Jennette McCurdy has revealed that writing her first novel, “Half His Age,” took two years, thousands of pages, and more than a dozen drafts. Now she’s thanking the readers who helped make it an international bestseller.
In a recent social media post, she offered an insight into the process, posting a picture of herself standing next to the finished copy of the book and a huge pile of draft pages. A short video posted with it shows her lifting the heavy drafts and talking about the effort that went into them.
“Two years. thousands of pages. Over a dozen drafts. That was the process of writing ‘Half His Age’,” she wrote, mostly in lowercase. “I’m so proud of this book and grateful for the way it has connected with all of you.”
She paid a compliment to her fans in a parenthetical aside: “YOU have made it a #1 international bestseller and #2 NYT bestseller,” followed by “thank you.”
This post came after a number of European tour stops. “I’ve gotten to travel the world on tour for this novel,” she noted, mentioning Belgium, London, Paris and Amsterdam among her stops. She also said that meeting the type of reader that connects with the book has been the best gift.
Addressing these readers directly, she wrote, “You are MY PEOPLE. You are complex and smart and crave nuance and complicated characters.”
McCurdy distinguished between an audience that wants escapism and one that wants more substance. “I’ve never really connected with people who want to escape in the things they consume,” she explained. “I’ve always connected with people who want to be moved by the things they consume, and that is all of you.”
She concluded with a renewed expression of thanks: “I’m grateful to have brilliant readers who engage with material in such a deep and thoughtful way. I LOVE YOU.”
Ballantine Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, released Half His Age on January 20. The novel follows Waldo, a lonely high school senior from Anchorage, Alaska, who is 17 at the start of the story and gets involved with her creative writing teacher, Mr. Korgy, who is 40, married, and has one child.
McCurdy says that the book is based, to some extent, on a relationship she had with a man in his thirties when she was eighteen, but stresses that the novel isn’t autobiographical. In a January interview, she said her writing comes from a very emotional place.
The novel debuted at No. 2 on Publishers Weekly’s hardcover fiction list, selling 30,761 copies in its first week, and also reached No. 2 on The New York Times bestseller list. In Britain, it debuted at No. 1 on the Sunday Times list.
Critics’ opinions of the novel have been divided. The New York Times Book Review called it an Editors’ Choice, and the Los Angeles Times described it as “a thorny examination of power, lust, shame and rage.” Kirkus Reviews and Vulture were less enthusiastic, with the latter saying the novel depends too much on shocking the reader.
The book tour began January 20 at The Town Hall in New York with a conversation moderated by Lena Dunham, then continued with stops in the United States and Europe.
“Half His Age” is McCurdy’s second book. Her 2022 memoir “I’m Glad My Mom Died” described her life as a child actor and her dysfunctional relationship with her mother. The memoir became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller, spent more than 80 weeks on the list, and has sold over 3 million copies in more than 30 countries.
McCurdy, best known for playing Sam Puckett on the Nickelodeon shows “iCarly” and the spinoff “Sam & Cat,” is developing, writing, executive producing, and showrunning an Apple TV series loosely based on the memoir. Jennifer Aniston stars.
