Susan Rieger’s Like Mother, Like Mother is an emotionally layered and complex narrative exploring the lives of three generations of women grappling with family secrets, trauma, and identity. Through deft prose and incisive storytelling, Rieger crafts a compelling tapestry of ambition, resentment, and redemption.
Overview: A Legacy of Secrets and Strength
Spanning decades and intertwined lives, Like Mother, Like Mother is set against the backdrop of America’s shifting societal norms from the 1960s to the present day. It opens with the formidable Lila Pereira, a trailblazing editor who dismantles political corruption but struggles with intimacy and motherhood. Her daughter Grace, seeking to escape Lila’s shadow, uncovers truths about the grandmother she never met. The story unravels questions of identity: How does one reconcile with their past while forging their future? With its multi-generational narrative and themes of resilience, the book invites readers to confront how inherited trauma shapes personal destinies.
Plot Analysis: A Journey Through Three Generations
Lila: A Mother’s Ambition and Isolation
The novel begins with Lila’s meteoric rise in journalism and her strained relationship with her youngest daughter, Grace. Her professional achievements are juxtaposed with her failures in familial connection. Lila is a paradox—unflinchingly strong in her career yet emotionally distant at home. Her decision to prioritize work over her children creates the central tension that reverberates through the generations.
Key moments, such as Lila’s handling of WebbGate, highlight her brilliance and tenacity. However, these professional highs contrast starkly with her personal shortcomings, particularly her inability to reconcile with Grace before her death.
Grace: The Daughter’s Quest for Understanding
Grace’s journey is the heart of the novel. Through her exploration of her grandmother Zelda’s life, she seeks answers about her mother’s aloofness and her family’s hidden wounds. Grace’s investigative path mirrors her mother’s journalistic instincts but also reflects her personal yearning for connection. Her decision to write The Lost Mother adds a meta-textual layer to the narrative, exploring the ethics of storytelling and personal accountability.
Zelda: The Silenced Matriarch
The revelations about Zelda—committed to an asylum by her abusive husband Aldo—anchor the novel’s critique of patriarchal oppression. Zelda’s tragedy is both a cautionary tale and a pivotal narrative device that forces the younger generations to confront their familial legacy.
Character Analysis: Women Shaped by Choices and Circumstances
Lila Pereira: The Flawed Heroine
Lila’s character embodies ambition and self-reliance, but her hard edges often alienate those closest to her. While her professional achievements are inspiring, her reluctance to engage emotionally with her daughters reflects a deeper unresolved trauma tied to her childhood and her mother’s absence.
Grace Maier: A Mirror and Foil
Grace is both a reflection of and a counterpoint to Lila. Her struggle to define herself outside her mother’s shadow adds depth to her character. While she inherits Lila’s journalistic drive, her empathetic approach to unraveling Zelda’s story underscores her evolution.
Zelda Pereira: The Silent Catalyst
Zelda’s character, though absent for much of the novel, looms large over the narrative. Her story is emblematic of the unspoken traumas that shape families, offering a stark contrast to Lila’s outward resilience.
Themes: Ambition, Family, and Identity
1. The Cost of Ambition
Lila’s rise to the top of her field comes at a steep price—estrangement from her children and unresolved guilt. The novel critiques societal expectations that force women to choose between career and family.
2. Inherited Trauma
The novel deftly explores how trauma is passed down through generations. Zelda’s institutionalization and Lila’s fraught childhood cast long shadows over Grace’s life.
3. The Power of Storytelling
Grace’s decision to write The Lost Mother underscores the power of narrative in shaping personal and collective identity. It also raises ethical questions about who gets to tell a story and at what cost.
Writing Style: Sharp, Layered, and Poignant
Rieger’s prose is incisive, blending sharp dialogue with introspective narration. Her ability to transition seamlessly between decades and perspectives keeps the narrative engaging. The humor woven into Lila’s character softens the novel’s heavier themes, while the emotional gravity of Zelda’s story lends it weight. At times, however, the pacing falters, particularly in the middle sections where Grace’s investigation feels overly detailed.
Critiques: Where the Novel Falls Short
- Pacing Issues: The detailed accounts of Grace’s interviews and archival research occasionally slow the momentum, detracting from the emotional resonance.
- Underdeveloped Secondary Characters: While Lila, Grace, and Zelda are richly drawn, supporting characters like Joe and the Starbirds lack depth, making their interactions with the protagonists feel less impactful.
- Over-reliance on Flashbacks: The frequent shifts between past and present, though thematically relevant, sometimes disrupt the narrative flow.
Comparative Analysis: Rieger’s Previous Works and Similar Titles
Susan Rieger’s Bibliography
Rieger’s prior novels, The Heirs and The Divorce Papers, share thematic similarities with Like Mother, Like Mother, particularly in their exploration of familial dynamics and personal ambition. However, Like Mother, Like Mother stands out for its multi-generational scope and historical depth.
Similar Books
Fans of Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You and Elizabeth Strout’s My Name Is Lucy Barton will find resonance in Rieger’s exploration of strained familial relationships and the weight of unspoken truths.
My Personal Take: A Haunting and Thought-Provoking Read
Like Mother, Like Mother left a lasting impression. Lila’s sharp wit, Grace’s relentless pursuit of the truth, and Zelda’s quiet tragedy create a narrative that is as emotionally gripping as it is intellectually stimulating. While the novel isn’t without its flaws, its portrayal of complex women navigating an unforgiving world feels deeply authentic. I found myself reflecting on the novel’s central question: How do we reconcile with a past we never truly knew?
Conclusion: A Thoughtful Exploration of Family and Self
Susan Rieger’s Like Mother, Like Mother is a compelling read that combines historical depth with emotional nuance. Its exploration of ambition, identity, and generational trauma resonates long after the final page. Though its pacing and character development could be stronger, the novel’s strengths far outweigh its weaknesses.
For readers who enjoy reflective, character-driven stories, Like Mother, Like Mother is a must-read. It’s a reminder of the enduring impact of family—and the resilience it takes to forge one’s path despite its shadows.