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Reviews
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump
aeclark12's review against another edition
5.0
A riveting read -- Donald Trump's niece reveals the family dynamics that led to his current state.
angelais's review against another edition
4.0
“Listen, your grandfather didn’t give a shit about you. And not just you, he didn’t give a shit about any of his grandchildren.”
In an effort to dissuade Americans from reelecting Donald Trump, his niece, Mary Trump, published this revealing and admirably humane biography of her narcissistic family. She argues that her grandfather, Fred Trump, was a sociopath who played his sons against each other and created an atmosphere of scarcity amongst fantastic wealth, forcing one son to become a raging narcissist with a glass ego while another became ever more psychologically incapacitated.
The perverse admixture of privilege and adversity ruined each Trump child in their own way: the eldest grew into a calculating enabler, the middle daughter became a lost child who (Mary admits) "would have been begging on a street corner" if not for her inheritance, and the youngest comes off as a Donald Trump lite. The author's father, born with personality traits and persistent in interests antithetical to his father's worldview, became the family scapegoat and died a broken-spirited alcoholic at 42. And, most notably, Donald Trump learned "that there was nothing he could do wrong, so he stopped trying to do anything 'right.'"
Despite her aunts', uncles', and grandmother's despicable treatment of the author and her brother, she conveys compassion for them all, often highlighting the pain of living under her grandfather's rule, as well as the agony and terror Donald likely suffered as a neglected child. She also details how Fred Trump created a "controlled environment" where Donald, never allowed to fail, therefore never learned survival skills, his own limits, or his own true worth. This book, which could have been a sordid revenge piece, is instead a modern tragedy.
The book's main flaw, although forgivable, is the excuses the author makes for her father's failures. She presents his downfall as the inevitable result of his father's scorn and abuse; at one point, however, Fred Jr. had a wife and children, a house on Long Island, loving friends, and his dream job as a pilot for a major airline. Fred Trump couldn't prevent him from earning any of those achievements, and it's not entirely Fred's fault that his adult son turned to alcohol and lost his wife, his career, and his home. It's a dishonor and disservice to adult human beings to pretend that our choices were all made for us in childhood.
Overall, this book is a horrifying page-turner that illustrates the consequences of bad parenting and refutes any argument that a bad childhood is either "not a big deal" or only a "family affair." 400,000+ Americans have died of a containable virus in part because Fred Trump abused his children. We are all connected, and it's in everyone's interest to ensure that children grow up in loving homes where their needs are met.
In an effort to dissuade Americans from reelecting Donald Trump, his niece, Mary Trump, published this revealing and admirably humane biography of her narcissistic family. She argues that her grandfather, Fred Trump, was a sociopath who played his sons against each other and created an atmosphere of scarcity amongst fantastic wealth, forcing one son to become a raging narcissist with a glass ego while another became ever more psychologically incapacitated.
The perverse admixture of privilege and adversity ruined each Trump child in their own way: the eldest grew into a calculating enabler, the middle daughter became a lost child who (Mary admits) "would have been begging on a street corner" if not for her inheritance, and the youngest comes off as a Donald Trump lite. The author's father, born with personality traits and persistent in interests antithetical to his father's worldview, became the family scapegoat and died a broken-spirited alcoholic at 42. And, most notably, Donald Trump learned "that there was nothing he could do wrong, so he stopped trying to do anything 'right.'"
Despite her aunts', uncles', and grandmother's despicable treatment of the author and her brother, she conveys compassion for them all, often highlighting the pain of living under her grandfather's rule, as well as the agony and terror Donald likely suffered as a neglected child. She also details how Fred Trump created a "controlled environment" where Donald, never allowed to fail, therefore never learned survival skills, his own limits, or his own true worth. This book, which could have been a sordid revenge piece, is instead a modern tragedy.
The book's main flaw, although forgivable, is the excuses the author makes for her father's failures. She presents his downfall as the inevitable result of his father's scorn and abuse; at one point, however, Fred Jr. had a wife and children, a house on Long Island, loving friends, and his dream job as a pilot for a major airline. Fred Trump couldn't prevent him from earning any of those achievements, and it's not entirely Fred's fault that his adult son turned to alcohol and lost his wife, his career, and his home. It's a dishonor and disservice to adult human beings to pretend that our choices were all made for us in childhood.
Overall, this book is a horrifying page-turner that illustrates the consequences of bad parenting and refutes any argument that a bad childhood is either "not a big deal" or only a "family affair." 400,000+ Americans have died of a containable virus in part because Fred Trump abused his children. We are all connected, and it's in everyone's interest to ensure that children grow up in loving homes where their needs are met.
emmaledbetter's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
kathydavie's review against another edition
2.0
A standalone biography about our current president, Donald Trump, and the family forces that created him.
My Take
It's a reasonably fast read, although it does bog down a lot with all the repetition about how awful Donald is and how he got that way. I had to push myself to keep reading. In fact, you may want to explore one of the many "summary" books that are out there instead.
It's probably not fair to say the point-of-view is that of the unreliable narrator — which could probably be combined with the naive. Lord knows Mary, her brother, and her father, Donald's brother, were all naive when it came to finances. Well, the whole family really. It was Fred, the father (Mary's grandfather), who actually made the money. All the rest of them seem to have been good only for spending it.
I do feel sorry for them all — but I wouldn't want any of them as friends! That Fred sounds like a real piece of work and reinforces my wish that people had to get licensed to have children. His wife doesn't sound much better.
Mary does provide an excuse for why Donald is the way he is, why he is so very broken. It's too bad he's not smart enough or adult enough to fix himself. This account does bear out what I've heard over the decades about the Donald. Sad. And so pathetic.
Of course, the whole family sounds like they need help. Major, major help.
The Cover and Title
The cover has the appearance of a newspaper photograph of a young Donald Trump's head. Who knew? He was actually cute. All the text is embossed with the author's name at the very top in an orangish burgundy, including her PhD. A double rule separates her name from the primary title which is in black with another double rule separating it from the subtitle, which is also in the burgundy.
The title is too true and applies to the entire Trump family, for nothing, everything, is Too Much and Never Enough.
My Take
It's a reasonably fast read, although it does bog down a lot with all the repetition about how awful Donald is and how he got that way. I had to push myself to keep reading. In fact, you may want to explore one of the many "summary" books that are out there instead.
It's probably not fair to say the point-of-view is that of the unreliable narrator — which could probably be combined with the naive. Lord knows Mary, her brother, and her father, Donald's brother, were all naive when it came to finances. Well, the whole family really. It was Fred, the father (Mary's grandfather), who actually made the money. All the rest of them seem to have been good only for spending it.
I do feel sorry for them all — but I wouldn't want any of them as friends! That Fred sounds like a real piece of work and reinforces my wish that people had to get licensed to have children. His wife doesn't sound much better.
Mary does provide an excuse for why Donald is the way he is, why he is so very broken. It's too bad he's not smart enough or adult enough to fix himself. This account does bear out what I've heard over the decades about the Donald. Sad. And so pathetic.
Of course, the whole family sounds like they need help. Major, major help.
The Cover and Title
The cover has the appearance of a newspaper photograph of a young Donald Trump's head. Who knew? He was actually cute. All the text is embossed with the author's name at the very top in an orangish burgundy, including her PhD. A double rule separates her name from the primary title which is in black with another double rule separating it from the subtitle, which is also in the burgundy.
The title is too true and applies to the entire Trump family, for nothing, everything, is Too Much and Never Enough.
cdjdhj's review against another edition
4.0
This is a highly readable and enlightening history of Donald Trump's family and upbringing that sheds considerable light on why, as President of the United States, he has failed hie country miserably and has become the World's Most Dangerous Man. Worth reading with an open mind before election day.