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Half His Age

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Half His Age

By: Jennette McCurdy
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About this listen

THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLER

Half His Age is a highly anticipated, funny, sad, thrilling novel about sex, class, desire, and power – and the (often misguided) lengths we’ll go to to get what we want, from Jennette McCurdy, the three-million copy bestselling author of I'm Glad My Mom Died.

'SHOCKING, HONEST AND UNSPARING' SUNDAY TIMES STYLE

'A HILARIOUS AND UNCOMFORTABLE TRIUMPH' GUARDIAN

'EERIE, UNSETTLING AND BELIEVABLE' GILLIAN FLYNN, AUTHOR OF GONE GIRL

'ABSOLUTE DYNAMITE' ELIZABETH DAY

Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Hurting. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of all? Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher.

Mr Korgy, 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 that she doesn’t? Or are they actually kindred spirits, sharing the same 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 an incisive study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstacles in her effort to be seen, to be desired and to be loved.

'THOUGHT-PROVOKING, SHOCKING AND DARKLY COMIC' INDEPENDENT

©2026 WAFFLE CONE, INC (P)2026 Penguin Random House LLC
Coming of Age Dark Humour Editors Select Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Women's Fiction Funny Thought-Provoking

Editorial Review

Jennette McCurdy’s foray into fiction
As a fan of Jennette McCurdy’s bracing I’m Glad My Mom Died, I couldn’t wait for her debut novel. Half His Age, about a precocious teen who falls for her English teacher, is decidedly NOT Nickelodeon material. But despite the skin-crawling plot, I found myself rooting for Waldo (yes, Waldo) and even laughing at the comic moments. McCurdy writes short, propulsive chapters and cutting observations (my favourite, “The lemon verbena is a double-edged sword,” describes how Waldo’s mom’s preferred hand soap eats away at her spray tan), and her narration is at once matter-of-fact, sharp, sad, and funny. Like My Dark Vanessa for the anxious generation, Half His Age is set against a backdrop of frictionless tech and late-stage capitalism. At a lean 4.5 hours, it asks you to sit in discomfort—but no longer than necessary. —Kat J., Audible Editor

All stars
Most relevant
I love MCCurdy’s writing. I’d liken her to Sylvia Plath. I just wish this was longer and she had a bigger back catalogue-get back to writing, Jennette!

Raw, honest and unflinching

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I fell in love with Jennette's writing when I read I'm Glad my Mom Died and it's never been better. This intense and invasive look into human nature and the unstable connections of young life is so refreshing and brilliant. Couldn't recommend this book more!!

Incredible debut novel

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Listen on 0.8 is my recommission- as someone who normally listens on 1.15- really helps digest.

Amazingly written.

Language is amazing

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I think Jennette McCurdy has a real talent for narrative, which she proved in I’m Glad My Mom Died, and this book expertly evokes the extremes of adolescent infatuation, but it frequently errs on the side of gratuitous in a way that will repel some readers. It’s reminiscent of Miley Cyrus twerking on Robin Thicke in it’s desperation to break away from the children’s television star trope, and in doing so falls completely into it. That being said, I can’t fault the writing. Her choice to narrate the audiobook in a rushed monotone is a shame, and while it conveys Waldo’s aloofness, it ultimately undermines her skill as a writer and isn’t nice to listen to.

Interesting Choices

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Sucked down this audio over 48 hours. Incredibly compelling, believable and relevant. If JM is writing at this level for her first novel I’m dizzy to imagine what she’ll be producing as her experience grows. Absolutely stunning.

Outstanding writing, fabulously believable characters

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