Oooh a family drama, my favorite. I loved the idea of this book, a powerhouse newspaper editor, her equally strong willed daughter, and some family secrets to round out it all out. And there were many parts of the book I loved, not just the idea but the execution, the characters. It was an interesting story, the plot unlike other similar stories in that the characters seemed really fresh and compelling, it got me excited when I started it, thinking, yes…this is gonna be good.

But something irked me about the writing. I think it was the dialogue. It felt so choppy. I kept thinking, that’s not how people talk. It was super direct and quick, matter of fact. Maybe that’s just not how I talk, but it came off feeling unrealistic. I really liked how the story ended, and it was page turning in its build up, but overall I wasn’t blown away.

3.5 stars

Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger might be in my top 10 books for 2024. It's a multigenerational novel that focuses on the unforgiving media industry. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

"𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓-𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒆. 𝑨𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝑰 𝒂𝒎."

This was an interesting story, one that made me think about the role mothers play in the development of their children, specifically daughters. Is the absence of the maternal “nurturing factor” to blame for a woman’s inability to nurture her own children? Not always, but it can make it hard to know how to fill that role, with no example. Particularly in a home where a bully of a father rules supreme, an environment absent of warmth. I had initially thought the story would be about women of the past, shoved into insane asylums, where they silenced them for good. The author certainly explores that sort of evil but really, it’s about power driven Lila Pereira’s rise to success as the executive editor of The Washington Globe and how it affects her daughter Grace. As a child, with her mother Zelda carted off to the insane asylum and purported by her father Aldo to be dead, he labels his children ingrates as he slaves away on the GM assembly line to put a roof over their heads. Aldo’s father beat him regularly, which he tells his daughter Lila, ‘Made a man out of me’. Lila tells her husband Joe, it made a man out of her too, such beatings. The chapter Motherlessness shows how quickly Aldo purges Zelda from their lives, erasing all traces of her from the home as he installs his own mother, Bubbe, into their house. Bubbe is hard woman herself, having had a life without choice, without her own mother too. Beyond divulging to Lila that Zelda had crying fits, was lacking as a wife and mother, and shock therapy didn’t help, she doesn’t want to say much more. She does, however, admit to her shame that her son Aldo was a beast to Zelda. Aldo’s beastly behavior extends to his children, but if Zelda had a smart mouth that led Aldo put an end to her challenging ways, his daughter Lila will escape her rotten childhood and never look back, and always be a force he cannot destroy.

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Grace grows up blaming Lila for the hole in her life, despite a father, Joe, who is just as involved as any tender mother could be. She swears to him she will become a raging, wrathful writer; he thinks she is too hard and bitter about Lila. At the age of twenty-seven she published “The Lost Mother,” months before Lila’s retirement, inventing an affair between the characters who resemble Lila and her publisher, Doug. Rather than enraging Lila it upsets Joe. Joe, who is made to look like a fool, with a cheating wife. What if people believe it’s real? Nothing within is as shocking, just a strained mother/daughter relationship and Lila is stunned that Grace didn’t investigate her grandmother, just made up a book based on what ifs. Grace says it is her “intuited truths”. Grace accuses her mother of wanting Zelda to be dead, because then she doesn’t have to wonder where she is now, what happened.

Joe’s daughters react to Lila’s hard work ethics and lack of attention in different ways. The twins have each other, it is Grace who feels she was robbed of something. It can be said that a woman who choses her career over being the devoted parent is always considered suspect, at least in the past. She was a stellar example as a sister, she took on all of Aldo’s rage and abuse so her siblings wouldn’t have to bear it, much like a mother would have done, had she been there. It was in her past she decided not to live in fear and go for a life of her choosing. Growing up she didn’t entertain much curiosity about Zelda, her mother was just gone. She didn’t have time to lick her wounds and yearn for Zelda, she was too busy dodging her father’s hatred. Even Bubbe couldn’t be a stand in worth a damn, saying her life was just ‘one long regret.’ Zelda is a void, that is all, why feed it?

It is when Lila is dead that she gives Grace a quest, find out what really happened to Zelda. This means confronting Aldo, if he is still alive, and questioning her Aunt Clara. It isn’t a story of happy endings, sometimes the answers raise more questions or leads us to painful truths. It is about survival, choices and entrapment. How much does it take for a woman to be free to live her life as she wants. There are often casualties when it comes to escape. Is it better to stay or go? What if you can’t give your children what they need?

All the characters are full of life, sometimes selfless and often selfish. Lila is a gutsy woman giving the best she can. Sometimes we are like our mothers, even without realizing it. An engaging read.

Published October 29, 2024

Random House

The Dial Press

Like Mother, Like Mother was one of my most anticipated books of 2024. I found myself thoroughly enjoying this book and not wanting to put it down once I picked it up. As the title describes, this book focuses heavily on themes of motherhood and in certain aspects generational trauma of motherhood. I enjoyed the strong female characters and relationships in this book and enjoyed how Lila did not apologize nor try to be anything that she wasn't.

I will add a note that this book sometimes lies heavy on the politics, and I think could turn off some readers.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC: The book is an exploration of mothers and generational trauma. The main protagonists are Lila--the daughter of an abused woman who disappeared in her childhood and Lila's youngest daughter Grace who experienced far less trauma but fixates on it far more. Lila overcomes her abusive childhood to become a hugely successful newspaper editor and have a happy marriage. She's a hands off mother to the extreme. Her youngest daughter Grace writes a book excoriating Lila. Grace ultimately searches for Lila's missing mother and in doing so answers a central mystery and matures. I found the story and plotting well written. Lila's aversion to mothering felt a bit hyperbolic but it would be tolerated in a man. There are myriad characters--sometimes a bit confusing, but it made for a compelling story.

4.0. Really enjoyed this multigenerational novel. Covers many issues, including domestic abuse, abandonment, and mother/child relationships, among others. Very entertaining, witty, and sobering. It got a bit slow in parts but overall it was a good read. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an advance copy in exchange for a candid and unbiased review.

Like Mother Like Mother is a darkly humorous and poignant novel that explores motherhood, female identity, and the complex bonds of family.

The novel weaves together the stories of three generations of strong women: a rebellious grandmother, a struggling mother, and a daughter navigating the pressures of adolescence. Each character struggles with societal expectations and the weight of inherited trauma, ultimately finding their own voices and forging their own definitions of success and happiness.

The author's use of dark humor is both refreshing and insightful. It allows for an authentic exploration of the messy realities of motherhood, from the day to day to the deeply personal, without ignoring the truly difficult subjects.

The character development is nuanced and compelling. Each woman undergoes a transformative journey of self-discovery, confronting their pasts and embracing their own unique paths. The novel challenges traditional notions of family, emphasizing the importance of defining family in a way that works for each individual, regardless of blood ties.

Like Mother Like Mother is a powerful and thought-provoking read that will resonate with anyone who has ever grappled with the complexities of family, identity, and the ever-evolving definition of motherhood.

Absolutely no complaints about this book! It had everything that makes a novel thoroughly entertaining for me. Likable characters doing interesting things, juicy details, a bit of a mystery, an evil villain and one semi evil villain, and a story that never lets you down. What more can one ask from an author?

Family secrets will always come out. Following generations of strong-willed women, the secrets start when Lila Pereira was 2 years old and her mother was committed to a local Detroit asylum. From there, Lila's father abused her and her siblings and always maintained that her mother was dead. On her deathbed, she asks her youngest daughter, Grace, to find out what happened to her mom. Following in her mother's footsteps as a renowned journalist, Grace takes on the challenge and begins to dig into the truth. However, sometimes, it's best to not go back, because then how can you look forward to the future.

Going into this one, I wanted a bit more thriller on this story. Instead, I felt I got a lot of unnecessary family drama. I couldn't get into their story and felt that it was drawn out too much. It didn't help that I wasn't a huge fan of the characters. I always say this and it's true, but literary fiction is not for me.

I LOVED this sweeping story about mothers and fathers, and does childhood trauma shape your whole life, including your children's lives? I thought the characters were well written, and even if you wanted to shake them sometimes, you understood their motivations. At first, I thought there were too characters introduced, but she expertly wove them all together and I loved seeing it come together. Sometimes it felt a little long, so it wasn't necessarily a perfect book, but it is one I adored and will share with others!

I found this book to be a very creative three-generation mother-daughter saga. It is not a story to skim through. Lila and Grace are the main protagonists and their characters are well developed. Though Lila is portrayed as unlikable in many ways, the author manages to make her admirable in her career especially in light of her horrific childhood (no further spoilers). And while Grace is at odds with Lila, she decides to follow her mother’s career path. It seems that Lila’s choices around her family can be unexpected but her character is so open and upfront about them, I had to admire the way that she stood by her convictions. And her husband, Joe was the perfect partner for her. I also really enjoyed the secondary characters, including Joe but also Ruth and Frances - they were also well developed and added some different perspectives to the family drama. Although we understand that the”like mother, like mother” piece probably refers to Lila’s mother, we don’t get all the information about Zelda until the end of the book. This revelation was definitely unexpected for me but shed more light on the central theme. I enjoyed the book overall and would recommend it reiterating that it needs to be read carefully to catch the unannounced timeline changes. This style of writing made the book somewhat choppy for me and I didn’t like the general flow. But the story is creative and different, making it a worthwhile read.

This story is a multi generational family saga about mothers and daughters, I loved the strength and determination of Lila, Grace, and Zelda. I found the story to be interesting, and the characters to be relatable and likable. I loved this book, and I highly recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

A beautiful story of generations of strong women.. How they struggle, how they find success. So much alike, but so resentful of their Mother, until they learn some history of their family. Great read.

Like Mother, Like Mother is a multi generational story based mostly on the life of Lila, product of a seemingly dysfunctional family who grows up being told that her mother was placed in an asylum. Lila becomes a journalist and rises to the peak of her profession, but somehow forgets that her daughter, Grace, needs a mother that cares about her as opposed to her job.
I have to admit that it took me a while to become engaged in the story as I developed a dislike for Lila, which could be due to the power of Susan Rieger’s writing. Usually I enjoy multi generational stories but this read left me wanting more. My heart went out to Grace who was so craving attention from Lila. The author did embed politics, which seemed to mirror today’s politics. Personally that may be a detriment to many readers.
Many thanks to Susan Rieger, The Dial Press and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this read, published on October 29th.

This book might just be the last book to make it onto my favorites list! There are few premises that I like more than a sweeping multigenerational family drama. Lila's story--both in her own perspective and from Grace's--was so captivating I couldn't get enough of it. I think this was such a unique portrayal of motherhood and what it means to be a woman in the world. This will be an easy recommendation and I so quickly bought a copy for my shelves.

As a fan of generational family sagas, I was excited to dive into Like Mother, Like Daughter by Susan Rieger. The novel explores themes of family, marriage, ambition, power, and the legacies we inherit, while examining the self-deceptions we embrace in pursuit of the identities we believe we’re destined to assume
The story begins with the death of 65-year-old Lila Pereira, who succumbs to stage IV lung cancer just two months after retiring as executive editor of The Globe. Company policy mandates that top editors retire at 65, marking Lila’s passing as the end of an era. The narrative then shifts to her childhood in 1960s Detroit, where a traumatic event profoundly shapes her life: at age two, Lila witnesses her father cruelly commit her mother, Zelda, to an insane asylum, never to be seen again. This early trauma sets Lila on a path defined by ambition, success, and personal sacrifice.
While Lila thrives in her career, her family life falters—particularly her relationship with her three daughters: the virtually indistinguishable Stella and Ava, and the youngest, Grace. From the start of motherhood, Lila prioritizes her career over raising her children, relying heavily on a nanny to handle most of the child-rearing. As the novel unfolds, we follow Lila’s rise in the competitive world of journalism, with a political undercurrent becoming a central theme. However, I found the inclusion of a fictional, Trump-like president between the Obama and Biden administrations somewhat distracting—it felt out of place in the broader narrative.
Before Lila’s death, her daughter Grace embarks on a quest to uncover the truth about her grandmother Zelda, who was long presumed dead. Grace’s search to understand her family’s complicated history adds depth to the story, highlighting how trauma is not only an individual burden but also something passed down through generations, deeply affecting the women in Lila’s family.
While Like Mother, Like Daughter intrigued me with its exploration of mother-daughter dynamics and generational legacies, I struggled to fully connect with the story. Despite its ambition and complexity, the emotional resonance I hoped for never quite materialized, leaving me distanced from the often unlikable characters. That said, readers who enjoy multi-generational family dramas and are interested in how trauma reverberates through the years may find this novel more compelling.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and The Dial Press/Random House for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

What a great story!
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Lila Pereira is our FMC. With a brutal upbringing in Detroit, Lila has no choice but to be tough. She was only 2 when her abusive father has her mother committed to an asylum. Therefore, Lila took the brunt of his beatings. You would think this would cause her to be down and out, but instead she seems to be on top from the outside. Married into a wealthy family, in a loving marriage and mother she is also rises to the top as chief editor for the Washington Globe. Yet, there is something missing in her life. It’s not until her youngest daughter starts asking many questions that we start to see all the layers of Lila peeled back.
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Spanning 3 generations this is a story about womanhood, gumption and survival. I loved reading the 3 womens perspectives and I LOVED Lila! Despite all her flaws she had so many good notes as well. She was smart and sharp as a whip. I didn’t want this story to end. Easily one of my favorites this year and one i recommend. Thank you Netgalley and The Dial Press for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Like Mother Like Mother by Susan Rieger
A multi-generational drama that sits in the complexities that form family relationships-- especially that of Lila (mother) and Grace (daughter). Lila comes from an abusive childhood (she carries a knife in the current story because you just never know what could happen....) where her mother was committed to an asylum by her father, never to be heard from again. Three decades later, she has the world at her feet as an editor of a major newspaper. She forgoes mothering her children, leaving that to her able husband Joe. What follows has one of her daughters, Grace, working out how she wishes her mother was actually more of a mother (picking her up from school, showing up for her events)--and trying to untangle the web she was born into. By contrast her sisters accept her mother for exactly who she is -- "Lila is Lila. She. makes no apologies."

I am all for multi-generational, epic stories. I'm also all for character-driven fiction with very little plot engine. This contained both -- but ultimately felt disjointed. I read this over a number of weeks and never wanted to give up on in -- I needed to know what had happened to Lila's mother and cared about how these unapologetically unlikeable characters (for the most part) were faring. The characters were multi-faceted and interesting and ultimately very, very flawed. Mysteries were revealed, relationships were explained -- but some of the detours with political or editorial-room details were too detailed and distracting. My advance copy did not have an author's note but I've heard some chatter about that as well as the author bordering on plagiarism by paraphrasing and not quoting or giving credit for other works.

I've heard it compared to Hello Beautiful That got almost 5 stars from. me, and this one remains a 3.

Thanks to Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of Like Mother, Like Daughter by Susan Rieger. Three strong women. Multi-generational. What really happened to Zelda all those years ago? I enjoyed the setting of this book and its parallels to today.

The story revolves around Lila, the youngest of three siblings, whose mother disappeared when they were children. Left with an abusive father who frequently beat her, the children were told their mother had been sent to a local asylum because she was "crazy." But was that the truth?

As Lila grows up and has children of her own, hints emerge that their mother may have simply left, unraveling a compelling mystery. The story explores how traits often pass from mother to daughter, adding depth to the narrative.

I found the characters and dialogue engaging and looked forward to returning to their lives each time I picked up the book.