Jenette McCurdy’s debut novel “Half His Age” is an excellent character-study of angry, insecure, instinctual, 17-year old Waldo, who develops an infatuation with her 40-year-old creative writing teacher, Mr. Korgy. McCurdy’s direct and humorous writing examines the patterns we learn in youth that one must outgrow to truly live.

“Half His Age” hits every beat of an entertaining story, with a strong, direct, and hilarious voice behind it all. McCurdy does not pull any punches when laying out the reality of being a 17-year-old girl, from desperately finding the right make-up to the only communication from a boy being a seven-page text. She breaks from traditional structure to highlight these experiences that most 17-year-old girls go through. 

The quick-paced novel examines themes of addiction, commenting on the unhealthy patterns and values instilled in us by our parents at a young age. “Half His Age” is a quick-witted, hilarious, cringy, sometimes frustrating coming-of-age story where main character Waldo faces the uncomfortable realization that adults and authority figures are not always looking out for you, and internal satisfaction cannot be achieved with external stimulation. 

Waldo goes through her senior year seeking validation and attention, clinging to her insecurities and coping how her mother taught her to: with sex. This pattern of disappointment, not only in partners, but within herself, that she battles with shopping and more sex. Through it all, her own mother revolves in and out of the story, mirroring Waldo’s own journey as they both become disenfranchised by male attention. The only difference in the end, however, is that Waldo learns her lesson from this. 

Everything in the story goes back to the internal value system Waldo learned from her mom. Her entire self-worth is defined by the first anecdote about her mom the reader gets: being told she was “hard to love” at seven years old. But it is also one of the mother’s off-hand comments that holds the true lesson Waldo is meant to learn, how one must take care of themselves to be there for other people. Waldo realizes the actions of her mother were not her being taken care of, being cared for and raised, but the actions of a troubled adult. 

Waldo realizes it’s not her causing the struggle in the adults around her; it’s the adults with their own problems that keep them from being there for her, in a situation they should be there for. “Half His Age” is about a girl realizing that no, she’s not that hard to love. She’s coming into this age where she needs to take care of herself. 

With a parental figure like Waldo’s, it’s no wonder the girl clung to the first seemingly-admirable authority figure in her life – her creative writing teacher that singles her out for her work. Waldo believes Mr. Korgy, married and with a baby, is the ultimate victory, and that attaining the unattainable will prove her worth and her value. 

McCurdy hits the nail on the head when it comes to disappointing men and diminished authority in those who are in powerful positions in early adolescence. Waldo’s actions and choices, her rationale for the things she does, are symptoms of her emotions, which are in turn, symptoms of ingrained patterns passed on by her mother. 

Of course Waldo goes after her creative writing teacher. Of course she doesn’t stop until the entire idea is played out. Of course she digs into every single little interaction she has, trying to see people in the way she hopes to be seen. 

In an interview with Refinery29, McCurdy said, “I really wanted to show this young woman who really believes she is in control and is really fighting to be in control and clawing for some form of power. She’s still so vulnerable. She’s still at an age that is so vulnerable. And yet at that age, you’re not necessarily aware of your limitations, or the places where you’re particularly naive or susceptible to outside influences.

“Female rage to me is having your boundaries violated over and over and over and over and over again, and not having access to the language, the tools to advocate for yourself. Being afraid to advocate for yourself. Being told not to advocate for yourself, to be polite, to be nice, and to make things easy, to not be difficult. So you continue doing that over and over and over again, and it compounds for years until, inevitably, the rage starts to crop up and come out in unexpected ways.”

The challenges faced by young adults in that situation bleeds into her new debut novel. There’s an ingrained difficulty in the relationship between mother and daughter, and McCurdy shows the addictive coping mechanics, whether through Waldo’s indebting shopping addiction or her mother’s sex addiction that highlights insecurities. It’s these insecurities ingrained in Waldo by her mom that push her to make the frustrating decisions that drive the plot. 

McCurdy’s own experience of parental emotional abuse, manipulation, wild coping, relationships with older men, and rage through it all is well documented in her memoir, “I’m Glad My Mom Died” (2022). The memoir shocked long-time fans with what was happening behind the scenes of a legacy Nickelodeon child-star. With the release of her debut fiction novel, McCurdy has successfully rebranded herself from the character she played as a teenager to a strong and sophisticated storyteller, advocate, and writer. 

“I think there’s so much value in our rage if we can access it, if we’re not hiding it … I really hope [my book] will open up a broader conversation about what we can do with our rage and how we can find empowering ways of utilizing it,” said McCurdy. 

New York Times writer Brittany Newell wrote, “A reverse Lolita tale that dares you to flinch, squeal, and/or chuck your book out the window, but ultimately rewards the fearless reader. Though it’s a classic bildungsroman, the reading experience felt more like watching a slasher flick, with me shaking my head and shouting to an empty room: ‘Don’t answer his text! Don’t go to his house! Don’t get your period in his closet!!!’ This is a bold and unapologetic novel for edge-seekers, doom-scrollers, latchkey kids, hord-dogs and all those who love hard.” 

McCurdy’s new novel is available online and in most bookstores. 

**Mavrie has been serving as editor for the ThunderWord since 2024. She is also the founding president of Highline’s Non-fiction Writers Circle.**