I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about Julia Fox, but I heard so many good things about this memoir, so I had to give it a try.

At first I wasn't sure if I was interested enough to keep reading, but the further I got, the more invested I became. I constantly found myself wondering when the turning point in her life would come and everytime I thought 'that's it, it has to be' I was wrong. I just needed to know how she eventually became a person people know today.

The writing was so good. Julia Fox definitely has talent. Sometimes I felt a bit like it dragged, but that could be because I'm not the biggest audiobook listener. That's a common struggle I have with audiobooks.

I do wish some topics had received a little more attention. I found myself wanting more closure regarding certain relationships, particularly with her parents. But maybe she herself never got any closure there, so it makes sense to not elaborate on it in her memoir.

Whether you like Julia Fox and her decisions in life is irrelevant. What matters is that she's a really talented storyteller. And it was so fascinating to look into a life completely different from my own.

I wanted to read this the minute it was announced because I'm Glad My Mom Died is probably the best memoir I've ever read. I knew the premise of Half His Age going in, and I couldn't stop comparing it to My Dark Vanessa while reading. The two books are very different, though. My Dark Vanessa was a 3 star read for me. The mc's delusion was difficult to read, the man was absolutely horrible, and the book felt far too long. The story stuck with me, but the execution didn't really work for me. This one... kind of did?

At first I was so overwhelmed because how are you even supposed to like a book about something like this? It's disgusting. But what made this story so interesting to me was the dynamic itself. She's the one who initiates it. She's the one taking the first steps toward him. That does not make him innocent whatsoever. He's still a weirdo. He's still the adult. He's still the teacher. He's still wrong for wanting her in the first place, and I really want to emphasize that. But unlike the man in My Dark Vanessa, he actually tries to resist. He says no, more than once. And she should have respected that.

As the story went on, I started understanding her more. Her mom was emotionally absent, and for the first time she finally felt seen by someone. Why a boy her age wasn't enough for her? I have no idea. Did that fully explain her choices? Not really. Did it make me like her? Also not really. But it helped me understand her. There were even moments when I was proud of the decisions she made... right before she changed her mind a few pages later.

It did bother me how frequently the sex scenes were described. I understand that it's meant to make you uncomfortable but it felt a little excessive to me. A lot of those scenes could have been shortened or faded to black without losing any of the book's impact.

The ending was... strange. It just ended and I didn't even realize it. I definitely want to reread it someday because I feel like I'd approach it very differently a second time, and I want to analyze every detail from the beginning.

As for the writing: this is exactly what I loved about I'm Glad My Mom Died. The prose is accessible, fast paced, and incredibly easy to get through. Once I made it past the first sixty pages, I struggled to put it down. I also appreciated is that it never felt like it was trying to be overly quoteable. A lot of books nowadays feel like they are forcing meaningful or aesthetic lines into every other paragraph. That wasn’t the case here. It just reads naturally. Jennette McCurdy is really a talented writer, and I'll read anything she publishes.

If you want to pick this up just keep in mind what the theme of this book is. If you pick up a book about a relationship like this, you should expect it to make you uncomfortable. Read the blurb carefully and decide for yourself whether you're willing to engage with those themes. I wouldn't pick up a horror novel while knowing I dislike horror and then criticize it for being scary. The subject matter here deserves the same consideration.

Sadly, this didn't really work for me.

There was barely any character I liked, and whenever I did grow attached to someone, things didn't go well for them. As a result, I struggled to form any real emotional connection to the story.

I actually liked Wei at first, but gradually lost that connection as the book went on. The same goes for the central relationship. I could see what the author was trying to do, but it never fully landed for me. While I felt sympathy for certain aspects of the characters pasts, that didn't necessarily translate into sympathy for the people they became or the choices they made.

What stood out most throughout the book was the constant feeling of discomfort. I don't mind dark stories, horror, gore, or morally complicated characters, but I usually need some emotional contrast somewhere along the way. Here, it often felt like there was very little room to breathe, which made the reading experience exhausting rather than engaging for me.

I did appreciate how unpredictable the story was, though. The book consistently made choices I didn't expect, and even when those choices didn't work for me personally, they were rarely the obvious ones.

I considered giving this 3 stars, but for me that's a rating reserved for books I enjoyed despite their flaws. Looking back, if I hadn't been determined to finish it before the end of the month, I probably would have put it down for quite a while. Because of that, 2 stars feels like the more honest rating.

This book was a hell of a ride.

What's funny is that my opinion of it changed completely while I was reading. I seriously considered DNFing it more than once because I could not stand Elodie. Every decision she made frustrated me, and reading from her perspective was exhausting at times. But I was also completely unable to stop reading. The story was so immersive, eerie, and compelling that even when I was frustrated, I couldn't look away.

A lot of my frustration came from Elodie's relationship with Jude. I know some readers struggled with Jude, but I honestly never did. He's a child. Elodie never learned how to be the mother he needed, and watching that dynamic unfold was incredibly difficult at times. But that's also what made the book so effective.

The characters feel messy and flawed. Nobody handles things perfectly. Nobody always makes the right choice. I know Bren isn't everyone's favorite, but he ended up being a character I liked far more than I expected.

The ending completely caught me off guard. I finished it a month ago and thought wait what happened again? But within seconds, everything came rushing back to me. It was shocking, memorable, and exactly the kind of ending that sticks.

This wasn't always an enjoyable read in the traditional sense. Most of the time I was frustrated, angry, or uncomfortable. But I was also completely invested. And that's what made this incredibly special to me.