N only P: terrible parents

[Rhizome Chaser]

> An ex-student of mine is writing his PhD thesis in comparative
> literature, of course out of time like anybody in that situation, and
> asked me about "dominant, terrible, possibly murderous mothers and
> fathers in contemporary American literature." I recommended Nalline
> and Greta but he said GR is too heavy (literally). Any spectacular
> candidates from thinner books?

Donald Bartheleme - Dead Father (which in itself is a pastiche of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying) 
Stephen King - The Shining 
Paul Auster - The City of Glass (Peter Stillman senior) 

P.