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Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump
elliesd7fc2's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Interesting and well written, but lacked perspective on privilege and also largely ignored Trump's racism, misogyny and sexual predation.
kstock15's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoyed the first little bit, but it got to the point where it felt so freakin biased and one sided, and I stopped enjoying it. Didn’t get too far.
carly_briii's review against another edition
5.0
Very Interesting. I was shocked to learn that his parents were the kind of people they were and how they treated Fred Jr.
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