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Mary Trump

Some final thoughts on Mary Trump.

*God is in the details--and Mary, a gifted writer, understands this. Over and over, we're treated to strange, memorable bits. Mary once took pity on her complicated grandmother and whispered, "You are my favorite person" -- while thinking I am telling a lie. Melania could sit through a family dinner while contributing a grand total of one word. Mary's mother was once banned from holidays because her presence "made Ivana feel sad." At the Kushner/Trump wedding, Kushner, Sr., went on at length about his former belief that Ivanka would never be good enough to make an entrance within the Kushner family. How can you forget bits like that?

*At the same time, something is very wrong. A memoir becomes suspicious when the storyteller is continuously above reproof, and everyone around her is relentlessly venal. That's basically what you get here. So you start to find that you can't fully believe basically anything Mary Trump says. Or you have doubts about the interpretation she is pushing. For example, when Kushner, Sr., told an awkward story about Ivanka, was he mainly trying to make a clumsy joke? Everything in Mary's telling has a strange *sturm und drang* vibe--and you begin to wonder....

*Would I recommend this? Sure. I struggled with some of the boring tax-evasion detail (I'm sure it's daming and earth-shaking, etc.) I did like when Fred Trump buried the ashes of his son, Freddy, against Freddy's explicit wishes. And when Donald masked his ignorance regarding a cousin's name by simply calling her "HONEYBUNCH!" Good stuff. And so: three of five stars. 
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