Publication Date: October 29, 2024
An enthralling novel about three generations of strong-willed women, unknowingly shaped by the secrets buried in their family’s past.
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.
But Grace, their youngest daughter, feels abandoned. She wishes her mother would attend PTA meetings, not White House correspondents’ dinners. As she grows up, she cannot shake her resentment. She wants out from under Lila’s shadow, yet the more she resists, the more Lila seems to shape her life. Grace becomes a successful reporter, even publishing a bestselling book about her mother. In the process of writing it, she realizes how little she knows about her own family. Did Lila’s mother, Grace’s grandmother, die in that asylum? Is refusal to look back the only way to create a future? How can you ever be yourself, Grace wonders, if you don’t know where you came from?
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.
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 is a graduate of Columbia Law School. She has worked as a residential college dean at Yale and as an associate provost at Columbia. She has taught law to undergraduates at both schools and written frequently about the law for newspapers and magazines. She is the author of The Heirs and The Divorce Papers. She lives in New York City with her husband.
