I've got one more week of school and a bunch of things to check off my "to-do" list before I can officially consider myself on a break.
The kids are a little bit wound up, and I'll admit I'm not very focused on work right now. My middle daughter is home from college. Things will be a little different this year as my oldest daughter is now married and the "coming home" time will be split between our family and her husband's.
I love a good dysfunctional family novel and I've loved Susan Rieger's other books so Like Mother, Like Mother was a fast (and entertaining) weekend read.
The stories of three generations of women from one family are uncovered in this novel. Lila has great success in her professional life, but she isn't cut out to be a mother. At least that's what she has always believed. Her own mother was committed to an asylum when Lila was just two and then died when she was there. Her father, Aldo, was abusive and her Bubbe (aunt) who raised her wasn't a touchy-feely type of mother figure, either.
Grace is Lila's youngest daughter. Her twin sisters look like their mom, while she is dark and lean like her father. Joe has been the primary parent for the three girls while Lila continues to devote all of her time to work. Grace looks back on her childhood and eventually writes a novel that closely parallels real life.
While Lila has always believe that her mother died, Grace starts questioning if that is what really happened. As technology has advanced it is now possible to learn about long-lost relatives, and Grace (along with her mother's sister, Clara) take advantage of this development.
There was plenty to think about- the differences in mothers and being maternal, what makes a good mother, the double-standard that exists between acceptable behavior for a mother versus acceptable behavior for a father, the way parents influence our own parenting, and how the roles of parents are determined in each family. This would be a good book club choice and anyone who enjoys a good dysfunctional family story should pick this one up.
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