Reviewing Jennette McCurdy’s Half His Age

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Jennette McCurdy is widely known for her role as Sam Puckett on the Nickelodeon show iCarly, and its spinoff, Sam & Cat. After retiring from acting, she started to focus on writing, and in 2022, she released her memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died, where she speaks on her struggles as a child star, her relationship with her abusive mother, and her recovery from an eating disorder. Her highly anticipated debut novel, Half His Age, was released in January 2026. This story follows 17-year-old high school senior Waldo as she develops a strong, obsessive attraction to her creative writing teacher.

The main plot point of this story is Waldo actively pursuing and entering a relationship with her 40-year-old teacher, Korgy. What I found interesting in this relationship is how the power imbalance is shown. Throughout the story, it seems like it’s Waldo who has control in the relationship. She’s the one who first pursues Korgy, and even after he rejects her the first time, she continues to pursue him aggressively.  However, as we get deeper into the story, it’s realized that she, infact doesn’t have much power, that it’s been Korgy manipulating the situation. Korgy makes Waldo feel in control by validating her maturity; he tells her she’s “wise beyond her years” (classic red flag) and that she has the power to stop and end their relationship. He also puts this emotional burden on Waldo when he becomes emotionally dependent on her; he portrays this tortured artist trope by claiming that his wife blocks his dream, causing Waldo to feel like his muse and that she must “baby” him. He also ditches her a lot to manage his marriage and pressures Waldo to be “understanding,” and by doing this, he’s training her to put his own needs first, and it worked. They only ever met on Korgy’s free time, never on Waldo’s. She often dropped everything she was doing to meet with him. By making himself seem pathetic, he gave Waldo the illusion of power.

 Another thing I found interesting was how this novel explores consumerism. Waldo has a rough life; she has an absent father and a neglectful mother. Her mother prioritized her own dating life, leaving Waldo alone often, and she had to raise herself. She struggles financially and often calls herself “white trash.” To cope with her problems, Waldo enters this cycle of consumption. She goes on her laptop and fills online shopping carts with a whole bunch of stuff and feels some sort of high when she clicks “confirm purchase,” and when she waits for her packages to arrive. However, once the packages arrived, the high is gone, and she regrets most of the items she bought, which leads her to start the cycle again. This shopping addiction is the product of many things, of Waldo chasing the “perfect” identity, financial desperation, and, of course, the affair she is having. Often time when she gets into these cycles, she buys a lot of clothes and makeup, hoping that they will make her perfect and wanted, but when she tries these things, she is left feeling like an imposter in her own skin. Her shopping habits are also influenced by the male gaze. Waldo believes that her value is tied to her appearance. She thinks that if she can make herself more attractive, then Korgy will give her more of his time.

(Cover of Half His Age)

This novel was made to make people uncomfortable. It’s very clear that McCurdy didn’t want people to romanticize this story, and she made it very hard for people to do so. The scenes where Waldo and Korgy are together are gross and vulgar; the focus is on uncomfortable details instead of the hot and steamy trope many other books apply. Waldo is completely written to be unlikeable, but you still end up feeling protective of her, when reading I often found myself wanting to yell at her to walk away.

Overall, I think this book was really good. With McCurdy’s memoir, I already knew she was a good writer, but when it was announced that she was coming out with a novel, I wondered if she would be able to tell a story. Writing about your life and writing an original story are completely different, but she was able to prove that she’s also a good storyteller. I definitely recommend that you go pick up this book. I can’t wait to see what more Jennette McCurdy has in store for us.