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A review by sonia_reppe
Impersonation by Heidi Pitlor
5.0
At first glance, it's novel about a single mom trying to make ends meet with substitute teacher gigs and by ghost-writing memoirs for celebrities. It broadens into a look at America's current political climate, public shaming, views on feminism, motherhood, hypocrisy, and all the gray areas surrounding "ends justifying the means."
37-yr-old Ally is struggling to work and raise her 5-yr-old and get out of debt when she gets a gig ghost-writing for a well-known lawyer/feminist/activist. When Lana wins a bid for the senate, the stakes are higher, and Lana's publicists push Ally to engineer a totally fake memoir, a "softer, feminine" motherhood memoir, one that hides the truth: that as Lana travels all around the world advocating for women's rights, a nanny raises her son. Ally, as a feminist liberal, goes along with it, rationalizing that Lana does a lot of good for people, especially women.
Through Ally's eyes, the book asks us to think about issues of gender inequality, the unfair pressure for women to be hands-on mothers lest they be viewed as failures or "bad;" the struggles of a single mom; fake images; and big-time hypocrisy.
I liked reading this and questioning what the author wanted me to think. Lana and Ally don't come off that bad, they are good-hearted, just doing the best they can in a man's world, even if lying is justified in their view. I like that interpretation seems open to the reader. Very enjoyable read.
(The woman's marches that sprang up all over the country are witnessed by Ally with pride and swoony, gushy feeling. Yet maybe the author was simply adding to the book's theme of agendas being spun and masses of people falling for it...Lots of layers here).
37-yr-old Ally is struggling to work and raise her 5-yr-old and get out of debt when she gets a gig ghost-writing for a well-known lawyer/feminist/activist. When Lana wins a bid for the senate, the stakes are higher, and Lana's publicists push Ally to engineer a totally fake memoir, a "softer, feminine" motherhood memoir, one that hides the truth: that as Lana travels all around the world advocating for women's rights, a nanny raises her son. Ally, as a feminist liberal, goes along with it, rationalizing that Lana does a lot of good for people, especially women.
Through Ally's eyes, the book asks us to think about issues of gender inequality, the unfair pressure for women to be hands-on mothers lest they be viewed as failures or "bad;" the struggles of a single mom; fake images; and big-time hypocrisy.
I liked reading this and questioning what the author wanted me to think. Lana and Ally don't come off that bad, they are good-hearted, just doing the best they can in a man's world, even if lying is justified in their view. I like that interpretation seems open to the reader. Very enjoyable read.
(The woman's marches that sprang up all over the country are witnessed by Ally with pride and swoony, gushy feeling. Yet maybe the author was simply adding to the book's theme of agendas being spun and masses of people falling for it...Lots of layers here).