Half His Age

“Assured, provocative . . . cements [McCurdy’s] standing as a talented writer . . . articulates the vulnerability of girlhood with guts, humor and just the slightest whisper of warmth.”—The New York Times

“Eerie and unsettling and believable.”—Gillian Flynn

“McCurdy is a fearless and darkly funny writer with an unerring eye for the perfect mortifying detail.”—Tom Perrotta

“Recently, I picked up Jennette McCurdy’s Half His Age. It was like picking up a downed power line, so full of rage and want and, well, electricity, that I couldn’t put it down. In her scorching account of a high school student and her teacher, McCurdy gets at some hard truths about what we want out of relationships, and what we actually get.”—Ann Patchett, Oprah Daily

“Jennette McCurdy writes sentences that glimmer and cut like razors. With Half His Age, she delivers a deeply felt and humorous tale about the dangers of youth and desire—this novel is uncomfortable, unpredictable, and unputdownable.”—Aria Aber

“This is a bold and unapologetic novel for edge-seekers, doom-scrollers, latchkey kids, horn-dogs, and all those who love hard.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

“McCurdy’s furious writing—her dystopian rendering of a culture squandering its dreams and desires on the crack high of cheap stuff—is hard to tear yourself away from.”—The Atlantic

“[A] revenge story, one where McCurdy excavates emotions she herself had at seventeen. And if it makes you angry, about feminism or rampant consumerism or the power dynamics in age-gap relationships, even better—McCurdy still is, too.”—Rolling Stone

“Hilarious, gross, disturbing, poignant.”—The Washington Post

“A writer able to capture some of the darkest parts of human nature with unflinching honesty and devastating humor.”—NPR

“A bleak, often hilarious and uncomfortable triumph that underscores McCurdy’s talent for focusing in on the multilayered nature of trauma and artfully unpicking it, one scab at a time.”—The Guardian

“Brimming with teenage angst and McCurdy’s signature dark humor . . . This is far from a romance, and it’s not a glamorization of age gaps—it’s an analysis of consumerism, insecurity, misguided desire, class, and addiction.”—USA Today

“As unapologetic and undeniable as its young protagonist . . . McCurdy treats Waldo’s want with an almost reverent seriousness.”—Elle

“Haunting, hilarious, and heart-rending . . . a coming-of-age story that refuses easy answers—the kind McCurdy tells best.”—Bustle

“[I was] unable to stop turning the pages . . . Written with an unrelenting energy, Half His Age marks a new chapter for Jennette McCurdy.”—Buzzfeed

“[McCurdy] has created a brilliant teenage character who won’t play the victim. . . . You can think of this as a post-MeToo novel in that it is beadily intelligent about the currents of predation without feeling the need to deliver lectures.”—The Times (UK)

“An unflinching, uncomfortable tale of power dynamics and disaffected youth . . . McCurdy’s voice is all her own: clear-eyed realism coupled with emotional honesty.”—The Independent

“Bold and brash . . . A vivid picture of all that we dismiss when it comes to the complexity of a young woman’s desire. . . . With each of her books, McCurdy continues to lean into the uncomfortable conversations that end up leading the discourse.”—Harper’s Bazaar

“With her electric debut novel, Jennette McCurdy has established herself as one of the most exciting literary voices of our time.”—Carley Fortune