Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by buttonsandbooks
Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger
5.0
I am incredibly glad I picked this book up. I saw someone review it on Bookstagram and knew I had to have it, but wow. This really sucked me in and blew me away. What forces of nature these women were.
In Detroit in 1960, two year old Lila loses her mother when her angry, abusive father has her committed to an asylum. As a result, Lila never sees her mother again and grows up being hard. She prioritizes work over everything, but is very up front with her husband Joe that child rearing will be up to him. Together, they have three girls and Joe is the most amazing father, while Lila barely makes it home some nights. The older girls never seem to mind, but Grace, the youngest, is profoundly shaped by her absence. Grace ends up writing about her absent mother, and her disappearing grandmother. Interestingly, this seems to help her understand Lila a bit. Grace seeks to answer the question - how can you ever be yourself if you don't know where you came from?
There's a line in the book that says (about the mothers), "They did what they had to. They did what they could." What a simple, to the point way to describe something as complex as motherhood. I've always found it fascinating, nature versus nurture and that's a lot of what this reminded me of. As someone who doesn't have a very warm or close relationship with my mother, I wanted that with my children. I feared I'd be a terrible mom because my example wasn't really the parent I needed. But, I do my best and I can tell my kids feel secure and loved. I don't think you can ask for much more than that as a parent.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
In Detroit in 1960, two year old Lila loses her mother when her angry, abusive father has her committed to an asylum. As a result, Lila never sees her mother again and grows up being hard. She prioritizes work over everything, but is very up front with her husband Joe that child rearing will be up to him. Together, they have three girls and Joe is the most amazing father, while Lila barely makes it home some nights. The older girls never seem to mind, but Grace, the youngest, is profoundly shaped by her absence. Grace ends up writing about her absent mother, and her disappearing grandmother. Interestingly, this seems to help her understand Lila a bit. Grace seeks to answer the question - how can you ever be yourself if you don't know where you came from?
There's a line in the book that says (about the mothers), "They did what they had to. They did what they could." What a simple, to the point way to describe something as complex as motherhood. I've always found it fascinating, nature versus nurture and that's a lot of what this reminded me of. As someone who doesn't have a very warm or close relationship with my mother, I wanted that with my children. I feared I'd be a terrible mom because my example wasn't really the parent I needed. But, I do my best and I can tell my kids feel secure and loved. I don't think you can ask for much more than that as a parent.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐