By: Susan Rieger
Narrator: Rebecca Lowman
Random House Audio
ISBN: 9780525512493
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: 10/29/2024
Format: Other
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
An enthralling novel about three generations of strong-willed women, unknowingly shaped by the secrets buried in their family’s past.
“A novel in the spirit of Meg Wolitzer, Jean Hanff Korelitz, and the great Nora Ephron. Who says comedy is dead? It’s all here—the joyful craziness, the wisecracking newswoman, the family secrets with a twist of lime.”—Allegra Goodman, bestselling author of Sam
Detroit, 1960. Lila Pereira is two years old when her angry, abusive father has her mother committed to an asylum. Lila never sees her mother again. Three decades later, having mustered everything she has—brains, charm, talent, blond hair—Lila rises to the pinnacle of American media as the powerful, brilliant executive editor of The Washington Globe. Lila unapologetically prioritizes her career, leaving the rearing of her daughters to her generous husband, Joe. He doesn’t mind—until he does.
But Grace, their youngest daughter, feels abandoned. She wishes her mother would attend PTA meetings, not White House correspondents’ dinners. As she grows up, she cannot shake her resentment. She wants out from under Lila’s shadow, yet the more she resists, the more Lila seems to shape her life. Grace becomes a successful reporter, even publishing a bestselling book about her mother. In the process of writing it, she realizes how little she knows about her own family. Did Lila’s mother, Grace’s grandmother, die in that asylum? Is refusal to look back the only way to create a future? How can you ever be yourself, Grace wonders, if you don’t know where you came from?
Spanning generations, and populated by complex, unforgettable characters, Like Mother, Like Mother is an exhilarating, portrait of family, marriage, ambition, power, the stories we inherit, and the lies we tell to become the people we believe we’re meant to be.
My Review
Susan Rieger's multi-generational novel LIKE MOTHER, LIKE MOTHER, is an emotional tale of three generations of strong-willed women, each deeply affected by the secrets of their family's dark past. This exploration of modern family dynamics, dysfunction, and emotional depth will resonate with readers.
About...
Divided into three parts:
Part One: Lila
Part Two: Grace
Part Three: Zelda
Beginning in the 1960s, Lila's mother was committed (when she was two years old) and sent away by her father. Lila never sees her again.
Lila is tenacious and works her way up to become an editor of a powerful Washington DC paper. Married with three daughters, she puts her work first.
Her youngest daughter, Grace, feels neglected and resentful. However, Grace also pursues a career in journalism and publishes a fictional account of Lila's life.
What happened to the grandmother, Zelda? Her disappearance is a mystery that will keep you turning the pages, eager to uncover the truth.
My thoughts...
LIKE MOTHER, LIKE MOTHER is a gripping novel that masterfully blends humor and trauma, offering a complex and deeply engaging exploration of family dynamics and relationships.
At the book's beginning, we meet a wide cast of characters and families:
The Pereira-Maier Family
The McGowan Family
The Goldsmith Family
The Berman Family
The Bates Family
The Webb Family
and the standalones
The novel moves back and forth in time as we are introduced to the characters and their backgrounds with a mix of social, cultural, and political commentary.
While the characters are not particularly likable, the novel is character-driven and would be a good choice for book clubs.
Blending humor, satire, psychological topics and family secrets, trauma, ambition, marriage, family drama, coming of age, and nature versus nurture for a compelling multi-generational tale.
Recs...
LIKE MOTHER, LIKE MOTHER is for fans who enjoy generational complex family dramas and mother/daughter stories. Fans of Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's The Nest, Jenny Jackson's Pineapple Street, Ann Napolitano's Hello Beautiful, and Lisa Jewell's The House We Grew Up In will enjoy.
Thanks to Random House for a digital advanced review copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Oct 29, 2024
Praise
“A novel in the spirit of Meg Wolitzer, Jean Hanff Korelitz, and the great Nora Ephron . . . Who says comedy is dead? It’s all here—incredible characters, joyful satire, a wisecracking newswoman, family secrets with a twist of lime.”
—Allegra Goodman, bestselling author of Sam
“What a delight! Lila is a magnificent character, and I could not put this book down. Like Mother, Like Mother is sharp, fun, and witty.”
—Ann Napolitano, bestselling author of Hello Beautiful
“The best kind of novel: compelling, warm, funny, and complicated, full of kick-ass women in tangled relationships, spanning generations and coming of age again and again. Susan Rieger tackles my favorite subjects: writing, family, and the conditions of unconditional love.”
—Laurie Frankel, bestselling author of Family Family
“Phenomenal . . . Susan Rieger’s wise, exhilaratingly moving tale gets to the beating heart of nature versus nurture and the stories we are told versus the stories we need to hear.”
—Caroline Leavitt, bestselling author of Days of Wonder
“Susan Rieger gives us perfectly messy, complex, witty characters searching for answers and connection. Long after you finish it, this book will make you think about the stories that shape us, the stories we search for, and what it means to pass them from one generation to the next.”
—Jennifer Close, bestselling author of Marrying the Ketchups
“With pungent wit and the fizz of a Tracy-Hepburn comedy, Susan Rieger writes about long-held family secrets and mothers good and bad with warmth and elegance.”
—Joseph Finder, bestselling author of The Oligarch’s Daughter
“A novel of mothers and daughters, but, even more pressingly, of what it means to investigate past and present and tell stories about what we find . . . It is a direct, unsentimental love letter to journalism, and to the wise, weird women who are so often its beating heart.”
—Rebecca Traister, bestselling author of Good and Mad
“Like Mother, Like Mother is a rare thing: a sprawling family saga, briskly told. Susan Rieger covers so much with the lightest of touches and a welcome and often-surprising sense of humor.”
—Rumaan Alam, bestselling author of Leave the World Behind
About the Author
Photo Credit: Nina Subin
Susan Rieger is the author of The Heirs and The Divorce Papers. She is a graduate of Columbia Law School and has worked as a residential College Dean at Yale and as associate provost at Columbia. She lives in New York City with her husband, the writer David Denby. READ MORE
