“You’ve never met a character quite like Waldo. . . . An explicit, provocative, and sometimes uncomfortable read . . . an unapologetically bare and intimate portrait of the psyche of a girl on the brink of womanhood and a meditation on the generational cycles that shape us.”—Harper’s Bazaar
“A debut novel that confirms [McCurdy’s] gift as a chronicler of disaffected girlhood [and] dares you to flinch, squeal, and/or chuck your book out the window, but ultimately rewards the fearless reader. . . . This is a bold and unapologetic novel for edge-seekers, doom-scrollers, latchkey kids, horn-dogs, and all those who love hard. . . . This is what Half His Age is ultimately about, scandal and sex scenes aside: the dead end of longing, whereby you ask people or things for the love they can’t give you, and how lonely this mismatch can feel.”—Brittany Newell, The New York Times Book Review
“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
“Proves her memoir was anything but a one-hit wonder. . . . 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
“17-year-old Waldo finds herself desperately, foolishly, hopelessly in love with a teacher, a predicament that allows McCurdy to stretch her muscles exploring power and desire in our modern moment.”—Town & Country
“Haunting, hilarious, and heart-rending . . . a coming-of-age story that refuses easy answers—the kind McCurdy tells best.”—Bustle
“In Half His Age, Jennette McCurdy takes what could have been a simple morality tale and turns it into something more complicated and infinitely more interesting—a riveting examination of lust and self-delusion, and a sly reminder that our worst mistakes can sometimes lead us stumbling toward the light. McCurdy is a fearless and darkly funny writer with an unerring eye for the perfect mortifying detail.”—Tom Perrotta
“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
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