I'm Glad My Mom Died

 By Jennette McCurdy

Simon and Schuster     2022

310 Pages     Memoir

As a disclaimer, I didn’t think I knew who Jennette McCurdy was when I received this book from the publisher, but when I explored a bit more, I realized that my granddaughters had watched I, Carly and Sam and Cat when they were middle schoolers. I was intrigued when the book hit the top of the best seller lists—much better than most celebrity memoirs, and knew I would have to read it. Besides that, a title like “I’m Glad My Mom Died” made the book a must read!

Jennette McCurdy was just a cute little kid with a mom and dad and two brothers, when her mother decided that Jennette should be an actress. The book then details her rise from a few early commercials and vignettes to her being cast in I Carly beside Miranda Cosgrove and then as the lead beside Arianna Grande in Sam and Cat. The sitcoms aired from 2007 to 2014, and Jennette mentions several times that she has remained a close friend of Miranda Cosgrove, who helped her mature and heal.

More than an exploration of her television career, I’m Glad My Mom Died details the mental and physical abuse Jennette experienced at the hand of her mother. Most significantly, the reader learns that the relationship was both good and bad. Jennette loved her mother and sought to please her, no matter what her mother asks her to do. Hair, makeup, clothes, bathing, and eating were all outside Jennette’s realm. Her mother continued to be  “in charge” of Jennette’s showering until she was 17.

Her mother had a bout of breast cancer when Jeanette was very young, and she died when Jennette was 21. Because of that, Jennette spent much of her life worrying about her mother’s possible imminent death, and she did everything she could to keep anxiety away from her mother so that she wouldn’t die. Jennette says, “My life purpose has always been to make Mom happy, to be who she wants me to be. So without Mom, who am I supposed to be? “

As the memoir develops, the reader becomes increasingly concerned about Jennette’s mental and physical health. Significantly, her mother teaches her how to restrict her eating so that she will not grow “the boobies” that will move her away from the young girl roles for which she is becoming famous. Consequently calorie restriction then becomes anorexia, binge eating, and finally, bulimia. This part of the book made particular sense to me as the daughter and granddaughter of women who worried incessantly about my weight.

The reader breathes a sigh of relief when we learn how Jennette has become stronger and much more able to cope with life. We also learn that she is not acting much, but has just signed a contract for two more books and is podcasting and being interviewed about I’m Glad My Mom Died.

One of the best reviews of the book appeared in The Atlantic in August. The reviewer says: “ McCurdy takes her time to remember difficult and complex moments of her life, staying true to her younger self while ultimately trying to come to terms with who she is as an independent adult. It’s a triumph of the confessional genre.”

There is also a very complete biography of Jennette McCurdy on Wikipedia. It is worth reading, either before or after reading the book. Puts a lot into perspective.

What Child is This?

 By Bonnie MacBird

Illus. by Frank Cho

Collins Crime Club     2022

228 pages     Mystery

True that I haven’t read many modern versions of Conon Doyle’s Sherlock, but What Child Is This? came to me from a publisher’s rep, and I picked it up a couple of days ago. While it is not really a Christmas story, it takes place during the Christmas season, and includes a little boy born on Christmas day.

Actually, there are two mysteries told by Dr. Watson in the poignant story line. In the first storyline, a country aristocrat has lost track of his handsome son and asks Sherlock to see if he can be found. In the second story, Jonathan, the adopted son of a London couple, has almost been kidnapped on the street in the presence of Holmes and Watson.

Sherlock Holmes is hired to find the first young man, but his curiosity gets the best of him with the attempted abduction of the little boy. Thus,  the two mysteries occupy Holmes and Watson in the week before Christmas, and both are solved by Christmas Eve. A very clever young woman detective, Heffie O’Malley, aids the two men in their investigation and adds a note of humor to the proceedings.

Along with the mystery solutions, we learn a lot about the softer side of Holmes, through the eyes of Dr. Watson. For instance, in the book’s last scene, as Dr. Watson is heading home to celebrate Christmas Eve with his wife, he hears Sherlock Holmes playing his violin. “A poignant melody in a minor key rang out over the deserted, snow-covered street.” The tune was Greensleeves or at Christmas-time, What Child is This. Watson ends his musings, thus: “My friend Sherlock Holmes, who professed to hate the holidays, perhaps embodied the spirit of Christmas more than any man I knew. I smiled all the way home to Mary.”

It is not all Christmas joy and lightness in the mysteries faced in the novel. Holmes and Watson tackle two difficult topics—homosexuality, which most likely was a hushed topic in Victorian England, and child abuse. It was difficult to read about the women running the orphanage and child care center. Also exposed were the major differences in social status found by the detectives as they attempt to solve the attempted kidnapping. One of the gracious aspects of What Child is This? are the illustrations by Frank Cho. They are an unexpected and delightful asset to the book. The last illustration in the book is of Sherlock Holmes playing Christmas music on his violin. One can almost hear the haunting melody when gazing at the picture.

Bonnie MacBird  has a major fascination with the legacy of Sherlock Holmes. She lives part of the year in London, just off Baker Street near where Sherlock Holmes was purported to have lived. This is the fifth book in her Sherlock Holmes series. It was a delight to read her modern offering.

Bonnie MacBird’s website.