The Many Misconceptions of Half His Age

Reaction (Spoilers)

I feel personally affronted for Jennette McCurdy after reading some of the one-star reviews of her debut fictional novel, Half His Age. If you read my review on Goodreads, I provide a brief explanation of why. 

Now, something about me: Personally, I enjoy reading one-star reviews after reading books. Being a Virgo moon, I like to passively play Devil’s Advocate, so to speak, and do so by reading through all the disappointed or irate reviews that have a bone to pick with the author (I also meticulously comb through the reviews before reading a book, though that may have more to do with my OCD-like tendencies (and no, I’m not misusing the term; this is what my psychiatrist tells me) than with my being a Virgo moon).

So, there I was, scrolling through the one-star reviews as I normally do, and I consistently kept seeing the same grievances pop up. This isn’t abnormal. Many touch on the same issues, which, I admit, influences whether I’ll read a book. However, since I enjoyed this book so much–and because I felt it was being unjustly crucified–I felt compelled to address some of the misconceptions. I recently came across a Substack article that covers all the points I want to talk about. 

Misconception #1: McCurdy is trying to normalize underage x age-gap relationships.

This is a difficult topic to write about due to its sensitive subject matter. Elle Literacy, the account that wrote the Substack post, expresses disapproval of McCurdy placing greater emphasis on the age gap than on the taboo aspect of the relationship. They argue that this must mean McCurdy doesn’t think Waldo’s age is a problem. 

Some very clear reasons why I don’t agree with this take: Waldo only refers to the man she’s in a relationship with as Mr. Korgy. This continually establishes not only the power dynamic between teacher and student (i.e., adult and child), but also her inability to separate his job (an age-gated profession) from his identity. This shows that McCurdy understands the taboo nature of her work, as she subtly uses language to comment on grooming.

Another reason I disagree with Elle is the main character’s name in itself. Waldo is an uncommon name that reinforces the self-perceived maturity or “otherness” she feels compared to other girls her age. We see how the relationship itself validates Waldo’s feelings of being special. This is an example of how grooming manifests in young, underage girls. Waldo’s name also reinforces an ironic paradox. Although she and Mr. Korgy see Waldo as mature, her “childlike” name directly contradicts this belief. This was confirmed by McCurdy on a Call Her Daddy episode while speaking with Alex Cooper. She explains that she chose to keep Waldo’s name despite initial pushback because she felt the name emphasized how special she had felt while also reinforcing its “boyish” qualities.

In a separate interview with Sofia Coppola, McCurdy goes into more detail on the reasoning behind her emphasis on the age-gap dynamic:

MCCURDY: I’ll take it. And I know this is territory that’s been explored before, but I really hadn’t felt that so much from the point of view of a 17-year-old. It’s [referring to the novel] not at all focused on the taboo itself. It’s really more focused on—

COPPOLA: The experience.

MCCURDY: Exactly—the interiority and the psychological examination of the young woman experiencing it and all the contributing factors that led her to enter into that kind of relationship in the first place. 

Did y’all catch that? McCurdy acknowledges the taboo aspect of age-gap relationships being explored in media before, but not through the lens of a young 17-year-old girl. While the general theme of grooming is still being examined, McCurdy encourages the reader to focus on the young girl’s experience–Waldo’s experience–and for her, it is far from “gross” or “disturbing.” This misinterpretation is the biggest reason why I think readers assumed McCurdy was normalizing an exploitative relationship. This takes us to the second misconception: 

Misconception #2: McCurdy avoids being moralistic to the point she goes too far.

Another point Elle Literacy makes is that McCurdy refuses to take an obvious stance against grooming, which minimizes its harmful effects. 

They make a point of comparing Half His Age to My Dark Vanessa, another novel featuring an underage girl being groomed by her teacher. Elle writes, “It’s possible to write about controversial and sensitive subject matter without becoming didactic or moralistic. Portrayal does not equate endorsement, as evidenced in My Dark Vanessa.” 

However, the key difference between the two works is that My Dark Vanessa spans over two time periods–when the main character, Vanessa, was groomed as a student, and later, when she reflects on it as an adult. This is a crucial distinction when comparing the two novels, as the time jump provides the reader with a palatable conclusion to an otherwise complex issue. 

McCurdy intentionally refused to replicate this, believing it would sanitize not only Waldo’s experience, but the reader’s. The audience is not given a perfect ending wrapped in a red bow, and that is what McCurdy meant by not adhering to moralistic standards. As Elle Literacy so astutely pointed out, “portrayal does not equate endorsement.” Just because McCurdy chose to portray her story in this way does not mean that she endorses or minimizes the harmful effects grooming has on young, impressionable girls. 

The Substack post also criticizes the lack of consequences or accountability for Mr. Korgy, revealing their naive understanding of the unfortunate reality faced by a very high percentage of victims. This disagreeable outcome encourages readers to sit with their discomfort and fosters a more nuanced understanding of the topic.

Misconception #3: McCurdy fails to deliver a rich character study.

Another condemnation of the book centers on the assumption that McCurdy did not adequately explore female rage or conduct a thorough character study of the main character, as she said she would. Elle Literacy claims to have read the book twice, yet they still feel as if they don’t know Waldo. I would argue that the lack of depth and information is actually a multilayered examination into her mind, as well as the minds of other victims. 

As explained in the second misconception, McCurdy is intentional in how she tells this story from the perspective of an affection-starved, emotionally neglected young girl. This mentality significantly alters how she regulates and interacts with her emotions. We see throughout the novel that Waldo compulsively shops online and has casual sex to numb her feelings and mitigate any sense of loss. Viewing Waldo through this lens helps the reader better understand why she would want to enter an illicit affair with her married teacher. 

The topic of rage was also touched on, despite critics claiming it wasn’t. Repressed rage played a major role in Waldo’s relationships with those around her, especially Mr. Korgy.

Similarly, when struggling to cope with her parental trauma, Waldo’s suppressed rage manifested into compulsive behaviors such as excessive online shopping. Another example would be when she ignored Mr. Korgy for a week, which led him to blow up her phone with texts and missed calls. Because she was unable to openly express her displeasure with their dynamic, Waldo used silence to convey her anger safely. Waldo also used sex as an outlet for her anger rather than expressing herself. These examples clearly convey a suppressed facet of feminine rage that is not nearly spoken about enough, especially in stories about grooming. 

Misconception #4: McCurdy's most evocative moments are drenched in shock value.

This is a direct quote from Elle Literacy’s post. Some examples they gave included the time Waldo masturbated with “chili cheese fingers”, when she broke into Mr. Korgy’s house and used his personal items for masturbatory purposes, and when she freebled in Mr. Korgy’s closet while hiding from his wife. Yeah, I’m not gonna lie. It’s weird. But that’s the point. While I can understand why people would feel put off by these moments, writing them off as “shock value” diminishes their purpose. We see how these increasingly erratic moments result from the power imbalance in their relationship. 

Waldo, using her spicy-stained fingers to masturbate, is a physical expression of her psychological pain. For victims of grooming and sexual abuse, self-masochism is an acknowledged coping method. The use of Mr. Korgy’s personal items for her own pleasure is a visceral metaphor of the main character’s violated boundaries at the hands of her teacher. The closet scene where Waldo is bleeding forces the reader to confront the uncomfortable reality that this is a vulnerable teenager who is scared and exposed, literally being hidden away by her groomer. These disturbing scenes serve as a reminder to the reader that this story is in no way meant to be romanticized. 

Elle Literacy goes on to make the concession that McCurdy’s “matter-of-fact” writing style works when describing Waldo’s sexual encounters with Mr. Korgy as actions rather than sensations, meant to keep the reader at a distance (why they didn’t make this connection to the scenes mentioned above, idk). However, they take it back after mentioning a comment McCurdy made in an interview on The Drew Barrymore Show. This is exactly how they phrased it: 

“But then I watched Jennette McCurdy’s interview with Drew Barrymore. Barrymore says, “The way you write about sex is such a turn on.” McCurdy replies, “I did want there to be aspects of it that were sexy, and that did turn people on.” Huh?”

Whether they intentionally chose to leave out the rest of what McCurdy said–or whether they thought it insignificant–is unclear. This is McCurdy’s full response:

“So much of the readership is going to be a bit older, if not significantly older than Waldo. This is a seventeen-year-old girl. The book’s told all through her point of view. And I do think we can lose sight of that feeling. And you know, sometimes the sex is really ugly in this book. Sometimes it’s disgusting. Sometimes it’s depressing. But I did want there to be aspects of it that were sexy, and that did turn people on in a way, because, you know, it's complicated subject matter. And I don’t think doing complicated subject matter in a heavy-handed way is going to be readable for anyone or lead to any kind of valuable conversation.”

This is not to say that McCurdy is trying to romanticize the sex between Waldo and Mr. Korgy, or use shock value. Rather, she invites the reader to empathize with Waldo’s sexual experience, including the confusingly violating power dynamic she navigates with her teacher. This facet of abusive relationships is scarcely explored, making this novel deeply profound in its own right. 

Summary

In summary, Jennette McCurdy excellently captures the rage, emotional trauma, and loneliness we see in young girls who are groomed by older men. She does so in a way that overwhelmingly shows that Waldo and Mr. Korgy’s affair is not an endorsement, but an objective look into the mind of a teenage girl. Her methodology of rejecting moralistic storytelling ensures that readers broaden their understanding of grooming relationships. Lastly, McCurdy employs provocative yet effective figurative language when discussing the relevant themes associated with exploitative sexual relationships. Half His Age offers a compelling example of how critics apply the “perfect victim trope” to Waldo by weaponizing her intense emotional suppression and assertive refusal to be labeled a victim; we see this extend to McCurdy herself, who dared to break the moralistic perspective surrounding grooming relationships by offering a more nuanced view. Overall, I believe she did a brilliant job encapsulating the uncomfortable aspects of these age-gap relationships.