Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger is the story of three generations of strong Jewish women who seem to defy the norm.

The story begins in Detroit and segues to Washington, D.C., New York City, and LA, with Chicago and Tallahassee also having important roles. The story is told in three parts, all with interesting chapter titles. It is told first by Lila, then by Grace, her youngest daughter, and then by Zelda, Lila’s mother and Grace’s grandmother.

Lila was raised by her father and his mother, along with her older brother and sister. Her mother was institutionalized by her husband, Lila’s father, and then died eight years later. But there seems to be a mystery surrounding her death. Their lives were altered when Lila was two, and she suffered injuries and beatings from her father to protect her siblings. She did well in life but did not let others in. Lila and her husband, Joe, had a loving marriage in their own way, but he was both mother and father to their three daughters while Lila was a workaholic and rarely home. Her hard work paid off, but at whose expense?

Grace was more introverted but became a writer like her mother. She didn’t have much of a relationship with her older sisters, who everyone considered twins for a multitude of reasons, and her personality was a lot like Lila’s. Joe’s mother, the heir to GM, was a force to be reckoned with in her home that Lila dubbed Tara. But the family’s visits there were always special. Grace and her college roommate had a strong bond, although Ruth was raised in Florida by a single mother who had herself been raised by a single mother. Ruth became part of their family and played an important role in the story.

Zelda’s story was interesting in showcasing how strong she was, given the time period the story was set. She reinvented herself, and everyone else be damned. There were repercussions later in life that she faulted Grace for since Grace had written a fictionalized book based on their family and took liberties with suppositions.

Emotions were often suppressed throughout, and we could get a real feel for the family. There is love even if the characters rarely say, “I love you.” They each expressed it in their own way. We see how their lives unfolded based on their upbringing and how some did what was expected of them even though they would have preferred not to. There is closure on some fronts but not others. An epilogue would have tied up all the loose ends.

Like Mother, Like Mother is women’s fiction with strong female characters. Grace’s generation wanted to break the cycle no matter the difficulty. Read the book to see if you think they succeeded.

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.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Oct 29, 2024
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Nature versus nurture. How much of who we are is inherited through our DNA and how much is the product of our upbringing? Can we ever really understand ourselves if we don’t know where we came from? What precipitates healing and forgiveness? There’s so much to unpack from this utterly brilliant character driven novel by Susan Rieger.

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE MOTHER is an epic tale of three generations of women: Zelda, Lila, and Grace. It touches on themes of abuse, abandonment, determination, resilience, forgiveness, atonement, acceptance, sacrifice, and love. Ms. Rieger gives us richly drawn, multifaceted main and supporting characters. They are wholly imperfect; damaged and in search of healing.

Central to this riveting character based family drama is the mystery of Zelda. The question - and answer - have a resounding impact and influence on the trajectory of each life. It’s impossible not to get swept away. The story is accented by ripped from the headlines political situations. Some may find those unnecessary, but I thought they added to the realism of the saga.

The three main characters and those who love them will make you think and make you feel. This is an unforgettable tale.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Like Mother, Like Mother
Author: Susan Rieger
Source: NetGalley
Publication Date: October 29, 2024

Susan Rieger writes a solid book about a family that has a lot of broken branches on their family tree. At times, this story read like it was written for the 1950’s and yet it was a contemporary story. The biggest takeaways are as follows: 1. Some women are not going to be good mothers. But these mothers should know who to hire good caretakers so their children grow and develop. 2. The concept of nature vs. nurture is strong in this book and guilt is absent for the most part. You get what you get, and you don’t pitch a fit. 3. The special people, the ones who really matter, are the ones who have bountiful bunches of love to share. There is list of characters at the start of the novel, you will need to use that. This is a big story with a big plot line and you have to pay attention which is why it took some time for me to complete. A good story by Ms. Rieger. #family #families #JewishFaith #Detroit #women #genderinequality #Mothers #BadMoms #Fathers #goodFathers #childabuse #wifeabuse #desperatemeasures #LikeMotherLikeMother @susanriegerwriter #fiction #womensfiction @penguinrandomhouse @netgalley
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I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the opportunity to read this novel.
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This is a great book. It is insanely well written and it is so engaging and interesting.
Like Mother, Like Mother is really the story of a mother and daughter, navigating abandonment, motherhood, love and careers. Every character in this book is charming (except Aldo, obviously) and I loved each of their stories. Lila Pereira is certainly a singular and very memorable character. I especially loved her background in Jewish Detroit.
Really excellent book if you enjoy quirky characters and a great family saga. Thank you to Dial Press and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger is a clever and beautifully written multi-generational story.
I absolutely loved this book - it gripped me from page one and never let me go.
The character development was done so well here. I enjoyed their journey.

Thank you to Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a family saga which I really enjoyed. Lila, the matriarch, is a career oriented newspaper editor who only agrees to have children if her husband and nannies raise her kids. She was abandoned by her mother when she was very young and her abusive father told her and her siblings she died, but they all suspect that isn't the truth.

I was a little worried it would be hard to follow when the first page was a rundown of all the characters in the book, but it wasn't that bad. I liked most of the characters and the atypical relationships. I found myself really wanting to know what happened to Lila's mother and if she really died. I had never heard of some kids getting the mother's last name and some getting the father's last name in a happy marriage either.

This was a really interesting book, following three generations of women in one family: Zelda, Lila, and Grace. Lila had a hard childhood and it strongly colored her outlook on life and her relationships with her family members. It was interesting how she related to her husband and her parenting practices. Grace struggled having Lila as her mother as she was always wanting someone affectionate and involved. The author did a good job writing the different characters and how they worked through their family struggles.

This is a story that focuses on three generations of mothers and daughters, the people who love them, and the secrets that shape them. Sometimes loud and chaotic, others quiet and tender, it’s the book you need right now.

In 1960s Detroit, Lila is growing up in an abusive home. With her mother gone, disappeared or committed, the children are never sure, her father turns his hand to her. She refuses to break. It’s a relationship fraught with stubborn anger and deep pain, both physical and emotional.

Decades later Lila has used everything in her power to rise to the top of the newspaper business: editor of The Washington Globe. Along the way, she met and married the most miraculous, generous, kind man - Joe - the antithesis of her father. When Lila prioritizes her career, Joe agrees, he’ll raise the girls, Irish twins Ava and Stella, and younger sister, Grace. It’s unconventional but working.

And everything is fine until it isn’t. Joe and Grace, each in their own way, find themselves feeling abandoned by the powerhouse that is Lila. Lila reminds them that she is exactly who she presents herself to be: a wife and mother in name but not presence.

But even as Grace resists her mother, pulls away, antagonizes her, it’s Lila who continually shapes every facet of her life. Grace becomes a successful reporter, a novelist, brave and uncompromising, closed off and fearful. But she comes to wonder about the family she’s never known - Lila’s parents. And so she begins to dig.

Grace doesn’t know who she is when she doesn’t know where she’s come from, and as she searches, she not only learns about her grandparents, but gains an understanding of the woman who seemed an enigma for all of her life.

It’s a beautiful, multiple POV family drama full of rich, unforgiving, honest, flawed characters navigating the complexities of family. As someone with a difficult relationship with her own mother, this one spoke to me in so many ways. The pain of that comes with a mother who keeps herself at arm’s length is unlike any other.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean absolution, and maybe that’s the best lesson of all.

I really liked almost all aspects of this book. I love stories about complicated family dynamics, especially those between mothers and daughters. This very character driven novel was full of family drama. The author unpacks tons and tons of baggage between family members, siblings, and couples.

The story is broken into three parts…three generations of women. The first part is about Lila, the second part is Grace (Lila’s daughter) and the third part is about Zelda (Lila’s Mother). Lila was raised by an abusive father who had her mother committed to a mental institute when Lila was 2. He later told her that her mother died. Lila, stubborn and determined, ended up being an incredibly successful editor at the Washington Globe. She marries a wonderful man and has three daughters. The youngest, Grace, spends her entire life vying for her mother’s attention and searching for why her mother couldn’t love her better. .

These characters are so well written. They are complicated, flawed and have loads of emotional depth. It was hard to be angry at Lila. Was she mother of the year? Absolutely not, but I do believe that she did her best. She loved the best she could. She was honest about her inability to mother to social standards. She was complimentary of her children, made sure they were provided for and was never cruel or abusive. Zelda on the hand was hard to like. I get it. I get that her situation was unfortunate and that she was broken by it but it is hard not to feel complete disdain for her and the choices that she made.

The only part of this book that I did not like is the constant infusion of what I can only assume are the author’s political viewpoints. I am not a fan of discussing politics in general but forcing your political opinions onto readers. There was a very obvious similarity between President Webb and President Trump. Had the politics been left out of the story, this probably would have been a 5 star read for me.

If you can get past the politics and you like stories heavy on family drama and complicated mother-daughter relationships, then I highly recommend this one.

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE MOTHER by Susan Rieger is an engaging and thought-provoking story about three generations of strong women that are navigating their complicated relationships and family secrets. Spanning many decades, we meet Lila and her daughters, Stella, Ava and Grace. Lila’s mother Zelda plays an important role in the story, too. The story begins in Detroit in 1960. When Lila Pereira is just two years old, her abusive father has her mother committed to an asylum and she is never heard from again. Lila overcomes all odds to eventually become the powerful executive editor of The Washington Globe. She is married to her job and leaves the parenting of her three daughters to her saintly husband, Joe. The two oldest daughters move on together and create a new life in California. But the youngest daughter, Grace, feels totally abandoned by her mother. Always resentful, Grace writes a best-selling book obviously based on her mother’s life. The book’s publication reveals a myriad of secrets from the past and an unsolved mystery that could change the lives of the whole family. I enjoyed this multi-generational story of motherhood, sisterhood and family secrets that kept me engrossed from beginning to end. The story touches on a lot of themes that would be a great stating point for book club discussions. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an early copy.

my favorite book influencer said this is an absolute must-read. i do not share the same sentiment. the novel is written almost entirely in dialogue. unrealistic dialogue, at that. there’s a plot that could be there in this story about a daughter’s auto fiction of the suspected abandonment of her mother’s mother. the format just made the story bounce around too much & there was far too much fluff. i found myself subconsciously editing entire passages out. there were a lot of whip smart lines, so maybe it was just the heavy dialogue that made this one drag on for me.

As this multi-generational story begins, its central character, Lila Pereria, has passed away, soon after retiring from her powerful position as the executive editor of the Washington Globe. In addition to her husband Joe, she has left behind three daughters including her youngest, Grace, who has just published a novel based on Lila's complex life. Through narratives in the past and present, it's revealed that Lila, her sister and brother were raised by their abusive father and were told that their mother Zelda had died in a mental institution. Lila overcame her difficult upbringing by rising to the top of her profession, but she was a distant parent, leaving most of the children's upbringing to Joe. As Grace grew, she grappled with her own relationship issues. And she was determined to learn whether her grandmother actually died in the asylum or managed to run away and escape her abuse.

Susan Rieger's Like Mother, Like Mother is a complex tale of family, especially motherhood. A large cast of characters illustrate how despite the scars and trauma caused by absent or difficult parental relationships, the love and support from extended family, close friends, and associates can create special bonds that can help compensate for the lack of traditional family. The author's sharp, clever dialogue provides a good balance with the story's intensity. It's a good choice for book clubs as there's lots to discuss.

4.25 stars.

I usually like reading women-centered books about several generations of a family. Although this one started strong for me, the shift in time periods didn't work as smoothly as in other books I have read. All the characters were interesting and the storyline gave the book a unique twist but the book was choppy at times. Definitely lots to discuss in this book.

When she was very young, Lila’s abusive father commits her mother to an asylum. She never sees her again. Lila has always been determined and through her hard work she becomes editor of the Washington Globe. But for all her success, Lila has never been able to take on the task of finding out what really happened to here Mom. She passes that task on to her youngest daughter, Grace. The reader follows Grace as she matures and finally works up the nerve to find out what really happened to her elusive grandmother.

While I did finish this book I often found it difficult to stay engaged. Many times I found myself wondering the significance of what I was reading. I know this book has gotten numerous good reviews. This usually means that while the book is very well written, it was just not a story meant for me.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.

I love a generational family drama and themes of motherhood, so I was super excited to read this one. I liked it, but it fell a little flat for me.

Riger introduces us to three generations of women—Zelda, Lila, and Grace. Each is powerful, strong-willed, and fiercely independent. Brilliant in their own ways, they’re all on a quest - whether it’s for a better life (Zelda), workplace dominance (Lila) or answers about her family’s past (Grace).

The most interesting part of the story (the thing that kept me reading at times I kind of lost interest…) was the mystery surrounding Zelda’s story. The characters were intriguing, with plenty of depth and complexity, but the dialogue felt unnatural and weirdly formal/robotic.

I can’t explain it, but I often forgot I was reading a story that took place in the 2020s… if it weren’t for modern political and pop culture references this story could’ve easily taken place in an earlier decade.

Speaking of politics - there’s lots of it (Lila works in DC as a journalist).

Read if you Like:
• Family drama
• Motherhood and marriage (not the lovey dovey kind)
• the world of Journalism
• Feminist stories
• Politically-charged storylines
• Slowwww burn
• Genealogy testing/ ancestry

Like Mother Like Mother is about three generations of women with secrets long kept and long avoided. I found the description of the book interesting, but had some difficulty with the book. The characters felt underdeveloped and not relatable or likable. The bulk of the story consisted of conversations between characters that never rose to the level of the intimacy and depth. The characters felt narcissistic and although very adept with their successful careers, lacking in relationship beyond the surfaces. As a result, for me, the pacing was slow. The ending worked for the story, but it took awhile to get there. Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley, and I was very excited about it. It sounded like exactly the kind of story I enjoy most with its focus on the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters. It delivers on its development of that relationship, but it falls short for me because of its political discourse and awkward dialogue.

At the start of this book, I was loving it. Lila is an interesting character who endured a very difficult childhood and came through it strong and resilient. Her approach to marriage and motherhood makes for an intriguing and complex storyline. The book focuses most on her relationship with her own mother and with her youngest daughter, Grace. The book switches between different perspectives as it progresses, which allows the reader insight into all the main characters.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of political opinion in this book that is unrelated to the relationship theme. The main characters are in the news business, so there are a lot of references to past and current events. I found it distracting from the main storyline. It just felt out of place in a story about family dynamics. I also found the dialogue of certain characters to be stilted and a bit unrealistic, at least in my experience.

Overall, I feel this book could have been a five star book for me if the writing had been a bit different. I would still recommend it to readers who enjoy this kind of family drama and do not mind having politics injected into the story.

This is an immersive family story, connecting generations of women with complicated relationships with motherhood, family, and career. It's impossible to not get invested in their stories, and this should be an excellent book for book club discussions.

When Lila was 2 her abusive father committed her mother to an asylum and then her father informed her of her mother’s death in the asylum 8 years later, no funeral and no additional information. Lila escaped her terrible childhood and grew up to be a wildly successful newspaper editor but a less than successful mother to her three daughters. Her youngest daughter, Grace, doesn’t like Lila’s delegation style of parenting (even though she delegates the mothering to Grace’s father) and ends up writing an unflattering book about Lila that hypothesizes that Lila’s mother didn’t die in the asylum. Maybe the women in the family can get some closure (and learn why there hasn’t been mothering for at least 2 generations) if they could just figure out what happened to the woman in the generation before.

I am very torn as to how to discuss and rate this novel. While reading I loved the quippy dialogue, but then I learned that interwoven throughout the novel are quotes taken from other authors and rather than credit them within the text, the author posted a social media acknowledgment catch all (which was not in my ARC but will be in the final novel). In this post, she acknowledges some authors (but not the specific texts she borrowed) and then says if you find any I missed, let me know. It left an odd taste while I continued to read. That being said I was still enjoying the novel and its storyline as well as the lively conversations with friends that it ignited. The book takes a look at motherhood and what society believes a mother is; nature vs nurture, and gender social construct. It is also a multi generational family drama which looks at inherited trauma while taking the concept of unconditional love and twisting it uncomfortably.

3.75 stars

Thank you to Dial Press and NetGalley for the ARC to review