Jennette McCurdy, who first broke the internet with her record-breaking 2022 memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died, has returned with her first foray into fiction, per dazeddigital.com. Her debut novel, Half His Age, follows Waldo, a 17-year-old living in the desolate landscape of Anchorage, Alaska, who embarks on a messy, uncomfortable affair with her married English teacher, “Mr Korgy”. The book marks a shift for the former child star, moving from the stark reality of her own life into a narrative world that interrogates the same themes of power and powerlessness.
McCurdy is proving that our cultural obsession with warped age-gap dynamics remains as potent as ever. While the story is fiction, the emotional core is deeply personal, based on a relationship the author had as a teenager with a man in his mid-30s whom she met on a television set. “Writing is my way to closure,” she says, speaking from LA. “I didn’t realise how angry I still was until I started this process.”
For McCurdy, the transition from memoir to fiction wasn’t just about changing names; it was about unleashing a specific kind of energy.
“Anger is incredibly mobilising,” she explains. “As women, we’re told not to ruffle feathers. But for me, anger suggests there’s unexplored territory – a conversation worth having. That is where I write most effectively.”
That grit is visible in Waldo, a protagonist defined by her isolation and a compulsive online shopping habit. McCurdy uses Waldo’s “rabid” consumption of fast fashion as a metaphor for a young woman desperate to buy a new identity. “She’s clawing for a version of herself that feels better than she does,” McCurdy notes.
Despite the controversial subject matter, McCurdy was adamant about avoiding a “preachy” tone. The novel refuses to offer easy answers or “finger-wagging” lectures on consent.
“I didn’t want to be moralistic,” she says. “That just gets an eye roll. I hope the book allows readers – especially those who have made choices they cringe at in retrospect – to look back at their past selves with more compassion.”
McCurdy is currently a powerhouse of productivity. Alongside the release of Half His Age, she is finishing scripts for the TV adaptation of her memoir (reportedly starring Jennifer Aniston), and developing a screen version of Half His Age, which she intends to direct herself.
As she moves further away from her Nickelodeon roots, McCurdy is firmly establishing herself as a leading voice in “uncomfortable” contemporary fiction.
“A theme that will always be part of my work is family dysfunction,” she admits. “I wouldn’t know where to begin writing a supportive father figure.”
•Featured image: Jennette McCurdy/Zane Rubin
