My letter “I” pick for the A to Z Book Challenge was I’M GLAD MY MOM DIED by Jennette McCurdy. This book was a tough one. It’s never easy to read an account of child abuse and it’s after-effect, and McCurdy doesn’t hold back her punches while retelling the detailed examinations of her anatomy in the shower each day and the emotional manipulation and stage-mother-on-steroids antics of her mother. Her sneering disdain for most of the Hollywood machine is evident in every line. The fallout of this sort of childhood followed her into failed relationships, alcohol abuse, and torment as she tries to segue from child star to working adult actor and even a dabble in country music before she throws it all off, distances herself from her toxic mother, and begins to reclaim her life.

Mixed into this brutal narrative are the warm and lingering lines of love – for her iCarly costar Miranda Cosgrove (who seems to be one of the few true friends in Jennette’s life), her father and siblings, her love interests, and yes, even her mother, and that makes the story all the more poignant. Jennette, despite all the pressure and abuse, loved her mother, and deeply. But it’s also true she’s glad her mother is gone.

I’m going to give this one four stars out of five for only one reason: I listened to this on audiobook. McCurdy is a talented actress and a great human being, but she is not an audiobook narrator, and it shows. Maybe it’s because she was too close to the source material, but her reading is perfunctory, rushed, and devoid of emotion to the point of nearly being robotic. She should have asked Miranda to do her a favor on this one, or let the publisher find a capable voice artist.