'Rich and grim old lady': Brutal book review likens Trump to tragic Dickens character

In a new review of Ramin Setoodeh's book "Apprentice in Wonderland," Washington Post critic Ron Charles describes Trump as something of an old woman wandering about life reliving the glory days.

Amid the old stories of seasons of "The Apprentice," perceived foes, great wins, and his own "genius," Trump is described as Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens' 1861 novel "Great Expectations."

"I had heard of Miss Havisham up town — everybody for miles around, had heard of Miss Havisham up town — as an immensely rich and grim old lady who lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers, and who led a life of seclusion," Dickens wrote.

Setoodeh's tale is of a delusional, doddering, old fool in a skyscraper bearing his name, where his company can no longer legally operate, Charles wrote. Rather than wearing old wedding dresses, as Havisham does, Trump is clad in his own kind of uniform of the overly-long red tie and black or navy suit.

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“Trump Tower,” Setoodeh writes in the book, “feels like Grey Gardens without the cats.”

It's a reference to the bizarre life of Edith Beale and her daughter of the same name, who lived in a derelict mansion in The Hamptons. They became famous because they were the aunt and first cousin of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The documentary "Grey Gardens" shows them living in a flea-infested home with raccoons and cats scurrying about.

Setoodeh describes Trump gazing longingly at a wall of framed papers that bear the Nielsen ratings of "The Apprentice." While Trump looks at them, he dare not touch them, for they are far too valuable, he writes.

The pages are "something that seems to carry as much value to him as the U.S. Constitution, if not more," the book continues.

"His wall of egotism," writes Setoodeh.

"This is my whole life," Trump tells the author, ignoring the time in the White House.

Trump goes on to "exaggerate the number of viewers as reflexively as he lies about his vote counts," the review says.

The six interviews the writer did with Trump grow dull as Trump gushes and melts over his own video clips of his show, Charles writes.

“He’s as entertained as a child discovering ‘Star Wars’ for the first time,” Setoodeh writes. “There is something about talking about ‘The Apprentice’ that soothes him, like a calming chest balm applied to a patient with pneumonia.”

Once Setoodeh reaches the end, he explains that the experience is akin to the surrealist novel "Alice in Wonderland," which inspired the title.

“We’ve gone down the rabbit hole with Trump,” Setoodeh concludes. “He’s eaten up everything, and grown massive in the process, all while we’ve shrunk into his playthings. And, unlike Alice, we can’t easily wake up from this nightmare.”

The book will be released on Tuesday and Raw Story will have full coverage.