I’m Glad My Mom Died Memoir Beat Sheet Analysis

Why We Chose to Do a Save a Cat! Beat Sheet Analysis of I’m Glad My Mom Died

“Wait a minute… how can a memoir fit into the Save the Cat! beats?! A memoir is a true story and we all know real life defies structure!” Your answer, dear readers, lies in your own words: “a memoir is a true story.”

Any memoirist worth their salt knows that one of the main reasons their real-life tale engages and entices is because it’s shaped as a story; with a beginning, a middle, and an end, a Hero and an antagonist, a journey and a desired destination, touchstones and turning points, a moment where everything goes to Hell in a handbasket, and a moment where Heaven still beckons and the Hero rises again.

In other words, it hits the beats.

Jennette McCurdy chronicles her life in short, painful, darkly comical scenes, complete with settings and dialogue, making the book feel almost like a screenplay. Which makes sense, considering that McCurdy was forced into an acting career at such a young age she barely knew life outside of a script; perhaps she is more poised than most to tell these events as story.

Her circumstances notwithstanding, McCurdy is a rare writing talent with a unique voice. She is an eminently relatable Hero and I loved taking a Save the Cat! story journey with her.

I’m Glad My Mom Died

Author: Jennette McCurdy

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Pages: 304, Hardcover

Genre: Rites of Passage

From the Publisher:

“A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.”

Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Analysis for I’m Glad My Mom Died

Opening Image (Prologue)

We’re introduced to protagonist and (beloved) antagonist in a brief, wracking scene from the dead center (pun intended) of the book: Jennette and her brothers at the bedside of their comatose mother, Deb, as she teeters between life and death.

Each sibling tries desperately to rouse their mom one last time with a bit of exciting news guaranteed to bring her back from the brink; a marriage, a move back home, but Jennette knows nothing will compare to her bit of gospel: “Mommy, I am so skinny right now. I’m finally down to eighty-nine pounds…”

The words hit us like a punch and set the tone for this wild Rites of Passage ride through the heart of Hollywood. Jennette McCurdy has a life problem, all right, and obviously she’s been both forced into, and chosen, the wrong way to solve it. Her journey to acceptance is excruciating and yet told with such self-awareness and humor, we are absolutely hooked. And isn’t that the promise a great Opening Image makes?

Theme Stated (p. 8)

McCurdy narrates the theme statement herself, but the “voice” is all Deb: “[Mom] needed us to be nothing without her.” Throughout McCurdy’s childhood and adolescence, Deb wields a power that all but secures this legacy, and even after her death she casts a shadow over McCurdy that genuinely threatens obliteration.

Theme Stated (p. 8)

We meet the McCurdy family in their thesis world: “second tier” Mormons, poor and extremely messy, presided over by mom Deb, a tiny dynamo of a woman who survived stage four breast cancer a few years earlier and isn’t about to let anyone forget it.

But poverty and health issues aren’t the only things that need fixing in this family—even at six years old, Jennette knows that she is the only one who can keep her mother calm so Deb won’t fly into a rage or hysterical crying fit, punching walls and making Jennette’s dad sleep in the garage for a month at a time.

The main thing for which Jennette is responsible, though, is living the life Deb dreamed of for herself by becoming a famous actress. Unfortunately, Jennette is extremely shy and her first audition causes so much anxiety, she becomes sick to her stomach.

Catalyst (p. 14)

Jennette is somewhat grudgingly accepted by the Academy Kids company to do background work for film and television and Deb emotionally manipulates her into signing the contract.

Debate (pp. 15-100)

Jennette is dismayed to find herself now a full-time auditioner and on-set stand around-er, frequently being roused at 3:00 AM to go to be a warm body behind real actors. The O.G. stage mother from hell, Deb cajoles and begs and bullies agents and casting directors to give Jennette a chance, certain that she gave birth to a starlet and dissolving into self-pitying tears every time Jennette even hints at wanting to stop.

And Jennette wants to stop, longs to stop acting, but it makes Deb happy and making Deb happy is Jennette’s real full-time job. A happy Deb won’t smash dishes, call Jennette’s dad “retarded,” and most importantly, won’t have a recurrence of cancer, Jennette’s greatest fear.

As Jennette progresses to foreground work, then speaking roles, then guest-starring roles, her resistant body fights back with anxiety, OCD, and anorexia (learned from Deb herself). But nothing is as bad as the way her body freezes up when Deb forces her to shower with her older brother, then gives Jennette invasive breast and genital exams. There is no escaping Deb’s watchful eyes, probing fingers, and dreams of glory.

Break into 2 (p. 101)

15-year old Jennette McCurdy gets cast on iCarly, her first series regular job.

B Story

Although this memoir fits squarely into the Rites of Passage genre, it also verges on being (a rather demented) Mother-Daughter Buddy Love tale. Distinguishing between the A Story (Jennette’s life journey) and the B Story (her relationship with Deb) is nearly impossible at times. Deb’s presence and later, her ghost, dominates and colors everything in Jennette’s dogged path to wholeness and other relationships are barely a blip on the radar.

Fun and Games (pp. 102-184)

Although Jennette’s been acting for years, being the star of a hit show turns the McCurdys’ lives upside down; it truly is the antithesis world Deb has dreamed of (and Jennette has dreaded). They no longer have to worry about paying their bills and Jennette starts to get recognized everywhere she goes as fans yell “Sam Puckett!” and “Hit me with your buttersock!”

Of course, Jennette now has to deal with the shady Creator (her pseudonym for Nickelodeon darling-turned-albatross producer Dan Schneider), but her friendship with Miranda Cosgrove becomes a source of comfort and strength.

Going through an awkward and belated adolescence in front of millions of TV fans proves to be excruciating for Jennette. She hates her body and resents its relentless progression into womanhood, she hates the country music singing career she’s been forced into, she hates signing autographs and taking selfies with people who think they own her, and most disorienting of all, she’s starting to hate the person she loves most.

Jennette’s growing realization that Deb is her external bad guy is especially painful since Deb’s cancer has come back and no amount of fame can stop what seems to now be inevitable.

Midpoint (p. 185)

McCurdy kindly gives us the Midpoint tied up with a bow by separating her book into “Before” and “After.” The false defeat center is Deb’s death. Although McCurdy had spent her life feeling the ticking time clock of her mother’s imminent demise, the stakes are now raised exponentially and a new ticking time clock is introduced: will McCurdy emotionally recover before she destroys her own life with guilt, grief, alcohol, and an eating disorder?

Bad Guys Close In (pp. 189-263)

Almost immediately after Deb’s death, Jennette’s internal bad guys roar to the surface. She starts to binge and purge and bulimia soon takes over her life. She is absolutely miserable on the iCarly spinoff, Sam & Cat, loathes Ariana Grande for her successes, and develops a considerable drinking problem. She falls in love with Steven, but when he forces her to see a therapist about her eating disorder, the honesty required to deal with her broken compass proves to be more than Jennette can bear.

All Is Lost (p. 264)

Forget about a double-bump, Jennette McCurdy’s All Is Lost is more like an uber-multi-bump. In quick succession, Jennette finds out that her dad is not her biological father, Steven announces that he is actually Jesus Christ and gets diagnosed with schizophrenia, and while vomiting up blood in a tiny airplane bathroom, she loses a tooth, a result of her bulimia.

Dark Night of the Soul (pp. 264-265)

As many “bottoms” as Jennette has hit, this is the bottom-most. She stares into the airplane bathroom mirror, unable to recognize herself.

Break into 3 (p. 265)

After she gets off the plane and into an Uber, McCurdy-the-clever-writer treats us to a true black-comedy Break into 3 as Ariana Grande’s latest hit suddenly blares from the radio. The song is “Focus on Me” and as Jennette listens to the words, she thinks “Maybe Ariana’s got a point. Maybe it’s time to focus on me.”

Finale (pp. 266-304)

Jennette digs down deep and executes the plan: she gets a new therapist and tackles her bulimia and alcoholism head-on. She retires from acting, turning down the iCarly reunion show that the rest of the cast happily assembles for. She finds her birth father and jumpstarts a tentative relationship.

There are no huge high-tower surprises, but there is a synthesis that doesn’t exactly shock us but is still somewhat surprising in its honesty: McCurdy ends her story by concluding that her mother was an abusive narcissist who nearly killed her.

Final Image (p. 304)

As much as we could have or should have anticipated this from the frank title, I’m Glad My Mom Died, the Final Image of McCurdy walking away from her mother’s grave, knowing she will never return, is stark, satisfying, and just a little sad. But really, very little. Godspeed, Jennette.