The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead is a story for those who love a rollicking book full of brothers and sisters. The reader will also need an appetite for some serious family dysfunction.

Father Sam is the kind of dad who, if the fence needs painting, makes a party of it. But before long, the reader will notice that this tee-totaling, idea-spouting father has a possesses a dark side.

Mother Henny was raised with money. She married . . . not much money, so if you see her in a good mood, appreciate it. In twenty seconds, she’ll go back to her stunningly cranky self.

One thing that really ticks Henny off is Louisa, or Louie, the daughter of Sam’s first marriage. Bookish, pudgy, a self-proclaimed ugly duckling, Louie is the kind of character readers root for from start to finish.

Henny’s respites from Louie — or Louie’s from Henny — are the summers Louie gets packed off to her dead mother’s family. There she finds every sort of uncle, from Bible-quoting to drunken ne’er-do-well, but she also finds an understanding cousin.

The e-book edition I read included a foreword so long, I had to check and see if I had my hands on the actual novel, or someone’s dissertation about it. Should your copy start out the same way, read just enough to orient yourself (I.e. Sam speaks in his own playful gibberish; the author’s skillful portrayal of this family rivals the greats of literature, etc.). Then, quit.

I mean it. This guy gives away something he should not.