Like Mother, Like Mother – Susan Rieger

From the beginning, I was captivated by this book purely for the characters. They all depicted pure humanity in its rawest form—with their flaws being so deeply intertwined with the good qualities and showing how life circumstances mold us for better or for worse. We can use our circumstances to better ourselves or we can use them to deteriorate. We are never certain of the cards we will be dealt in this life, but the best we can do for ourselves and those around us is to try to be the best we can be and share bits of our personal histories along the way to connect with and inspire others. Lila’s experience shows what happens when experiences and histories are kept a secret from others. There are questions without answers and mysteries that leave a hole in family lineage. Grace’s perseverance to attain answers shows that not all answers are positive nor provide relief to those seeking them. That does not mean, however, that these answers are not important. Answers, often times, are better than a life with an unfillable hole of a mystery. Arguably, the career Lila absorbed herself in was a way to distract herself from the mystery of what happened to her mother. Perhaps, knowing sooner, would not have led to a relationship with her mother, but filled that hole enough to encourage her to be a more present mother and wife. But who knows? Her life may have played out the same and she may have made the same choices. Either way, she was more present with her daughters than her parents were with her. Even the slightest but of progress is progress nonetheless. This was a very compelling story about a family who had been dealt both good and bad cards, and who, like many of us, are complicated. This complexity is also what binds families together, because who else would understand such circumstances?