Susan Reiger has written a delightful story of family. Of course there is drama, hurt and secrets! How much of our lives are determined from our past? In a search for the truth do we learn what we don’t really want to know?

This book was different then what I'm used to reading. Pulled me in from the beginning and had me turning pages. I could not put it down. Made me realize how much I'm like my mom, like Grace realized she was like Lila. Loved the story!

Like mother, like mother was a delight and very deserving of all the praise and buzz!

The story follows three generations-lilac, a successful , ambitious but un maternal reporter who is still trying to make peace with her childhood and her own mother. Her mother, Zelda, was abused by her father, aldo for years. Zelda went to a psychiatric institute where she died-or so her children were told. Lilahs last wish is for her daughter, grace, to find out if Zelda really died or if she willingly left the family.

Grace also has a complex relationship with her mother and her memory, but as grace matures and grows up she begins to develop a greater understanding of her dead mother.

This is a warm and propulsive story with heart and humor. Lilah and grace are empathetic characters who you can’t help but root for. At the heart is the relationship between the mothers and their children and the generational traumas. An excellent read!

Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank NetGalley and The Dial Press for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on October 29, 2024.

This is a complicated story filled with very strong women and I appreciate how well developed each character is, as well as their stories are. Even if not every character was likable. It's a thought provoking novel that brings up a lot of questions and thoughts about motherhood and just women hood in general. The humor nicely tied everything together. Although I did not connect with the story, I can appreciate all the makings of the story such as family drama and multi-generational family saga. This was definitely an eyeopening and interesting read!

Like Mother, Like Mother, is 3 generations of women, Zelda, her daughter, Lila, and her granddaughter, Grace. Their journey's will take you, through the life Zelda had, and how it affected her daughter, and then we see how it affected Grace's life.
Grace decides she wants to write a book about her mother. While writing it, she sees she doesn't know much about her family, and decides to find out about her family. This will take you through, what she finds out, the untangling of her family, all that she learns, and what the journey brings her too.
There is a lot to this story, it kept me reading, because I wanted to know the answers to the many questions I had while reading it.
I received an ARC from The Dial Press through NetGalley.

4.5 stars, rounded up.

I really loved this book. Three generations of women and the decisions they that affect those around them. Starting in 1960, Lila is a two year old when her father commits her mother to an insane asylum. Her mother never returns and her abusive father who is raising her and her two older siblings tells them she has died.

Lila goes on to great things, marrying her college sweetheart who is very well off and then becoming a journalism star who becomes the executive editor of the Washington Globe newspaper. She has three daughters whom she loves but doesn't really know how to care for so she leaves most parenting duties to her wonderful husband Joe. As her youngest daughter Grace grows up she resents that her mother was not a more involved mother.

Grace goes on to publish a book and become a journalist herself. Grace also never truly believes that her grandmother died back in the 60's. After her own mother dies, she goes on a quest to discover what happened to her grandmother. All three women are strong women who deal with the lives that they have been dealt, leave it up to the reader if they would have made the same decisions.

I can definitely see this book as provoking great discussions. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

There's nothing I love more than a dysfunctional family drama and 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥, 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥, which focuses on the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters, is one I won't soon forget.

The story centers around women who are unapologetically ambitious and aren't afraid to put themselves first. In many ways, the book questions whether that makes them bad mothers while also exploring why women are always the ones expected to makes sacrifices for the good of the family.

Throughout the book, Rieger creates scenarios that are made for book club conversations and often I found myself wishing I had someone to discuss them with. With wonderful Jewish rep and flawed, complex characters, I was completely caught up in this riveting multi-generational examination of marriage, family and duty.

Thanks to Random House and Dial Press for the copy to review.

“I’m not good at hating,” Clara said. “We are who we were: Clara, the Guardian. Polo, the Knight. Lila, the Hoodlum.”

These were the characters featured in Part I Lila and I loved them. As I read through the Part I chapters, I thought this was going to be a five star review for me. I also loved Frances and I’m so glad she was a vital character throughout the book.

Then came Part II Grace. In Grace’s chapters, everyone attended big name colleges and become lawyers and doctors. Except for Ruth, Grace’s college roommate. Ruth was from a lovely, charming family in Florida where she was raised by her single mom and grandmother. But Ruth was overshadowed, because in these chapters, Rieger typecast conservatives, southerners and Christians as ignorant racists. Throughout Grace’s chapters, Democrat politicians were portrayed as wonderful and loved by all, while conservative politicians were stupid, corrupt and undeserving of their roles. Only Ruth, her mom and grandmother got a pass for being Southern, conservative Christians in Reiger’s world of elite Columbia, Chicago and Stanford alum doctors and lawyers.

Part III Zelda was a big improvement, because those chapters returned a lot of focus to Lila, Clara, Joe and Frances—my favorite characters. Characters with grit, kindness, intelligence—real people, not the entitled. The story became very interesting in these chapters, too, as we finally found answers and resolution.

Rieger’s assumption that her political views are fact came as no surprise after reading her background info, but she ruined a great story. Many readers in the world are more like Ruth’s mom and grandmother.

Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley for review.

Getting this finished today, publication day. Multi generational story told through a mother, and then her daughter. Most of the men are too good to be true, except for the original monster of a father, Aldo.
The theme of abandoned daughters, whether real or just emotionally abandoned is heartbreaking. How children deal with the trauma is shown very well.
Lila escapes from her father, and believes that her mother has died. Her brother Polo, who was five when the mother was sent to an asylum deals with it in one way, while sister Clara remains somewhat unscathed.
Lila's daughter Grace is too much like her mother and grows up emotionally starved for her mother, but feeling very loved by her father, Joe.
There is a large cast of interesting characters who interact throughout the book, and many more instances of children abandoned one way or another.
DNA testing is a big plot point in several of the stories to the good or to the bad, just like in real life.
There is a surprisingly happy ending, which did in fact make me happy.
I may have had a more personal reaction to this book than some. Being Jewish, having a father I disliked, having lived in Florida, D. C. And LA, all settings in the book all combined to increase my interest.
I do think this will make a very good book club book and will engender many interesting conversations.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the EARC. The opinions are my honest reactions to this book.

I loved this book - from the beautiful cover (wish I could frame it) to the compelling storytelling about 3 generations of women, Zelda, Lila, and Grace, . The book had a unique voice, almost old-fashioned, and I really liked it. Something in the story almost reminiscent of Hello Beautiful, but with a distinct voice. I'll be seeking out this author's backlist for more.

Three generations of mothers and daughters and readers wrestling with the definition of a 'good mother'. Zelda, Lila and Grace - not perfect but each doing what they thought was best. The relationships are smart and tough and complicated and there is lots of room for debate about the actions each chooses to take. This book is well written and interesting. There are lots of characters, as to be expected in a multi-generation book - however, they all tied well to the three main women so that I did not find the story confusing. I loved Lila's character and could have used more of her in the latter parts of the book.

'He said he tempered her steel. She said she raised his ruckus.'

'Stella and Ava had their mother's looks, but like most copies, they were dimmer.'

'They did what they had to. They did what they could.'

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this novel about three generations of women in the Pereira family. It was well written and the characters were all interesting and well developed. You understood the motivations and behaviors of Lila and Grace. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

This story spans decades following three generations of very hard nosed and complex women and I really, really enjoyed it.

I am a HUGE fan of family sagas and stories that are heavily character driven. This story has that with splashes of sarcasm and humor and a bit of mystery. One of the women, Lila, who I think was also my favorite character, is a newspaper editor and I really, really enjoyed that part of her storyline.

“People surprise you, always ask.”

I also love stories that make me think more deeply, that are thought-provoking and vulnerable and this story made me think so much about my own mom and my grandmother. It made me see my mom more clearly and made me want to ask her all sorts of questions about her life. I already told she needs to read this as soon as possible so we can talk about it.

I also really, really loved that these women are tough.

“You are the hero of your own life.”

This book will definitely be one that I will think about for a long time and one that I think everyone should read.

As mentioned elsewhere, uneven. Despite a strong start and promising setup, this saga of mothers and daughters did not follow through. Part of the problem was that the women were treated much better and with clearer definition, but the men just seemed to be placeholders. I also was impatient with the romantic entanglements that brought the forward motion to a screaming stop.

I picked this book up based on the mother-daughter/multi-generational family saga vibe. I was expecting a Kirsten Miller-type read (The Change, Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books) filled with a story with great topics and cast of interesting characters. And this story had both aspects and then some.

Like Mother, Like Mother is told in three parts and follows three generations of women - Lila, her daughter Grace and Lila's mother, Zelda who went missing decades before. With its huge cast (take advantage of the character listing!), this book tackles important topics affecting women, relationships and the impact of trauma.

The strongest part of the book for me was Lila's story. Lila will be a polarizing character. She was an absolute force; she made many mistakes and accomplished many successes (in parts of her life) and didn't apologize for any of it. She knew who she was, and I found her fascinating despite her shortcomings as a wife and mother. She was a complex character who wasn't likeable, but I understood how she developed into the woman/mother/wife/sister she became.

The second part that focuses on Grace was much less riveting with its strong focus on US politics (timely with their election and with a Trump-like character t'boot) but this section dragged for me. It felt like more attention was given to Grace's university roommate Ruth. I didn't connect with Grace, or her story and I found myself skimming part of Grace's section.

The final section goes back to the original mystery of what happened to Zelda, Lila's mother who was committed to an asylum and then vanished. The idea of this mystery is what kept me reading and, in the end, it was a decent conclusion.

This is a character-driven story filled with important topics - gender stereotypes in parenting, misogyny, and the impact of intergenerational trauma and abuse - which gives great fodder to book clubs. But while I appreciate the topics raised, the slow pacing and dialogue-heavy writing style were a miss for me.

Final Thoughts:
Liked: social topics, strong female characters, mystery of Zelda
Okay: character-driven story
Nope: pacing and dialogue-heavy style of writing, US politics

Disclaimer: Thanks to the publisher for the complimentary digital copy of this book which was given in exchange for my honest review.

Is it just me, or is intergenerational trauma the new black? With a small handful of exceptions, it’s been the driver of almost every book I’ve read since July (and not just the obvious ones, like Madwoman. Even a book like The Ministry of Time, which is basically Bill and Ted meets Mission Impossible, has the fingerprints of intergenerational trauma all over it). To be clear, this is not a complaint—it’s just interesting how I keep reaching for these books, most of the time without even realizing the thematic throughline that connects them.

Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger explores this theme in a very direct way, focusing as it does on young writer Grace Maier’s attempts to understand her unknowable, distant mother, Lila Pereira, by uncovering the truth about Zelda, the long-dead (or is she? Lila and Grace disagree on this crucial point) grandmother Grace never met, whose disappearance when Lila was young shapes everything that follows.

Though Lila dies on the very first page (in the very first line, in fact) her snap, crackle, and pop dialogue and non-conformity made me want to stay with her, which is no small accomplishment (it’s more challenging to muster concern for a character when you know—or at least think you do—their whole story at the outset). But Rieger made it easy to get invested (asked to get her boss a coffee on her second day on the job as an obituary writer, Lila grabs her purse and starts walking out. “I’m a reporter…If you want a waitress, repost the job.” #Bless).

Lila’s career soars and she finds herself at the top of her field, celebrated and feared/disliked in equal measure. But her childhood was the stuff of nightmares (left with father, Lila and her siblings suffer endless abuse), and career success isn’t the magic eraser of childhood trauma, making Lila as decisive about not wanting kids as she is about not fetching coffee. Understandable, no?

But what happens when a woman who doesn’t want children loves a man who does? Is it a crime to choose to hold onto that love by becoming a mother in, essentially, name only? To have children, but then not behave in a mother-y way?

Spoiler alert: Grace sure seems to think so, and I suspect some readers will too.

When I pick up a book, I'm interested in things like the quality of the line level writing and how compelling the story is. My enjoyment of it isn’t based on whether I agree with the choices the protagonist makes and how they behave, except insofor as these things are relevant to the story and plausible based on what the author has shown us about them. I have yet to read any reviews of this one, but I’m predicting that when I do, much will be made of Lila’s likeability (or, more accurately, lack thereof) based on the choices she's made in her life.
And when that happens, I am going to be (as I am every time this issue comes up) very annoyed about some readers’ inability to muster up a shred of empathy for characters who’ve been through things they themselves will (with luck) never have to experience. Particularly given that it's precisely those choices of Lila's that make the story compelling and create the opportunity for Rieger to give her some (maybe even most) of the book's best lines (it's really too bad Katherine Hepburn isn't still around to play her in the adaptation).

One last prediction: I see Like Mother, Like Mother making for some lively book club discussion once it makes its way into readers’ hands.

This book was a letdown for me. I struggled to connect to any of the characters. The dialogue all seemed stiff and unrealistic. The plot dragged out. I kept going because I wanted to know what happened, but it never paid off.

Thank you @netgalley and @thedialpress for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I flew through this one! Like Mother, Like Mother is a character-driven multigenerational family story with intricate relationships. The author captures the complexities of the relationships beautifully. Well written. The book jumps around different timelines but the transitions were flawless.

I loved this story. I’m going to miss the characters! I ‘d recommend this to anyone who enjoys character-driven novels and reading about mother/daughter relationships.

4.5 stars!! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you @thedialpress for the ARC of Like Mother, Like Mother by @susanriegerauthor. As usual with me, I didn't exactly know what this book was going into it, but, well, I tend to judge books by their covers and this looked great!

I was so surprised and happy to see that the family is a Jewish family! It's great to feel represented in a book and Ms. Rieger really nailed it - although there was one item that seems factually incorrect but maybe it's part of her tradition??.

Anyways, back to the plot. The story starts with the matriarch of the family dying and the subsequent search for what really happened to the matriarch's mother. Ms. Reiger digs into all the different ways a mother might "mother" and how some men are willing to fill in the gaps that occur when a mother takes less of a traditional motherly role. I also like how she counters the narrative of how a mother should be when Grace's college friend Ruth suggests that the same behavior from her mom wouldn't be thought anything of if it were her father. Also enjoyed her comparison and contrast of family histories and attitudes through the use of Ruth and her interest in journalism.

A great saga and then in the last 20ish% of the book - buckle your seat belts because it really takes off!

Great story - kudos!

#LikeMotherLikeMother #NetGalley