I went into this book knowing next to nothing about Jennette McCurdy other than her being in iCarly. It was mostly the FOMO that got me to read this, but I wasn't disappointed. What I ended up getting out of it was so much more than I could've imagined. The story of an abusive parent whose abuse is so normalized that it isn't realized until Jennette's adulthood and, even once its recognized, she still struggles to come to terms with the implications of this abuse. 

Her mother is a narcissist (straight up) who guilt-trips Jennette into pursuing an acting, singing, dancing (you name it, she's tried it) career. All because she was "never able to pursue her dream of acting". Jennette goes along with this, taking her mother at her every word and trusting her completely - to her own detriment. At the beginning of puberty, Jennette begins to calorie-restrict and engages in unhealthy disordered eating habits that continue throughout the rest of her childhood and into early adulthood - all at her mother's encouragement and suggestions. Even by the end of the book, after Jennette's mother dies, she continues to binge and purge, abuse alcohol, and just generally treat herself less than she deserves.

This was a thoroughly engaging memoir with biting wit and a frankness you find only in someone who has reflected deeply on the story of their life. I read the majority of the book as a physical copy, but finished it with the audiobook and I would recommend at least checking out the audiobook to those who have followed or grown up with Jennette. Her voice narrating her own story is a powerful one.