memoir

This one was a doozy…

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So I chose to listen to I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy and oh man. I have so many thoughts that a review just doesn’t even do it justice. I yelled at people out loud in my home to just leave her alone, and for her to stop asking questions she knew the answer to (Spoiler: her mom is the worst). I honestly can say that I have never felt more relief than I did toward the end of the book when I was finally shouting “GOOD FOR YOU!” “YAS GIRL!” and “FINALLY!!!”. Jennette, and other child stars like her, deserve so much more.

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Rating: 5 out of 5 therapists

Oh man. How do you put stars or words on one persons life? Truly? Especially someone as honest and soul bearing as Jennette McCurdy was in this one. Jennette McCurdy was more than just Sam in iCarly (which, I must confess, I never actually watched). She was more than any of her roles and I feel for her and other child stars, especially those who were abused under Nickelodeon, because many of them were failed by everyone around them. There were so many times during her reading of her story (I made sure to listen to this as an audiobook, I needed her voice) that I was just so angry on her behalf. SO MANY PEOPLE failed her. All around her. And yet, she made it. She forged her own way, made her life her own in spite of those who, it seemed, just wanted yet another something from her. Her mother was the worst of them all. After listening to this, I understand, now, why her book is titled the way it is. It’s more than a gleeful “YAY SHE’S GONE” or a “ding dong the wicked witch is dead” type of title. It’s also a relief type of title, for both herself and her mother, who was battling stuff as well. Her relationship with her mother is so complicated, because of course she loves her but also she had to come to terms with all the abuse she suffered at her hands. This was just such an awe inspiring book. Ironically enough, it forced me to make an online appointment of my own for therapy. I can’t thank her enough for giving me that push. I really would love to meet her and just…hug her and tell her we are all proud of her. She’s truly amazing.

Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin (audiobook)

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Rating: 2 out of 5 egg rolls

Whew. This too me WAY too long to listen to. I have to admit that the author himself as a narrator is not the most exciting to listen to. I had so many days in between listens but because it’s a memoir, there wasn’t really a loss of pace. I do wish he had gone deeper into some of his stories, especially in college, and I have to wonder…did any of those professors or people around him in his stories reach out to him after? Like that one prof in the narrative class?? She seemed awful so I wonder what she thinks about his perspective on it.

I did appreciate learning about what it must have been like in the growing up in the 80’s in Detroit, it was such a special time in the history of Detroit. I think Chin did a really good job of showing us Detroit in a way that is meaningful but real. As a native Michigander, Detroit is one of my favorite cities, and I hate when people tear it down. I also appreciate his perspective in the intersectionality of being a gay Asian boy in the 80’s, at the height of the AIDS epidemic and the Vincent Chen case in Detroit. What I didn’t like…was his crazy hold on the Republicanism but also his hold on liberal ideas…like he was definitely confused growing up and it felt like he only felt that way to spite his parents. It was…weird.

However, I’m giving this a 2 star because I became so disinterested that I finally would work while listening, just to have sound in the background. Ultimately, his story just didn’t resonate with me (which, valid, I’m a 38 year old mixed race Mexican American who grew up in the 90’s) but it wasn’t because it wasn’t interesting, but because it COULD have been interesting and he just…didn’t make it so? It’s hard to describe. Like there were so many places where he could have extrapolated more on parts of the history, or on his family, and yet, he would just cut off a story and never come back to it. I finished it and realized that I don’t even know if he told his family he was gay?? That’s how dissociated I became from his story. I appreciate that he is the co-founder of the Asian American Writers Workshop (that is, actually SO COOL) and that he found inspiration for writing though poetry, but honestly, his prose was so dry and chock full of the very stereotypes he hated, that I have a hard time believing that he did that. Also, why wouldn’t he have found inspiration from all the letters to the editor he had been writing since he was a child?? That would have made more sense to me.

Anyways, this was just ok, and I wish it was better, but hey. It’s his story. Who am I to judge, really? Thank you, Curtis, for sharing your life with us.

“Welcome to Chung’s. For here or to go?”