In Like Mother, Like Mother, we learn about esteemed journalist Lila Pereira, her daughter Grace, and her mother, Zelda. It's a novel about inheritance, with each woman carving her own path while resisting the roles of wife and mother. Somehow it succeeds in rendering everyone with warmth and nuance. The family doesn't feel dysfunctional, just complex.

I LOVED the first and last of three sections and would read a book entirely focused on Lila, while the middle section focused mostly on Grace felt like the characters were ..characters. Grace may have had the most page time but I least know who she is, and found myself thinking "this isn't how people speak" at times. I also sometimes had to use the mention of a specific year to orient myself in the timeline as the narrative jumped back to previous points after moving forward.

I got to the end of the book so sad that it was over and would absolutely say I loved it despite thinking it's not a perfect book.

4.5 stars 🌟 This riveting multigenerational family saga follows three generations of ambitious women. Lila, the central figure, comes from a middle-class family with an abusive father and a mother who was institutionalized and died when she was very young. Tough as nails, she excels in college and marries Joe, whose family is wealthy Jewish royalty. Her success in journalism catapults her to DC, where she is a political correspondent and has a meteoric rise to become executive editor at the Washington Globe. Her success at works causes issues with her youngest of three daughters, Grace and, eventually, her husband. Themes of abuse, marriage, womanhood, motherhood, career, and abandonment are present throughout. I loved this book and the rich, superbly crafted characters who are all flawed, the intellectual prose, and the focus on female characters. The search for family is woven throughout the novel - both related by blood and those who are not but become family. This is thought-provoking in many ways, one of which begs the question, do we understand ourselves better by looking at our past or by looking forward? Also, is a woman destined to become like her own mother with her children? Like Mother, Like Mother has been optioned for the screen and I look forward to watching it.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Susan Rieger for an advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I'm between 3 and 3.5 stars for this one. The beginning and end were definitely 5 star worthy but the rest was just meh. Lila's story initially reached out to me because I too was raised in the Detroit area in the 50 & 60s with a messed-up family, but for the most part, I thought the author was telling me things about her characters, with lists of traits, instead of showing me through their own words and actions. I guess the point of the novel is that what we do to our children is passed down from one generation to the next.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for offering me an arc of this novel via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

This book is split into three parts. While there’s some overlap in sections, the first section primarily follows Lila, the executive editor of a Washington D.C. newspaper and mother of three children. The second section follows her youngest daughter, Grace, through her college and post-graduate years. The third section is about Grace’s quest to find out what really happened to Lila’s mother, Zelda: did Zelda really die in an institution, like Lila and her siblings were told? Was Zelda out there somewhere, and she’d therefore left Lila and her siblings with their abusive father?

I really enjoyed Lila’s section of the book. She’s a bit of an unlikeable protagonist, but—as the characters in the book point out—would we expect and accept her behavior if she were a man instead of a woman? Lila was interesting and dynamic and I couldn’t wait to see what she did next.

The second portion of the book focused on Grace, with detours following her college roommate, Ruth. I found Ruth to be the more interesting of the two characters, and I enjoyed the sections that centered around her. This section seemed to be paced a little more slowly than the rest of the book.

The real highlight of the book for me was part three, which is a continuation of Grace’s life but really focuses on Grace’s investigation into Zelda. I won’t say more, to avoid spoilers, but I was satisfied with the end of the book.

One choice that bothered me was the lack of question marks at the end of many of the characters’ questions. I could understand making a stylistic decision to do this for one character - maybe that was just his or her intonation - but this was throughout the book.

I think this is a book for people (like me!) who enjoy stories about complicated families with characters who are complex and not always likable, but are always interesting.

This dysfunctional family drama, but with humor, opens with the funeral of Lila Pereira, the recently retired editor in chief of a Washington Post-like newspaper. Jumping around in time, part one of the book looks at Lila’s life, from her difficult childhood to adulthood and her somewhat absentee parenting of her three daughters. Part two then shifts to Lila’s youngest daughter, Grace, from childhood through her mom’s death, along with Grace’s college roommate and best friend Ruth. And part three is mostly Grace following her mom’s posthumous wish that she investigate whether Lila’s mom Zelda actually died in an asylum as Lila’s abusive dad told her, or whether she somehow ran away as Grace posited in her own semi-biographical novel.

There’s a lot going on in this one - lots of characters, lots of plot strands, lots of time covered - and it did take me a little while to get into it. But once I did, I loved it. The offbeat humor and mostly unlikeable characters reminded me somewhat of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Latecomer or the books of Taffy Brodesser-Akner.

All that being said, my 4 star rating of this one, while it reflects my reading experience, comes with a big asterisk. This book isn’t out yet, but there’s already some controversy about its attribution of quotes or lack thereof, and I don’t know what to think about it. My e-ARC had an acknowledgements section that did not mention any of this, but the author herself posted on social media this week an additional page which will be in the acknowledgements which states, in part, “I would also like to acknowledge the sources of several unattributed conversations I buried in conversations. They may not be exact.” Followed by a fairly long list. And then she posted to social media one she left off and one she named the wrong person! And I just don’t know what to make of this. Is the zippy dialogue actually mostly quotes? And if so why didn’t she at least identify the actual quotes with their originators?

In LIKE MOTHER, LIKE MOTHER, Susan Reiner takes on the complex, lush, contradictory subject of motherhood. Centering on the life of Lila, a stupendously successful woman who was daughter to a woman institutionalized by her father and is now mother to her own three daughters, the story opens after Lila has died, zooming back to her amazing career during which she appeared to have it all and yet gave so little to her girls and long-suffering husband Doug. I loved the wit, the smart prose, the dialogue, the twists and turns of the plot, the way Reiger never shrank from exploring issues of family, relationships, work, identities, the all of the rich and confusing aspects of contemporary life. The prose was beautiful, the story so well-wrought I felt like I knew the individual characters in this well-peopled story, had a stake in how things went for them. For myself, I am going to recommend this book for my book club -- so much rich subject matter to delve into and discuss! I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

A riveting family saga of three generations of mothers, with a mystery at it’s heart.

Synopsis:
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.
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 thoughts:
I read and listened to Like Mother, Like Mother, and absolutely loved it! There were so many wonderful quotes from the book, witty dialog, and memorable life lessons. Sadly (or not), I was too busy enjoying the language and the writing to highlight any of them to share here. You’ll just have to take my word for it.

Put this one on your TBR!

Thank you Netgalley and dial press for the advanced reader copy.

I was thankful for the character glossary at the beginning as there are many here to follow but they are introduced in ways that make sense and make it easier to remember them.

With themes of abandonment, found family, motherhood, gender roles, achievement and more, Like Mother, Like Mother takes on a lot. I found this book thoughtful and thought provoking. I enjoyed that most of the characters weren’t totally likeable. I am unsure if I have completely decided if Ruth’s decisions near the end of the story made sense or confused matters slightly. This book was a great fit for this reader who enjoys literary fiction and also a little bit of mystery. I think this would make a great book club choice.

Thank you to @netgalley and @thedialpress for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. Like Mother, Like Mother publishes October 29, 2024.

A multi-generational story of mothers…and what kind of mothers women are and what kind we want.

Grace is one of the daughter’s of Lila the executive editor of The Washington Globe. Lila was never the kind of mother she wanted, but Lila’s mother left when she was young she didnt have a good example. After Lila dies, Grace starts digging into family stories.

This story is multiple timelines and miltiple points of view, but not hard to follow. I think this is a must read.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House | The Dial Press for an ARC. #LikeMotherLikeMother #NetGalley

This novel was very intense. Some of the dialogue especially in the beginning of the book felt like a heart attack. The dialogue is very brutal and matter-of-fact. I wish I would've enjoyed this novel more, but the storyline was very involved and overwritten. I like reading about dysfunctional families and childhood trauma, but something about the overall novel left me feeling cold. I did not have a good time reading this, but I think the story was important to tell. Decent novel but not for the faint of heart.

"Like Mother, Like Mother" was a very well-written, character-driven novel by Susan Rieger (and the first book of hers that I have had the pleasure of reading). The characters, especially the female characters, were immediately compelling. This is a book that is carried by three very strong women and, as the synopsis implies, lots of heartbreak and tragedy - beginning with Lila's mother who, under the hand of a positively evil, heavy-handed husband and father, Aldo, was institutionalized when Lila was just a child. That generation of the family goes through repeated traumas and tragedies but Lila, an incredibly layered and resilient character, perseveres and becomes the executive editor of a major Washington newspaper and a legend as a female newswoman. She also becomes a mother to three daughters. Lila is not, admittedly, a "natural" not did she really even want to become a mother, but it is arranged in advance that the father will be the primary caretaker. Because of her deferment of childcare, etc. to her really kind husband, he eventually grows intolerant of her time away and they separate (more in name than in legalities) and Grace, in particular, grows up resentful of her mother. These dynamics weave through three generations of women and include a cast of really great characters (Rieger introduces the novel with a literal cast of characters which further enhances the sprawling nature of the book and the roles we all play, in real life, in the lives of other people beyond our own families). But, in this book, the family is where things become stranger than fiction and need to be investigated after Grace pens a a novel based on a very familiar cast of family characters and goes in search of the grandmother she believes may still be alive. Thanks so much to #netgalley and #penguinrandomhouse for the opportunity to read this in advance of its publication on Tuesday 10/29. This is a truly fun, intelligent, and well-written book. I absolutely recommend it!

There is no other way to say - I simply adored this book. It hit all my sweet spots - a mother daughter dilemma (several!), a mystery at the novel's core, strong Jewish characters (and how they interact with characters of several different faiths in this fraught and polarized world of ours), an inside look at the newspaper profession, and I could go on and on. I adored Rieger's two previous novels (The Heirs, and The Divorce Papers) but this is now officially my favourite. Come for the family drama, stay for the humor, wry social commentary, and satisfying conclusion. Highly recommend. Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

Lila was only 2 years old when her mother is committed to an asylum. She grows up and rises to a successful career in journalism.. Still livng in the household with her husband and three daughters, her career essentially becomes her asylum. No one feels the abandonment more strongly than her youngest daughter, Grace. Grace, a successful reporter, publishes a best selling book about her mother. This sends her on a mission to find her grandmother and discover other mysteries of her past.
As the story unfolds, the need for family and roots becomes evident, as does the strengths and weaknesses within these roots.

This multigenerational family drama explores motherhood, marriage, trauma, family dynamics, sisterhood, impacts of career focused individuals and many other smaller themes. I found because of the varied themes and some of which being very intense I both really enjoyed this book and found it overwhelming at times.

There are three parts to this book, each focusing on a specific character. The first part is all about Lila, her difficult childhood trauma, her marriage, her dynamics with her children and her career. The second is about Grace, her life, living with her mother, his missing grandmother and figuring out her life. And the third is about Lila’s mother.

For me, reading Lila’s story/perspective was by far the most enjoyable. Learning about her life with Aldo, her choices since then and the impacts of those choices on those around her was fascinating. Many parallels could be drawn between her and her daughter Grace and so much perspective gained.

I did find Grace’s section to have so much information, which I didn't think was entirely necessary. Admittedly, I did skim through her section a little bit. But the final part did wrap up nicely. Again providing thoughtful insights to the choices you make.

At the beginning of the book, there is a character guide which is very helpful. I did find the number of characters and really the amount of information (there are many themes explored) to be at times overwhelming. It’s almost like the author got really excited about what could be explored and shared all the ideas.

Overall, though, this is good. It’s a book you should sit down to read with a purpose. And anyone who enjoys family dramas and gaining perspective on life choices will enjoy this.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. It is a hard one for me to review. While I enjoyed it, I didn't particularly like the writing style and unfortunately, I can't exactly pinpoint why.

This is a complicated, character-driven family drama with a bit of a mystery. Even though there were a ton of characters the author did a good job of keeping me from getting confused (a list of characters at the beginning was helpful). I enjoyed the many strong female characters, but found the Starbirds (virtual twins) to be very annoying and unrealistic.

Where this book fell flat for me was that I feel like there was just way too much going on. There were major parts of the book that were unnecessary, particularly the political parts. I found it very odd that she talked about Clinton, Gore, Obama and other real life figures, but then veers off and creates a fictional presidential race. This was just odd and added nothing to the story. (Maybe this is because I am not a political person and am totally overwhelmed with all of the election drama going on right now.)

I enjoyed the mystery element of the story and thought it was all wrapped very well in the end.

A powerful and interesting generational story following three generations of women. I enjoyed how strong and ambitious each was and how they all grappled with the past. I found it very captivating and really enjoyed the family even with their difficulties.

This is a story about Zelda, Lila, and Grace. Zelda is Lila’s mother, and Lila is Grace’s mother. And as you’ll come to find…like mother, like mother. There’s generational trauma, hardships, interesting family dynamics, strong female leads, and frustration with many of the characters. But most importantly, there’s a feistiness that I so loved.

I was a bit intimidated by the cast of characters in the first pages of the book, but was able to settle in pretty quickly as the characters were so well developed. Before the end of the story I wanted to be part of this family.

What will stick with me is the characters… What they meant to each other and who they were at their core. This is a family I won’t easily forget.

I loved this book! The pacing of the story was perfect, where the story didn’t feel rushed but we also saw enough of each character to really connect to them. This book encapsulated motherhood and girlhood in general in such a unique way that kept me hooked throughout the entire novel. I found myself reaching for this book but also trying to read it slowly and savor the experience because I loved it so much. I will definitely be recommending this book to my friends/followers and purchasing a physical copy for myself once it’s released!

This book has given me a lot to think about. What does it mean to be a mother? How much are we supposed to give of ourselves to our children? How much are we supposed to sacrifice?

This book made me feel a lot of things. I liked following Lila, Grace, Ruth, and Zelda. The author introduces us to a character in the present and then takes us back for her backstory and I found each one engrossing. The dialogue is snappy and easy to read. Side characters like Joe, Frances, and the Starbirds are great additions.

Overall, I wouldn’t say this was an easy book to read (tw: abuse), but I found myself loving it all the same.

Note: I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As an adult Grace searched for answers to burning questions and discovered much more than she bargained for . . . the shocking truth of all that came before her.
This novel is a family saga. Lila and Joe took the next logical step in their marriage, as many did and still do in expanding their happy union to include children. Lila is a fiercely driven professional and never claims to be otherwise. At first, Lila is stunned at the prospect of raising children, referencing her traumas of youth and upbringing. She eventually softens to the idea and is willing to give Joe the offspring he so desperately wants. Lila makes Joe fully aware that nurturing is not something she has the capacity for and he must be willing to provide the lion’s share of all ongoing care and supervision.

It’s not so much that Lila is cold to her children, she loves them as much as she can love. Lila’s actions are fear-driven, avoiding any damage she might inflict somehow, the worry that the abuse she suffered would somehow affect them too. Lila’s thought process has some merit and gives weight to the compelling argument of motherhood . . . for and against. Which does more damage . . .  to be present and cause physical and psychological harm or to be absent and possibly still cause harm to the child’s psyche? The reality is that once you become a parent, your life is not completely your own, the ripple effect of some decisions could spill onto your offspring and the next generation. In my circle, this always sparks a discussion of the roles of nature and nurture . . . which will have more influence on us as children and the adults we become? I believe that healing old wounds is of utmost importance before passing along our DNA. I'm sure Lila's daughter Grace would agree.

Be warned that this author delves into politics as part of Lila’s journalistic journey and that the plot is moved along by the characters in a slow reveal fashion. I recommend this book for fans of domestic drama and multigenerational stories of resilience and survival,

I thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Like Mother, Like Mother for my unbiased evaluation.  3.5 stars