Too Much and Never Enough

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes alcohol addiction and emotional neglect, as well as discussions of sociopathy, narcissism, and other personality disorders.

The long-term impacts of family dynamics serve as an overarching theme running throughout Too Much and Never Enough, as the author highlights the role these relationship patterns play in shaping individual family members’ futures, even generations later. “Family dynamics” refer to the pattern of interaction among relatives, their roles within the relationships, and the factors that shape those relationships and interactions. Author Mary L. Trump, the granddaughter of Fred Trump Sr. and daughter of Freddy Trump, establishes family dynamics as a primary theme in her work by discussing not only her relationship to the seven members of the immediate Trump family, but also their relationships to one another. Chiefly among these are the relationships and interactions between Fred Sr. and his two oldest sons, Freddy and Donald. The other members of the immediate Trump family—the matriarch Mary, first daughter Maryanne, daughter Elizabeth, and youngest son Robert—play a less prominent role in the narrative, but their interactions with their Fred Sr. and Donald are critical to understanding the power structure of the family and their place within it.