The Vangers(01 of10)
Open Image ModalPut aside Lisbeth Salander, Stieg Larsson’s best known creation, for just a moment. The Vanger family, the clan from which missing girl Harriet Vanger originates, offers every dysfunction a reader could hope for: Nazis, alcoholism, incest, serial murder, wealth, secret identities and isolation. Never before has the icy landscape of Sweden seemed so inhospitable.
The Spellmans(02 of10)
Open Image ModalWhen Lisa Lutz’s family of private investigators aren’t snooping for clients, they’re investigating one another. Older sister Izzy spies on younger sister Rae while older brother David is a target of both. Mom and Dad also get into the act. Unlike other dysfunctional families whose dysfunction is prompted by pathology, the Spellmans’ antics are born from the love and concern they feel for one another. They’re a dysfunctional family who have a whole lot of fun.
The Montagues and the Capulets(03 of10)
Open Image ModalKing Lear and Hamlet may be the go-to choices when choosing Shakespeare’s most dysfunctional families, but what about the Montagues and the Capulets? Two warring families who will stop at nothing to keep their ardent offspring apart? Shakespeare does redeem them in the end when they set aside the differences, but only after—spoiler alert—Romeo, Juliet and others have died; a steep price to pay for peace between the families.
The Tull Family(04 of10)
Open Image ModalIn retrospect, maybe Pearl Tull’s delay in telling her children that their father has abandoned them wasn’t such a great idea. In Anne Tyler’s Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Pearl and her kids—Cody, Ezra and Jenny—soldier on, trying their best to overlook the deep wound caused by Beck Tull’s abandonment. They flounder and flail and are incomplete, while at the same time, completely human.
The Meechams(05 of10)
Open Image ModalPat Conroy conjures up a world of Southern charm and familial brutality in his classic book The Great Santini, which chronicles a year with the Meechams as they struggle to settle into their latest military posting. Conroy perfectly captures the myriad of feelings that Ben Meecham has for his father, Bull, and this powerful cocktail of fear, yearning and love keep the reader enthralled, even when you’d rather not be.
The Mackeys(06 of10)
Open Image ModalDisapproval and disappointment are as prevalent as the air the Mackey family breathes in Tana French’s Faithful Place. Nothing pleases Mammy Mackey, but Detective Frank Mackey is a frequent target of her contempt, his commitment to the truth an indictment of the family’s code of silence. The liquor fueled smacks delivered in Eight Faithful Place are painful, but it’s the verbal barbs that leave the deepest scars. There’s no place like home, especially when it’s “cozy and dangerous as hell.”
Mr. and Mrs. de Winter(07 of10)
Open Image ModalBut which Mrs. de Winter? That’s what makes the family at the center of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca so dysfunctional: is the family comprised of Maxim de Winter and his new bride? Maxim and his late wife, Rebecca, and their creepy housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers? The newest Mrs. de Winter grapples with the dark shadow Rebecca casts over her marriage, and eventually, uncovers dark secrets related to Rebecca’s demise. All of this begs the question: when murder and deception solidify your marriage, shouldn’t you rethink the union?
Oedipus and family(08 of10)
Open Image ModalThis family is so dysfunctional, it serves as the basis for a psychological theory, the Oedipal Complex. In Sophocles’s Oedipus the King, King Laius sends his baby Oedipus away in an effort to thwart the prophesy that Oedipus will one day murder him. The baby’s exile works for a time, but eventually, Oedipus kills his father and marries the king’s widow, Queen Jocasta, his very own mother. Grief, recriminations, self-mutilation and suicide ensue.
The Westons(09 of10)
Open Image ModalIf the fish stinks from the head, than Violet Weston is unquestionably the head of this dysfunctional clan. Neither drug addiction nor cancer does anything to soften the edges of the matriarch in Tracy Lett’s August: Osage County. Vacillating between a mental fog and quips that cut her family to the bone, Violet is a one woman maelstrom of misery who loves company.
Amelia Bedilia(10 of10)
Open Image ModalOkay. She’s not a family, but is there any character more fun than the highly dysfunctional Amelia Bedilia? Whether she’s dressing the turkey, drawing the drapes or changing the towels, Amelia Bedelia’s inability to perform tasks normally is a source of delight for readers of all ages. And the Rogers, her loyal employers, do what makes many functional families work; they adjust their expectations and love her just the way she is.