From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of I’m Glad My Mom Died comes a sad, funny, thrilling novel about sex, consumerism, class, desire, loneliness, the internet, rage, intimacy, power, and the (oftentimes misguided) lengths we’ll go to in order to get what we want.
Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Forceful. Hurting. Perceptive. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of all: Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch. She doesn’t know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films and things that she doesn’t? Or is it purer than that, rooted in their unlikely connection, their kindred spirits, the similar filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, it’s just enough that he sees her when no one else does.
Startlingly perceptive, mordantly funny, and keenly poignant, Half His Age is a rich character study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstacles—or attempts to overcome them—in her effort to be seen, to be desired, to be loved.
Book Info: 288 pages. Publisher: Fourth Estate. Publication date: 20 Jan 2026. Listening Length: 4 hours and 35 minutes. Narrator: Jennette McCurdy
I am turning into Jennette McCurdy’s number 1 fan. Her memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died was one of my Top Ten books last year and when I saw she had a new fictional novel out, I used my audible credit immediately and took the dog on a very long walk (because walking the dog is the only time I get to listen to books).
If you have read or listened to Jennette’s memoir, you will know that she is brutally raw, unflinching, unapologetic and covers extremely provocative themes and her debut novel does exactly that.
The story centres around a young 17 year old high school senior called Waldo. She lives with her unstable and often absent mother, trying to juggle school life, ensuring the bills are paid, food is on the table and navigating the emotional journey of having to grow up too fast.
She soon becomes fixated on her creative writing teacher, a 40 year old married man who initially appears be be oblivious to Waldo’s obsession until he isn’t. McCurdy doesn’t hold back, the sex scenes are graphic and uncomfortable, Waldo is as much a victim as a predator and the reader/listener’s emotions range from sympathy to shock and understanding to discomfort throughout the book.
It’s not an easy listen, it’s raw, powerful, messy and everything that Jennette McCurdy is so good at. Half His Age gets under your skin, into your head and makes you feel all the emotions for Waldo.
Yet another 5 star from me and I can’t wait to see what Jennette comes up with next.
