Half His Age

An adults world through a slightly lost teenage girls eyes. Made me laugh, cringe and feel sad in parts. Loved the short quick chapters and loved the main characters view on life, but the end………just ended.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's gritty and real, and takes you back to being a teenager who doesn't know what they want but just knows that they want something so desperately. It's cut and dry with no platitudes, only raw truths. Love love love it.

This is an interesting read, it never tells you how to feel. It just simply is, it’s honest and real and that to me is good fiction writing. There are a few stereotypes and tropes that don’t work for me, because realistically how many 18 year old boys in modern society would have a Clockwork Orange poster? But it also does feel modern and never sexy or romanticizing in the slightest. To pair it with a film I’d say The Starling Girl or Power Lines and Palm Trees would be a good but albeit depressing one two punch. I’m excited to see what else she will write.

I am famously bad at reading books, but I finished this one within two days. I could hardly put it down. The story was raw, real and extremely uncomfortable. Waldo is an extremely real feeling 17 year old, and as a 29 year old reading, I understand the thoughts behind some of her decision making as I remember being that age and thinking I have life figured out. That icky feeling lasted with me for most of the book, but honestly that's why it ranks so high in my eyes. It made me feel something, negative or otherwise, which is more than most books get me to feel besides bored. The chapters are amazingly short which I loved as it made me feel like I was flying through the book. The ending left a lot to be desired, but I understand why it was done. Highly recommend trying it out if you can handle some graphic sex scenes and uncomfortable topics.

It had more potential, but for what it was, it was great. It didn’t try to be some philosophical tale, an ethical lesson, which is why I respected it- she didn’t try to add in stuff just to proclaim that she didn’t support these behaviors; she told the story she needed to tell. Instead of the ethics of the relationship, she really displayed where the appeal vanishes and turned people off THAT way. The snippets about consumerism culture and getting-ready troubles (especially for young people) were spot-on and vivid. I had my issues with it, including that I don’t think the author needed it to be in Alaska to display a distaste teens have for their small towns, because the Alaska she apparently knows is NOT the Alaska many people know- it is not ugly and dreary all the time. And there is no Von’s in Alaska lol. Also there was a scene in particular that really pissed me off toward Waldo, which I don’t think people would disagree with me on, but I will just say I don’t think it was dove into at all. But I get why and I get what McCurdy was trying to do.Lastly I just loved the ending, I had no clue where she was going because these stories all end so similarly, I had an idea, but it was better and more realistic (and relatable) to me. I think it sealed it all off just right.