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I’m in the ICU with my dying mother and the thing that I’m sure will get her to wake up is the fact that in the days since Mom’s been hospitalized, my fear and sadness have morphed into the perfect anorexia-motivation cocktail and, finally, I have achieved Mom’s current goal weight for me. Eighty-nine pounds.

This quote, which occurs in the Prologue as Jennette visits comatose Mom in the hospital, reveals that Mom is at the very center of Jennette’s mental health issues, a key theme throughout the memoir. Disturbingly, McCurdy introduces us to Mom’s apparent deathbed wish: that her grown daughter should aspire to weigh about as much as an average 11-year-old. The passage perfectly encapsulates both McCurdy’s dark humor and the unhealthy nature of her relationship with Mom, spotlighting Mom’s need to control Jennette, and Jennette’s longing for Mom’s approval.

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