it that will either feel familiar or you'll go thank god my mom wasn't like that as bad as my mom has been or as upset as I've been at things my mom has done or said or or whatever I've I mean she wasn't like that so you can always be much much much much worse and I definitely don't want to make it sound like my mom is you know awful she's only good compared to Jeanette McCurdy's mother I don't mean that at all I love my mom you know every parent f's up in some way no matter what you do you love them too much you don't love them enough whatever you do you did it wrong so like always do my mom and I've had rough patches growing up and rough patches even now but you know it did make me very very grateful for all the things that my mom did do or all the things that she definitely didn't do thank goodness all the ways that she could have been a lot more toxic or or a lot of things that she could have done that she never did even at all and I'm really grateful she never did so it put a lot of things in perspective and I felt really really awful for Jeanette McCurdy that she had to go through that but it was still I'm not in lightning per se but I feel like you can find things to relate to in that and and the again the way she talks about her experience is the way she talks about the industry and not just her mother but the way that the her mother was only able to do these things to her because society enabled it so I think it's an important conversation to have the one that she's having and it's a very catchy title but yeah by the end of the book I was like yeah you weren't really exaggerating I can you say you're glad your mom died and like girl me too I'm also glad your mom died it's it's truly awful to feel that way and and I think my titling the book that um I think she's also not just having a difficult conversation about how difficult her childhood was and how horrible her relationship with her mother was but it's also it's a really really hard thing to realize that you are glad that your mother is dead like as bad you just to realize that you hate your mother to realize that uh your mother did awful things to you is one thing but to fully acknowledge that and I'm glad she's dead like that's a to to find that truth in yourself as difficult as that is and as much as society would judge you for expressing something like that when I mean there's no reason to actually like by being a mother you don't you're not entitled to be revered and to be loved just for the fact that you birthed someone like if you are that awful you're like oh how awful to say that you're glad your mother is dead no not really how awful that her mother did things to make her feel that way and to make it true so I like that she's kind of like pulling the band-aid off of that and being like yeah you know what I'm glad my mom is dead and I don't think it's wrong to say that if it's true here's what she did and here's why so I like how unadorned her honesty is in the book throughout not just the realization that she's got her mother is dead but throughout she's she's not looking at anything with rose colored glasses and she's not apologizing for anything she's saying this is what happened to me this is how I felt about it here's what was bad here's the privilege that I did have here's what I went through here's what I've come to have to reconcile with here's what I've come to have to learn about myself and learn about what happened to me that I didn't recognize and here's where I am today and and she it's not at the end of the day spoilers at the end of the book she's not like and now I'm perfectly fine and great like no like she's got this is you know after for life to a greater or lesser degree so I just I loved how baldly honest she was throughout the book it was affecting and I think it's it's a the title is obviously what's gotten people's attention but I think there's a reason that people are reading this book so much because it's it really cuts to the quick and she's talking about things that I think most people can find at least some piece of um to recognize or to feel I can't stick with so I do recommend it but I also recommend that you check out the content warnings if you are going to be triggered by any of the content in it again she's not holding back it's not like lightly alluded to she like gives full on pretty graphic detail about things that happened so be forewarned it's not a light read but it is a really really good read let me know in the comments down below if you've read the book if you knew who she was before if you still have no idea who she is if you have no idea what I'm talking about whatever you let me know I post videos on saturdays other random times well definitely saturdays so like and subscribe join my patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see you