>>195777
The father is certainly the worst person in the book and does bear the most responsibility for the family's problems. That said, there are no villains in this book; even the father is given some redeeming qualities. That's why it's so good; it refuses to let the reader place the characters (or rather, people since it is a memoir) into the easy categories of hero and villain. There's no black and white, only shades of grey.

Some people get really upset at this book because the theme isn't simply "child molester evil." Rather, the author is telling us that no one is truly evil, but we are all bad to varying degrees. That kind of nuance does not sit well with the general population.