Who's responsible for the horrible behavior in The Man Who Loved Children? I have an idea.

Which parent is more awful in "The Man Who Loved Children"? Sam is insufferable with his baby talk and egomaniacal orations to his children, his need to control every facet of their lives, the little king, the horrible "sunday funday" (that's the way he talks) scene in which he encourages two of his boys to "fight it out" and "take it like a man," he's a brute and a bully, all in the guise of being a wise and caring patriarch, when all he cares about is himself - and the lessons he teaches are malignant, he thinks he, or the Pollitts, are better than everyone else, enjoys mocking the neighbors, and expects the children to find that amusing. What kind of "lesson" is that? But should this drive them to their mom, Henrietta? Hardly - she's just as bad, in a different way, selfish and lazy and full of bitterness and complaints. Lest we feel bad for her in the least, thinking perhaps that she was driven to her misery by Sam's philandering, then, bang, we learn that she, too, is having an affair, as she sneaks off, on Sunday no less, to have lunch downtown with her garrulous, beefy boyfriend/lover - and the only mystery is, why does he put up with her?, as she unload a torrent of complaint against her husband. Is there someone ultimately to blame for these abominations? Yes, Christina Stead - for you have to wonder about the stability of the mind of someone who could conceive of this family and populate a whole novel with them. We get a hint, when daughter Louie visits the crazy neighbor and we begin to think, hmm, the neighbor is so sick and dirty and nasty (she invites Louie over to kill a cat!) that maybe Henrietta's embittered view of the world in Stead's as well. Not sure how far I can go with this monstrous book.