The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - UPDATED REVIEW

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  Genre : Classics Blurb (on back of book) : Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind. UPDATED REVIEW MY OPINION : ****** I would like to start out this review by stating that this is undoubtedly m...
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Too Much and Never Enough - Mary Trump

Too Much and Never Enough by Mary Trump
Genre: Nonfiction/Biography/Psychology

Blurb (on back of book): In this revelatory, authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him, Mary L. Trump, a trained clinical psychologist and Donald’s only niece, shines a bright light on the dark history of their family in order to explain how her uncle became the man who now threatens the world’s health, economic security, and social fabric.
Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents’ large, imposing house in the heart of Queens, where Donald and his four siblings grew up. She describes a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse. She explains how specific events and general family patterns created the damaged man who currently occupies the Oval Office, including the strange and harmful relationship between Fred Trump and his two oldest sons, Fred Jr. and Donald.
A first-hand witness to countless holiday meals and family interactions, Mary brings an incisive wit and unexpected humor to sometimes grim, often confounding family events. She recounts in unsparing detail everything from her uncle Donald’s place in the family spotlight and Ivana’s penchant for re-gifting to her grandmother’s frequent injuries and illnesses and the appalling way Donald, Fred Trump’s favorite son, dismissed and derided him when he began to succumb to Alzheimer’s.
Numerous pundits, armchair psychologists, and journalists have sought to parse Donald J. Trump’s lethal flaws. Mary L. Trump has the education, insight, and intimate familiarity needed to reveal what makes Donald, and the rest of her clan, tick. She alone can recount this fascinating, unnerving saga, not just because of her insider’s perspective but also because she is the only Trump willing to tell the truth about one of the world’s most powerful and dysfunctional families.

MY OPINION: ****

This was a long-awaited book on my TBR list. Ever since it came out last year, I've been excited to pick it up and take a psychological deep-dive into the mind of our infamous Donald Trump. I really truly enjoyed this book and took delight in reading out several passages from the book to my sister.

If you don't know, I am fairly invested in politics. Although my future dreams have changed, I used to want to major in political science (I am now applying everywhere as a history major but it's okay) and spent a lot of time reading the news (from multiple perspectives) and trying to understand what was happening in our country. I'm not going to sugarcoat it: I am not a fan of Donald. I have a pretty strong dislike (and hatred) of the man and 95% of the decisions he made during his four years of presidency.

This book is a very interesting, investigative portrait of the Trump family, spanning from the height of Fred Trump's career (Donald's dad) up to last year just before the election (I still remember the fear that went through me all of November last year). Mary Trump is a psychologist and so we really get to see a psychological perspective on Trump's narcissism and other self-image issues. I know the Trump family tried to block this book from getting published (which ironically gathered it a lot more fame) and I can see why. She doesn't really sugarcoat anything about her family and just says it as it is. We get to see a deep look into how Donald's childhood and, let me just say it, daddy issues have affected his perception of himself and his so-called grandiose life.

I've never really read a psychological/political nonfiction book before. I think this was a very interesting take on why Donald is the way he is. I really would appreciate reading her take as to why his... most extreme followers are the way they are. I try not to discriminate based on political views but I cannot stand people who support someone so blatantly in violation of decent human morality. I try not to get political on the internet but if you don't respect human rights, that's something I am always down to talk about.

I don't think any of this book was too surprising. If you know a lot about the Trump family history and their careers in business and real estate, you basically know 80% of what Mary was saying. I personally didn't know a lot about them as I was not around in that time and haven't really researched too much about Trump's brothers and sisters or his parents. I think in that case, the book was very informative and interesting for me personally but I wouldn't say it was too surprising.

I felt kind of bad for Freddy Trump, to be quite honest. I understand the potential bias as Mary is his son but he was really painted as a weak, deteriorating man who never could live up to his father's expectations and slowly squandered away his money and his life. I admired his piloting career at first but reading about how he messed it all up made me feel bad for Freddy. I think his life story is perfect evidence of how your parents can really mess up your life. Both Donald and Freddy were very very affected by their father's opinion, which I think plays a large role in Donald's mental perception of himself to this day.

We really get to see a lot of Trump's lack of empathy. I found it very sickening when I read about his blatant lack of empathy for his own family, spending time at the movies while his brother was dying. We also get a glimpse of some of the many many inappropriate and vile comments he's made about women, which I also found incredibly nauseating to read about in black and white.

I found it interesting when we got up to more modern times (since I actually was around for that period). I'm very interested in reading Mary Trump's other book since it's a more modernized take on what our country should be doing/will do for the next coming years now that Trump is no longer in the presidential seat.

If you're interested in seeing more of how the Trump family manipulated and changed Donald into becoming the person he is today, I would highly recommend reading this book. It's pretty fast paced and short and doesn't take a while to get through, which I really appreciated.

Main Character: Donald
Sidekick(s): N/A
Villain(s): N/A

Nonfiction Elements: This book was all based on true information.

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