When I heard Mary Trump was writing a tell-all about Trump, I was both interested and wary; Do I really want to read an entire book about that horrible man? I continued to ask myself that question as I checked it out at the library, all the way to reading the foreword. Mary Trump’s writing is witty and sarcastic, and from the beginning she makes it obvious how she feels about her uncle. I’ve always had a fascination with psychology and neurology, and I think Mary did a great job of writing both a biographical history of the Trump family and an analysis of the dysfunction that made Donald Trump the way he is today.

In fact, dysfunction doesn’t feel like a strong enough word. The way Freddy Trump, Mary’s father and Donald’s brother, was treated by his family was horrible, and that cruelty extended to Mary and her brother. Money is the only thing that matters to the Trump family, and Fred Trump, their father, was just the sort of villain that would get a book rejected for being too cliché.

I realize that Mary Trump is the opposite of impartial when it comes to this subject, but her words rang true to me. The book is worth a read, but if you’d like to avoid feeling outrage and reading about emotional abuse, I’d skip it. ( )

A book about the descendants of Fred Trump, especially the oldest son, Freddie, who was the heir apparent, tried to please his father, but never succeeded and about a younger son, Donald, who saw what happened to his older brother, and took a very different path, learning coping skills that precluded emotional attachment.

This is a description of dysfunctional relationship patterns that were perpetuated from generation to generation and how various family members were affected. It was written by a daughter of Freddie. She tells of the impact on her family financially and emotionally. There is not much about the emotional impact on herself. ( )

Well written but no new information was offered. Mostly about Fred Sr and Jr (Jr being the authors father). The whole family should possibly have been institutionalized
( )

First and foremost, this book is *NOT* a takedown of 45. It is *NOT* a cash-grab by an angry, estranged niece whose greed was stoked by envy.

It is the story of Fred Trump's family from the viewpoint of someone who, despite not being welcomed within it because her father needed to be himself, still was there inside the bunker until her father's death.

It is the memory of a person whose entire life was formed by bad parents, her own and theirs. It is the analytical conclusions of a trained psychologist whose degree is from a highly regarded school. It is also chilling, infuriating, and deeply, deeply saddening to read.

Freddy Trump never got a break; he died before his life developed meaning and long after he stopped caring about it. Fred, father of the Devil's Brood, was a tyrannical, withholding man without a shred of empathy or emotional capacity. Mary Anne Trump, illegal Scottish immigrant, was useless and indifferent as a mother or grandmother.

And there is no doubt that 45 was formed in this nuclear reactor to be exactly who he is. Mary Trump had a balcony seat to the process and tells us exactly what happened on the occasions she was present. This is not sensationalized or presented as a bid for pity. Dr. Trump made a concerted effort to tell us what happened *then* contextualize it on a psychological level.

I didn't want to read another hatchet job on 45. Of course I despise him. I don't need more fuel for that binfire. I do, however, need to have some context, some sense of *why* this catastrophe is unfolding. Dr. Mary Trump told me what I wanted to know.

The seeds of the present are always in the past. ( )

Insights into Donald Trump, how and why he became what he is and how he lives. A torrid family where the sociopathic father played his children off against one another and showed unfair favouritism towards Donald to the detriment of all including Donald. Written by his niece, daughter of the eldest son of Fred Trump, who significantly disappointed his father and died at the age of 42. And all Donald can do in response to her psychological analysis of him and his family is belittle her. ( )