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Like Mother, Like Daughter
by Kimberly McCreight
Like Mother, Like Daughter was a fast-paced read, which starts off immediately where a rebellious NYU student Cleo finds her mother, Kat, missing and by the looks of the apartment it looks like Kat left forcibly since she left behind a bloody shoe.
Cleo and Kat have been recently estranged, as Kat disapproved of Cleo's inappropriate drug-dealing boyfriend and Cleo had resented her mother's interference with her life. However, it turns out that mother and daughter do not know that much about each other's lives, as they have been hiding parts of their lives from each other. Kat's disappearance causes Cleo to regret how distant she has been with her mother recently, so much so that Cleo begins to investigate potential reasons for Kat's disappearance.
Although Kat claims to be an ordinary corporate lawyer, it turns out that she's actually her firm's fixer - she fixes problems that their clients have created, such as any potential Public Relations disasters or any personal problems. And the means that she deploys may not necessarily be legal. At any rate, Kat's disappearance means that Cleo discovers that her mother is not the squeaky clean rule-follower that she had believed. Moreover, it turns out that Kat's marriage has fallen apart (and Cleo's dad has been hiding that from her); Cleo's ex-boyfriend had also threatened her mother previously after her mother had pushed him too far.
I enjoyed this book's depiction of motherhood, about how Kat believes that she has been making the right choices for Cleo but how this isn't necessarily the way that she's perceived. Cleo finds her mother to be overbearing and she perceives herself as a perpetual disappointment to her mother, ever since she had confided in Kat something personal and Kat reacted poorly. While the mystery was compelling, I found these portrayals of their relationships to be quickly heartbreaking and emotional since it is due to a series of misaligned expectations and misunderstandings that has caused the deterioration of their relationship. It's only through Kat's physical disappearance that Cleo starts to find out more about her mother as a person.
As for the actual mystery behind Kat's disappearance, I do feel like this wasn't the strongest plot that I've read from Kimberly McCreight as it's not particularly innovative. Moreover, there were aspects that I felt were a little disgusting and perhaps ought to have been handled a little more tactfully.
Cleo and Kat have been recently estranged, as Kat disapproved of Cleo's inappropriate drug-dealing boyfriend and Cleo had resented her mother's interference with her life. However, it turns out that mother and daughter do not know that much about each other's lives, as they have been hiding parts of their lives from each other. Kat's disappearance causes Cleo to regret how distant she has been with her mother recently, so much so that Cleo begins to investigate potential reasons for Kat's disappearance.
It is indeed a ferocious love you feel the second you hold your child, hot and wriggling, against your naked chest. You will die to protect that child. You suspect, uncomfortably, that you could also kill. You have never thought of yourself as that person before - wild, animalistic. It will make you feel both powerful and afraid.
This is your first true introduction to motherhood, this study in contradictions.
Although Kat claims to be an ordinary corporate lawyer, it turns out that she's actually her firm's fixer - she fixes problems that their clients have created, such as any potential Public Relations disasters or any personal problems. And the means that she deploys may not necessarily be legal. At any rate, Kat's disappearance means that Cleo discovers that her mother is not the squeaky clean rule-follower that she had believed. Moreover, it turns out that Kat's marriage has fallen apart (and Cleo's dad has been hiding that from her); Cleo's ex-boyfriend had also threatened her mother previously after her mother had pushed him too far.
I enjoyed this book's depiction of motherhood, about how Kat believes that she has been making the right choices for Cleo but how this isn't necessarily the way that she's perceived. Cleo finds her mother to be overbearing and she perceives herself as a perpetual disappointment to her mother, ever since she had confided in Kat something personal and Kat reacted poorly. While the mystery was compelling, I found these portrayals of their relationships to be quickly heartbreaking and emotional since it is due to a series of misaligned expectations and misunderstandings that has caused the deterioration of their relationship. It's only through Kat's physical disappearance that Cleo starts to find out more about her mother as a person.
As for the actual mystery behind Kat's disappearance, I do feel like this wasn't the strongest plot that I've read from Kimberly McCreight as it's not particularly innovative. Moreover, there were aspects that I felt were a little disgusting and perhaps ought to have been handled a little more tactfully.