Read the book if you want to find out more, I'm sure it would explain why her family is awful. But in my opinion it sounds like Matilda's family are just so different from her, they have nothing in common with her. I mean Matilda is very intelligent for someone her age, very smart way smarter than her parents and brother and I suppose they just didn't care for any of that and the fact that she loves to read while they amor watching tv which didn't impress her father at all. In a way the whole thing reminds of of Harry Potter.
