Jennette McCurdy’s Half His Age examines blurred parent–child boundaries

Jennette McCurdy’s debut novel Half His Age follows her 2022 memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died and continues to explore blurred parent–child boundaries and loss of identity caused by over-enmeshment. Her memoir introduced her mother Debra’s narcissistic personality disorder, recounted that McCurdy had suffered sexual abuse, and said her mother had contributed to an eating disorder.

Half His Age centres on Waldo, a high-school senior whose life does not seem to be her own. She play-acts through sexual encounters and dissociates at the school disco: I stand off to the side watching, enveloped by a blanket of catatonia. The novel traces how these reactions are handed down from a chaotic mother written as a comedic grand guignol, and depicts a relationship that shifts between friends, siblings and caretaker — I’ve been managing my mom’s emotions since I was five.

Waldo returns to an empty house marked by brightly coloured Post-It notes and reheated TV dinners, and copes through online shopping: Tab tab tab tab. Cart cart cart cart. Desperate to chase away this heavy emptiness. Waldo plunges into an obsession with her married English teacher, Mr Korgy, who is portrayed as a failed author turned teacher, someone who grew up on World of Warcraft, loves Matchbox Twenty songs and is trapped in his own life.

Key Topics

Culture, Jennette Mccurdy, Waldo, Mr Korgy, Debra, Narcissistic Personality Disorder