This is not a book for everyone, I recognize that, but there are so many reviews from people that are missing the entire point. For starters, Half His Age is not a perfect book, but to claim it had no point, that it has no plot, that it unnecessarily sexualizes a young girl, that it feels "written by a man" because of the way sex is portrayed in the work. This is all such a gross mischaracterization of the book and of Waldo and people are clearly, deeply misunderstanding Waldo and the purpose of why this was written.

I feel this is very simple, and I will try my best to be succinct breaking this down because this book is being completely misunderstood.

First: Waldo is a severely neglected young girl who has been abandoned by her father and wears not only her own scars of abandonment, but also the trauma it caused her mother because her mother has no boundaries with her and has passed on so many of her problems on to her daughter. I think it's very obvious and clear in the text, like when Waldo recounts how her mother would dress her up, talking about how if they were just pretty enough, looked beautiful enough, they would be wanted, teaching and reinforcing in Waldo from a young age that beauty is reflective of self-worth, and that if there is a 'not pretty enough' there is, by default, a state of attractiveness someone can reach to be worthy of love and affection.

Second: I am begging people to consider that this is being told through Waldo's POV. Yes, I understand, she is presenting herself as the seductress, the girl who is going after what she wants (or, what she thinks she wants in the moment) but please consider that she recognizes what he is doing by singling her out—where she confronts him about her life being harrowing—and how he talks her down from her rage by complimenting her. This man understands what he is doing. Korgy knew he could manipulate Waldo based on what she was writing in class, which is very typical of a groomer. They go for the person they know they can control, who is NOT being protected by adults in their life, and who oftentimes have to parent themselves because they are overlooked by the system as a whole. When someone who has been groomed initially recounts the events leading up to the sexual encounter the groomer is clearly working towards, they oftentimes do not see it as grooming, partially because they have intentionally been conditioned to believe that they were more 'mature' and 'in control' than they actually were. Everything that Korgy does is intentional. The way he emotionally unloads onto Waldo, love bombs her, withholds, loves her again, reinforces the behavior that pleases him is all so very clearly the behavior of a man who is TWICE. HER. AGE! and having sex with her! He is taking advantage of her desperation to be loved, he can smell it on her, he can see it on her, and he plays the part of pitiful in order to make Waldo feel in control (not unlike Humbert Humbert playing pathetic with Dolores).

Third: The sex in this novel is intentional. It feels gross and uncomfortable and disconcerting because Waldo treats sex as a stand-in for love and we, the readers, know that this is not love. It is an abuse of power. But that does not stop her from being sex obsessed. Waldo explicitly says why: "All my stupid anxieties and cyclical thoughts, my woes and insecurities, my open tabs and fast-fashion carts, gone and replaced with this. I'm alive. Finally." Sex is the only way that Waldo finds herself back in a body she is detached from. A body she primps and prepares, dresses and dolls up, but does not feel part of. It's why she conflates sex with connection and feels there is a deep intimacy there because the sex is an avenue for her to see all the 'gross, disgusting' parts of Korgy. She's so desperate for connection on the human level and this is the only way she feels she can get it; keep in mind this is the only what it has been modeled by her mother for her to receive that human connection. And the 'disgusting, graphic, visceral' ways that Waldo describes sex is uncomfortable because it is taking us into the mind of a seventeen-year-old girl with deep insecurities. The sex has a purpose and does not feel written by a man.

Fourth: To say that the book has no point is disheartening. The point is pretty clearly presented in how the final third of the novel culminates. Please take a closer look at the relationship between Waldo and Korgy, and especially Waldo and her mother.

Final Thoughts: I'm very sad to see so many people saying Waldo is annoying. I would challenge people to reflect on that sentiment and ask themselves why a deeply neglected, troubled young girl who has been bullied and made to feel like an inferior human being is somehow the 'annoying' person in this scenario. The fact of the matter is, there are lots of girls out there like Waldo who feel that they are trash, that they never deserve better, and that if they just continue to shove themselves into predefined mold after mold they will finally 'be enough.' Time and again, Waldo expresses how she has to be everything Korgy's wife is not. She feels frustration? No she doesn't! She can't feel that, because she has to be Perfect For Him, or else he will leave her. She is sad and hurt because she is experiencing the impact of being used for sex, kept as a 'dirty secret' and feeling unimportant? Nope! Not allowed! She has to be there to make Him Feel Good. The whole point is that Waldo is not actually a 'pick me girl' but acts like The Cool Girl, the Perfect Girl, the Fun Girl, the Nonchalant, Whatever-You-Want Girl, because she is desperate for love. Reminds me a bit of Gone Girl and the infamous "Cool Girl" monologue from Amy. Waldo is trying to make herself desirable because she gets love from no one, and wants so badly to be loved by someone. The novel culminates in her choosing to a break the cycle and try loving herself.

Again, this is not a perfect book, but damn if this is not another book that, by peoples reactions to it, shows why it is so important for these kinds of works to exist. So many girls fall prey to being a victim, and so many peoples reactions continue to blame the girls who are being victimized. Waldo, you deserved better. As for me, I like to believe she is making that something better for herself.