I hope your book club isn’t bashful, because Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy goes there – like, really goes there. This, shall we say, ‘descriptive’ novel about a relationship between a 17-year old student and her teacher will have you blushing, cringing, laughing, and everything in between. While Half His Age provides some truly shocking moments, it also presents its reader with plenty of themes to dissect, including the impact of power dynamics, the exploration of fantasy versus reality, the influence of one’s home life on their world view, and the pressures young women feel to meet societal expectations.
This Half His Age book club discussion guide will lead you through lively conversation, and possibly some debate! Get the discussion flowing using my ten Half His Age book club questions, then get into some recent reviews, and finally check out my suggested read-alikes if you’re looking for your next great book club pick.
(This article contains affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase, I’ll make a small commission.)
Synopsis for Half His Age
(We always chose to provide the publisher synopsis because we feel that it’s worthwhile to discuss whether the official book description actually squared with your experience of the book.)
Half His Age, Jeanette McCurdy
Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Forceful. Hurting. Perceptive. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of all: Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch. She doesn’t know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films and things that she doesn’t? Or is it purer than that, rooted in their unlikely connection, their kindred spirits, the similar filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, it’s just enough that he sees her when no one else does.
Startlingly perceptive, mordantly funny, and keenly poignant, Half His Age is a rich character study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstacles—or attempts to overcome them—in her effort to be seen, to be desired, to be loved.
10 Book Club Questions for Half His Age
These questions have been tailored to this book’s specific reading experience, but if you want more ideas, we also have an article with 101 generic book club questions.
- What one word would you use to best describe this book, and why?
- Did you enjoy the voice of Waldo in this novel? How did reading this book from the perspective of a teenager impact the experience? Do you prefer having a single perspective, or did you want to hear from Mr. Korgy?
- What do you think the author is trying to say by filling Waldo’s free time with shopping sprees and other forms of consumerism?
- How much impact do you think Waldo’s home life had on her decision/desire to pursue Mr. Korgy? Does this story go differently if Waldo had a more present parental figure?
- Do you think Mr. Korgy had any real feelings for Waldo, or was she just an escape from his life? Is he a monster, or just a lonely and weak man?
- What would you have done if you were in Franny’s position? Would you have reported the relationship, or kept Waldo’s secret?
- Can any relationship with that large of an age gap be successful? What about a relationship that has an obvious power inequality?
- “Sex is the one place I can, the one place it’s ok. The one place where my needs aren’t too big and all of my yearning is acceptable. The one place where I can show how deep the well is within me, the void, the one place I can beg and whine and scream to have it be filled.”
Waldo states that sex is the one place where it’s acceptable to have needs and show vulnerability. Why do you think she feels the need to be aloof and unbothered otherwise?
- How does Waldo’s and Mr. Korgy’s relationship change over time? Is any part of their relationship arc relatable?
- The author, Jennette McCurdy, published a successful memoir in 2022 (book club guide for that here) and many readers see similarities between McCurdy’s real life experiences and those portrayed in Half His Age. McCurdy herself has admitted there were emotional parallels between Waldo and Mr. Korgy’s relationship and her own relationship she had with an older man. Do you think fiction is best when it comes from a kernel of truth? Does this make the story more or less disturbing?
- BONUS QUESTION: How about that cover???
Selected Reviews for Half His Age
(Use these selected Goodreads reviews to compare with your own experience of the book. Do you agree or disagree with the reviews?)
“This book was so gross. It was also honest in ways that is hard to put in words, and so much of it made me uncomfortable but I can’t pretend that I didn’t love feeling that way as I read. It has the overwhelming sensation of being 17/18: how you think you know everything, thinking you are better than who came before you but unknowingly (and sometimes knowingly) repeating their mistakes, dreaming for the future, but overall, the wanting. Wanting so much for yourself and not knowing how to get to it. And if you get it, then what? What do you want next?”
“I found Jennette’s prose to be wildly direct and often deceptively simple (which worked effortlessly well) – allowing the emotional weight to hit without dressing it up. The discomfort the reader feels is intentional and earned… There were moments where I didn’t want to keep reading, but that’s exactly the point. So many of these uneasy situations are things we’ve experienced as women, yet rarely speak about openly. It felt genuinely refreshing to see an author articulate them with such honesty and self awareness.”
Look, this is a dynamic that, at this point, has been written about ad nauseum. We’ve explored it from every angle, from every gender, from the top to the bottom and the bottom to the top. In my humble opinion, if you’re going to write about a relationship between a student and their teacher in 2026, it’s got to have something fresh about it. It needs to feel subversive, be a twist on the age-old tale, or at least be damn well-written. This is none of those things.”
What to Read Next
If you like the student/teacher trope, then you may also be interested in Margo’s Got Money Troubles, in which Margo has to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. McCurdy’s memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died also makes for a juicy book club read. And for another take on a teenager in trouble, try Where the Crawdads Sing.
Each of the links above go to a book club guide with a non-spoiler toward the top and links to Amazon pricing and reviews.
My Dark Vanessa, Kate Elizabeth Russell
This is a very comparable read, exploring a past relationship between a young woman and her English teacher, through her adult perspective. Set during the Me Too movement, My Dark Vanessa takes a deeper look at the long lasting impacts of sexual abuse, grooming, and psychological manipulation.
Everything I Know About Love, Dolly Alderton
Everything I Know About Love is great for readers who are craving a memoir focused on relationships, friendships, and learning life lessons (sans the inappropriate student-teacher relationship but with plenty of other tough subjects). Alderton tells her story through vignettes taking place throughout her twenties and thirties, giving readers opportunities for self-reflection and of course, great book club discussions.
You, Caroline Kepnes
If you want more dark subject matter, but wrapped up in a fast-paced thriller, You by Caroline Kepnes may be your next read! This novel follows Joe and his unhealthy obsession with aspiring writer Guinevere Beck. You puts readers in the mind of an obsessive stalker, showing the darkest sides of the human psyche, but in a page-turnery kind of way.
Recent Guides for Contemporary Lit
Half His Age Book Club Questions and Discussion Guide
Vigil Book Club Questions and Discussion Guide
My Friends Book Club Questions and Discussion Guide
