Too Much and Never Enough

A lot of people I follow on Twitter highly recommended this book, and I read a number of intriguing excerpts highlight what a twisted monster Trump is and has always been that made me look forward to reading it. But unfortunately, while this may be an important book in terms of giving a fuller picture of the monster in the White House, it's also remarkably tedious.

The great appeal of this book is that Trump has a slight but lifelong relationship with Trump and knows his family. This allows her to tell a lot of family lore. But while that lore can be interesting, it is only about 20% of a book that is primarily tedious psychoanalysis.

I certainly think Trump is a narcissistic psychopath, but that doesn't mean I want to read a book that is simply someone who knows him blathering on for page after page about what a disaster he is. Mary Trump ignores the famous writer's edict, "show, don't tell," and instead tells us over and over again how vile Trump is, spinning out her theories from small but telling incidents.

I only made it through the first chapter and a half; it's really a pretty agonizing slog. This might have made a solid article in the New Yorker, but as a book there's just not enough to it.