This book explores family relationships, mother-daughter bonding and the impact generational trauma has on family members. The story was well written and insightful.

Although I enjoyed this book I found the continual intellectual discussions, commentary, and lofty ideals from all the characters to be tiring and never felt I could relax into the story.

I received an arc of this book and voluntarily provided a review.

A hard book to review since the dysfunction of the main female characters made it difficult to like. Lila is a mother to three daughters, but is not enamored of motherhood. Her own mother supposedly died, but she always wondered if her abusive father was telling the truth. Lila’s daughter, Grace, was obsessed with finding out the truth, particularly after writing a semi biographical novel about her mother. Grace and Lila have a contentious relationship, although they do love each other. I am mixed about recommending this book. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to Dial Press and NetGalley for an advance reader’s copy.

Once one gets past the long “List of Characters” (good for reference, not for an introduction), this becomes an engrossing, if somewhat unwieldy book. It is the story of two generations of women, emotionally haunted by the one before. While that earlier one suffered and caused suffering, all the current ones seem lucky, regardless of their circumstances: they meet and marry the “right” person, have meaningful careers, and beloved children. Even the poorest, illegitimate one, Ruth, has a loving mother, grandmother, and a full scholarship to the University of Chicago, where she meets her roommate and best friend, Grace. Grace’s wealthy assimilated Jewish family is at the center of the story, which focuses on her mother, Lila, an emotionally and physically abused girl who becomes the powerful editor-in-chief of a fictitious Washington, DC, newspaper.

These three women – Lila, Grace, and Ruth – turn out to be the main characters, each with strengths, limitations, and quirks, all of them rebels in some way. However, those around them are sometimes all too good, others are one-dimensional, and at least two are as close to monstrous as one can be and still function.

Much of the plot centers around a novel written by Grace, “The Lost Mother,” based on her imagined grandparents, which has painful moments for her parents and yet turns out to be too close to the truth. And though the book seems to focus on mothering, fathering is just as vital, as are marriages of different kinds.

Despite some character limitations, the story is compelling. I think it’s unfortunate that there are so many extraneous characters who play very small roles, which take attention away from the plot and thus dilute the power of the book.
With Lila and her husband originating from Detroit and attending the University of Michigan, there may be special appeal to those with ties to this area.

I think that there is a good and meaningful story deep down in this book, but I think that the author did a poor job of fleshing it out. I did not like the writing style. I feel that the author did not dig deep enough into the trauma that each of the women suffered. Not my cup of tea.

Like Mother, Like Mother is a multi-generational family saga that analyzes mother/daughter relationships and how they shape the people we become and the choices we make.

The three women this book focuses on are deeply flawed and complicated people, and the author did a great job really diving in to how they got there.

I thought this was incredibly thought provoking as well. There’s a very obvious focus on motherhood and what it really means to be a mother. I felt like I could relate to Lila in a lot of ways, and I appreciated her determination. I think this could be a great book club pick.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press for the arc!

While I usually love a good mother/daughter story, this one missed the mark for me. I couldn't really connect with any of the characters and felt the story was a little too long.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Random House | The Dial Press for allowing me to read and review Like Mother, Like Mother A Novel by Susan Rieger on NetGalley.

Published: 10/29/24

Stars: 3

Three stars may be low, potentially this is a 3.5 star read. I couldn't connect to any of the characters. I didn't like any of them. As for the plots? I didn't care. While I was reading the book went from bad to worse. I found myself spending too much time wondering how someone, specifically Rieger was excited for the end product.

Once again I reread the synopsis and I would pick this story again. For whatever reason Like Mother, Like Mother didn't resonate with me. I suggest if the synopsis speaks to you, give it a try.

I can't say enough great things about Like Mother, Like Mother. Family dramas are one of my favorite genres and this multigenerational book centers on a family of strong women. Susan Rieger's writing is beautiful - this is a story about family, relationships, parenthood, marriage... I couldn't put it down and it will definitely be one of my favorite reads of 2024.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC.

I absolutely loved "Like Mother, Like Mother"! Wonderful characters, topical content, generational drama, humor and family conflict, with a few twists thrown in for good measure. So much of the maternal angst hit me personally. I particularly like the many ways each mother can be both criticized and celebrated. This novel will be an excellent book club choice and would also make a terrific film series. I prefer to stay away from any spoilers in a review but I hope my praise will encourage the people I know to read this book as soon as it is published!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read an ARC.

This book is gorgeous, I could not put it down. There is a list of characters at the beginning, that seemed so complicated. I couldn’t figure out how they could all be stitched together, but in the end, what a wonderfully drawn set of characters. This is a story of families and intergenerational friendships and secrets. The ending was a tiny bit not satisfying, but not because the secrets weren’t revealed—because maybe it tied up a bit too neatly given the messiness of the secret. But it definitely didn’t leave me wanting.

Readers who loved books like Hello Beautiful and Commonwealth will love this also.

Like Mother, Like Mother is the story of three generations of women and how they survive the struggles of their lives. Lila Pereira's mother is institutionalized when Lila is only two years old, and dies without ever seeing her children again. Lila becomes the focus of her abusive father's beatings after her mother is gone, and Lila accepts that role to protect her brother & sister. Once she goes away to college, she escapes her father, meets her husband and starts a family. Her role as a mother is not traditional, and she lets her husband, Joe Maier, know that he will have to carry most of the weight for child rearing if he wants children. Their three daughters grow up rarely seeing Lila, who eventually works her way up to being the executive editor of The Washington Globe newspaper, and work consumes her hours. Her youngest daughter, Grace, resents being "abandoned" by her mother, and writes a novel that is a thinly veiled story of her family. Grace is also decides to find out if her grandmother, Zelda Pereira, really died in the institution, or ran away from her abusive husband and leaving her three children. The writing is excellent, the story funny & poignant. The world in which these characters live is well drawn. Highly recommend! Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press for an advance reader copy to review.

3.5 stars
Story of three generations of women and how mothers (and their children's perceptions of them) shape their children's lives. Family drama, overcoming trauma, finding your own path despite the pressures of family and society. The themes of what makes a good mother and what a woman owes her family were thought provoking. I think I would have enjoyed it more except that I didn't much like some of the main characters.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

4 out of 5. I really enjoyed this family drama and the three generations history was very well done. All the women were interesting, flawed and very well developed and so were their relationship, even though Grace was very annoying she was well developed.. I also loved the political side of it. I just felt the end kind of happened. There was so much turmoil during the book that the end didn’t feel like and ending, I was expecting a couple more chapters

'Like Mother, Like Mother' by Susan Rieger is an interesting, intergenerational look at how parents shape not only their children, but generations to come. I thought Rieger's portrayal of the various parental relationships in the book was nuanced, and felt that she created complex characters. The strong female characters chose to face adversity differently, and the male partners in their lives have varying impacts.

I found Rieger's discussion of gender and religion to be intriguing. If one has an interest in attachment theory, this book makes interesting reading.

Thank you to Susan Rieger and Random House Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Like Mother, Like Mother is a story focused on mother daughter relationships. When Lila was two years old her father had her mother committed to an insane asylum and Lila never saw her again. Thirty years later Lila is now the mother to three daughters and also the executive editor of the Washington Globe. Her youngest daughter, Grace, feels her mother should be more present at home and not focus on her career.

This book was hard for me to finish because I just could not engage with the characters or writing style. I found myself putting it down to come back to it days later, which did not help me keep up with the story. The older I get the less I want to waste time reading books that don't interest me within the first chapter or two at most. The characters felt flat and I did not connect with any of them. And throwing in almost quotes or direct quotes from other sources took me out of the story as I tried to figure out where I had heard that before. The author either needs to come up with her own material or do a better job of attributing these to their sources.

I am sure this book will find the right audience, but it was not for me. Maybe it was because I read it during the 2024 election and the book also gets political so it was all too much. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC.

I love family sagas so I was expecting to love this a whole lot more than I did. I appreciate how the author showed how our families of origin affect us and impact our relationships. I also can relate to the fraught emotions related to discovering old family secrets via DNA; my family discovered my great-grandparents had given up their oldest daughter for adoption when she was around 9-10 yrs old in the 1930s when one of us matched with her granddaughter. I’d give anything to know the story there.

I had a hard time connecting to the story and a lot of that was due to the dialogue which felt kind of pretentious and artificial. I truly do not know a soul who speaks like all these people do. I thought the narrative was a bit choppy and jumped around quite a bit, which normally doesn’t bother me but here I just felt disconnected.

With echoes of a similar writing style to Hello, Beautiful, this book was a five-star read. I loved following the main characters’ stories and was invested from the first page. I am a sucker for multi-generational familial fiction, and this book delivered. Some reviewers have complained about the quotes pulled from other sources – but they didn’t bother me at all. This story was a delight, and I enjoyed every part of it!

Quick recap without spoilers:
Lila Pereira grows up with an abusive father and no mother. When Lila marries an incredibly kind man, Joe, it only seems fitting that he cares for the children. At the end of her career as the executive editor of The Washington Globe, Lila never regrets her choices, as Joe receives credit for raising their three daughters. While the older two don’t seem to mind, the youngest, Grace, resents her mother and feels abandoned. Eventually publishing a book loosely based on her family story, Grace sets out to solve the mystery of Lila’s mother, even though Lila always claimed she died in an asylum. The story seeks to answer the question: is it possible to know who you are without knowing where you came from?

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advance copy. I'll shout my love for this story on my page!

Like Mother, Like Mother is an intergenerational story focused on women who are headstrong, independent, and willing to do whatever it takes. But sometimes that means leaving the mothering up to others, which can have a lasting effect from one generation to another. This story follows the lives of Lila, her daughter Grace, and to a smaller extent her mother Zelda. Their stories are full of strength and grit, but also generational trauma.

The supporting characters in this story truly make it shine. Joe is steadfast and easy-going; he’s around to make up for Lila being gone. Ruth is sure of herself, hard-working, and measured where Grace is rebellious and meandering. When the main characters are making you shake your head, the supporting characters are pulling them through to better days.

Overall, this book is for you if you like intergenerational stories about the nuances of motherhood!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, The Dial Press, and Susan Rieger for this ARC!

LOVED this sharply written, clever, insightful and engaging story of women throughout the generations of the Perera family. I truly enjoyed this book and can’t wait to recommend it at our store!

I really liked this book. A family saga about three generations of women and the secrets that shaped their lives.
One of my favorite things about this book, which I miss in so many others, was that the chapters had titles. I wish authors would go back to that. It just make reading so much more enjoyable for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for a honest opinion.
4⭐️