Former tween idol Jennette McCurdy knows how to get laughs – and how to use them. A child actor turned memoirist, she’s built a career grinding pain into punchlines.
Her first nonfiction book I’m Glad My Mom Died sold more than three million copies worldwide and stayed on The New York Times hardcover list for 60 weeks when it was first published in 2022. On its blush-pink cover, McCurdy smiles faintly, holding an urn filled with confetti.
Half His Age is her debut novel. It’s set in Anchorage, Alaska. Our narrator, a 17-year-old girl named Waldo, is a high-school…