| Title | : | Impersonation |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1616207914 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781616207915 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 336 |
| Publication | : | First published August 18, 2020 |
Allie Lang is a professional ghostwriter and a perpetually broke single mother to a young boy. Years of navigating her own and America’s cultural definitions of motherhood have left her a lapsed idealist. Lana Breban is a powerhouse lawyer, economist, and advocate for women’s rights with designs on elected office. She also has a son. Lana and her staff have decided she needs help softening her public image and that a memoir about her life as a mother will help.
When Allie lands the job as Lana’s ghostwriter, it seems as if things will finally go Allie’s way. At last, she thinks, there will be enough money not just to pay her bills but to actually buy a house. After years of working as a ghostwriter for other celebrities, Allie believes she knows the drill: she has learned how to inhabit the lives of others and tell their stories better than they can.
But this time, everything becomes more complicated. Allie’s childcare arrangements unravel; she falls behind on her rent; her subject, Lana, is better at critiquing than actually providing material; and Allie’s boyfriend decides to go on a road trip toward self-discovery. But as a writer for hire, Allie has gotten too used to being accommodating. At what point will she speak up for all that she deserves?
A satirical, incisive snapshot of how so many of us now live, Impersonation tells a timely, insightful, and bitingly funny story of ambition, motherhood, and class.
Impersonation Reviews
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Note: I received a free copy of Impersonation by Heidi Pitlor. In exchange, here is my honest review.
It took me forever to read this book. 😖 It’s one that I would not have finished at all, had I not felt entirely obligated to do so. ☹️ The main character is so whiny 😫 and the stories were just all over the place. Note: I love reading fiction, as it’s an escape from the shit-show world we live in and this book was just too politically charged for me to personally enjoy. 👎🏻 Simply, this book was not a good match for me. ✌️❤️📚
Thank you @goodreads, @heidipit1 and @workmanpub #goodreadsgiveaway -
Ghostwriter Allie Lang is hired to write feminist lawyer Lana Breban’s motherhood memoir. Allie tries to create a compelling story though Lana offers her very little to work with, and writes the book while trying to get by, financially, and as a single mom.
I really enjoyed the ghostwriting theme in Impersonation but struggled with other aspects — I wanted Allie to stand up for herself and demand that she deserved more, professionally and personally. While it was clear she cared deeply for her son, Cass, she often fluctuated between coddling him and bribing him, a repetition which became tiring as a reader. There was a lot of dipping into timely topics in the book: politics, the 2016 election, motherhood, feminism, and the MeToo movement, but not a lot of depth with many of them.
Impersonation kept me curious — I appreciate the message that there are different ways to parent and to find success, yet it was a challenge for me to like or connect with Allie and Lana.
Thank you to Algonquin Books for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. -
When I first read the publisher synopsis for this fiction book and saw the main character was a ghostwriter it was enough of a hook for me to want to read it. I read celeb memoirs frequently and I tend to think more highly of the celebrities who list a co-author on the book cover rather than the ones who want to claim all the credit for themselves without mentioning they hired a ghostwriter. Given the secrecy surrounding ghostwriting I figured this might be a fascinating read.
As a single mother and professional ghostwriter, Allie struggles to make ends meet. She gets hired to write a memoir for Lana Breban, a famous lawyer and women's rights advocate. Lana and her team hope to soften her public image and believe the best way to achieve that is to have her memoir focus on her experiences as a mother. But ghostwriting Lana's book proves to be a challenge for Allie. She is finding it difficult to write because childcare for her young son is usually a dilemma. And it certainly doesn't help the subject of the memoir is not very responsive when it comes to providing material to use in the book.
The ghostwriting plot is what held most of my interest while reading the book. Allie was a bit of a mixed bag of a character for me. I wouldn't say she was unlikable but as the story progressed I actually felt less invested in her life. Not sure what it was about her but at times I felt sympathetic that she really was kinda on her own without a lot of help and yet some times I felt indifferent towards her.
The author tackled many different subjects in this book including motherhood, metoo movement issues, and politics, to name a few. I appreciate the effort to explore relevant topics to give the book substance but I wasn't thrilled with overall execution. After awhile I started to lose focus as it felt like the story went off on too many tangents. But just because I don't think the story reached its full potential, doesn't mean it won't resonate with other readers.
I won an advance copy of this book in a giveaway by LibraryThing and the publisher but was not obligated to post a review. -
"Impersonation" by Heidi Pitlor started off strong, but around the middle mark - this novel became a chore to get through. I am familiar with Pitlor's previous works. I very much enjoyed her last novel, "The Daylight Marriage". It was haunting and disturbing. An excellent thriller. "Impersonation" felt very basic and predictable. I don't even know how to categorize this book. It has a strong literary theme of feminism which I found rather tiresome. I don't think the author really understands what feminism really means. She contradicts herself so many times through her main protagonist, Allie - who's a ghostwriter and single mother. The most compelling aspect was Allie's backstory - her unstable childhood, and her early struggles of raising her biracial son on her own.
The whole ghostwriting plotline was interesting but lacked substance. Allie wasn't a believable character. I never felt like she had a strong opinion about anything. She basically just impersonates the subject she is ghostwriting about - hence the title. Allie complains a lot but doesn't have much backbone. I found her incredibly timid which is upsetting because I really wanted to root for her. The ending was safe and not impactful. I absolutely hated Allie's live-in boyfriend. A total flake. The only reason I'm giving this 3 stars is I like Pitlor's writing style. It's a mixed bag for me.
Thank you, Netgalley and Algonquin for the digital ARC.
Release date: August 18, 2020 -
Ghostwriter Allie is used to stepping into someone else’s shoes and wearing their identities for months at a time. This level of method acting or getting into her subject’s head is required for pulling off a convincing read in someone else’s voice. Unlike actresses however, Allie never gets to take the credit for her work. Some charismatic headliner or successful business woman gets to put their pretty picture on the cover of her books and watch their faces climb the best seller lists. But Allie does not care for the accolades. She just wants to make a good enough living to support her son Cass.
Writing for condescending and sometimes sexist stars can make her job frustrating at times, but Lana Breban, feminist advocate, might be her most challenging client yet. Known for her blue cropped hair and no-nonsense style, Lana is an immigrant who has made her place in the world and has fought for the rights of other women. Allie looks up to her but as she tries to gather personal information for her book, Lana is not very forthcoming. Now that Lana is running for Senate she is not sure if her brand of motherhood appeals to the masses. As she tries to soften her public image Allie’s humble life and experiences seem more of the stuff that voters would like.
Impersonation asks a lot of questions not just about politics, but how we view women and how we judge mothers. Pitlor does start the conversation about modeling feminism for our younger generation in the hope to raise more compassionate and loving men for tomorrow. In the book, Allie tackles with the limits imposed on children by the genderization of babies. She strives to raise Cass in a gender-neutral setting offering him traditionally “feminine” toys like dolls to play with alongside trucks and cars. She also allows Cass to wear clothing of different types and colors but recognizes that other parents are not so open to little boys in pink. Nor will these parents chastise their children for being cruel. Bad behavior is usually explained away as “boys will be boys”.
Although I do not not think everything about motherhood is a feminist discussion, I do feel that oftentimes people feel they have the right to assert themselves in personal matters that are none of their business.
To breast feed or bottle feed? Which is right is a decision made between that mother and that child. I’ve breastfed four children. One I was able to feed on demand. With another we only lasted two months before switching to formula only. A third child was nibbling on chicken bones by 4 months old. The last took to bottle and breast equally. It made him no nevermind how he was eating as long as he had some type of food in his mouth.
What is the right way to disciple your child? Do you give them time out, take away privileges or use rewards as incentive for good behavior? What works with one child does not always work with the next. Nor does it work with the same child day in and day out. Whether she has one child or five, every mom needs to be quick witted and carry many tools in her arsenal.
Impersonation is in part an ode to the many hats that women wear as we make our way through American society. Daughter. Wife. Single mother. Career woman. Sometimes we wear a multitude of titles and they all carry a heavy weight loaded with the expectations of others. Ultimately, it is up to us to decide what works best for our own happiness and learn to advocate for what we want. Don’t apologize for who you are just because it does not fit the definition of who someone else wants you to be. -
To be quite honest, this whole book kind of reads as a self-conscious assertion that the author is on the right side of every single divisive hot topic (race, class, feminism, the me too movement, politics, etc.) and yet so much of this—especially race—is handled pretty poorly. If we’re going to set that aside, then the bigger issue is that Allie is an insufferable character who whines 100% of the time, has no ability to set or respect boundaries, and also blames literally everyone else for problems that she herself causes. And nobody else is much better. Most notably, Lana, who receives all of this weird adoration simply because she is an immigrant and campaigning for women’s equality, as if this inherently cancels out all of her very shitty qualities.
This book dives into far too much, has no discernible interesting plot (it is truly just a daily deluge of Allie’s various anxieties and problems), and is a chore to get through.
Would be happy to fight (read: emphatically go deeper) about any of these thoughts, because I’m honestly surprised that this review seems to be so wildly different from everyone else’s. -
This book hit on a lot of current political issues, but didn’t do so with much finesse. The book is mainly an account of the struggles of a single mother. There is the ghostwriter component to the plot, but it seemed secondary to the single parent story.
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3.5. I think it was both fascinating and painful. Painful, because I found that in places it literally hurt to read it. I think it was an interesting take on our social and political landscape today, and I found I was both sad, intrigued, and a little sick of it. I am definitely in a time for new hope. But its undeniable, that what has occurred over the last number of years is going to make some interesting backdrops for fiction and subtext commentary.
Allie is a ghostwriter. Broke with a young child as a single mother, who can barely make ends meet. She waits for and craves the next job, writing in someone else's voice, never able to use her own, but uses it to embellish others. And she can never tell. But... What if impersonation lands too close to home?
I feel the need to tell you how I came across this book. As an avid Goodreads reader/stalker, there is rarely a book or author I don't know something about and haven't heard of. This one came from nowhere! I found myself on a list for a "Virtually Limitless" Bookclub with our local Jewish Federation. Like I need another bookclub. Like between Goodreads and my own, this is what my life is missing. I don't even know how or when I signed up, or what drug I must have been taking to make that click happen. But here we are. I receive an email about the book club event that evening with a link. The author is coming to respond to questions like 3-4 weeks later. No, I tell them. I cannot attend this, and read your book in time. But maybe in time to hear the author speak. That was this past Wednesday. But by Wednesday, I was only 40% through. I am not the kind of person who shows up to events if I haven't finished the book. Though they tried to get me to come to the first event when I hadn't even read the book! True readers don't do that. But now, I wish I had known about it in time, and had attended both discussions. Because there is an awful lot to talk about here, and I would have liked to have been a part of that experience. Because the book is layered and complicated, and has a political and social statement, underlaying its story.
But the bookclub itself, the one I know nothing about and have never attended. Mostly, I assumed the Federation Bookclub would feature Jewish themed books. This one wasn't. Nothing ever came up about it in the least. I'm not even clear there was a Jewish character. Perhaps the author is Jewish, and that is the selection criteria. I do not know. But I was happy to see that the book club would have a wide range and selection, and judging from the book, a really good selector. Has anyone read this? I would actually like to talk about it. It was absolutely worth my time, and yet as I've said, intriguing and painful, all at once. -
Is this book anti-liberal feminism?
I'm really confused by this book. I'm not sure if the author is trying to tear down liberals and feminism or show how hard it is to do everything right. Part of me doesn't like this book because of how angry it made me feel, at both Allie and Lana. The way Lana uses Allie and Allie's inability to stand up for herself paints feminists in a bad light; like we're liars out to use people. But then a good book will make you feel emotions and anger is an emotion.
So conflicted. I need someone else to read this so we can talk about it.
This book would be perfect for book clubs; lots to unpack and discuss.
I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Story: 4 stars
Character Development: 4 stars
Writing: 4 stars
I'm confused and angry: - 3 stars
https://readingbetweenthestitches.wor... -
My thanks go to Algonquin Books for the review copy. This book is for sale now.
Allie is a single mother and a professional ghost writer. Because her income is sporadic, she picks up money between publishers’ paychecks substitute teaching and landscaping. She’s always broke, always paying the most pressing bill at the expense of others. Then her big break comes, and she’s over the moon. She’s going to write a memoir for a famous feminist, someone she has idolized for many years. The pay is more money than she’s ever earned before, and as a bonus, she will get to spend time with an icon.
Except she won’t.
Her icon is a busy woman, and she isn’t forthcoming with any personal information. Nothing. With deadlines looming, then passing, Allie desperately invents anecdotes drawn from her own experiences, hoping that if they don’t satisfy, her subject may part with some true stories of her own; but ultimately, she is the one that gets tossed under the bus.
The story begins well, witty and absorbing. If I were to review the first few chapters, this would be a four or five star review. However, in the middle of the book the plot bogs down and the pacing grinds to a crawl. I had hoped for a climax and finish that would make it worthwhile, but instead, the story becomes a pedantic manifesto. The feminist issues that are near and dear to Allie’s heart, and one may assume, Pitlor’s as well, are also mine. If anyone in this world should love this story, it should be me. And oh, how I wish it was. But because the protagonist has become such a nonentity, there is no inspirational melding of character and social issues that might have made it possible.
There’s a terrible irony here, or at least there may be. Perhaps Pitlor deliberately ceased developing Allie because Allie is a ghost writer, and her entire career is predicated on her ability to lie low. Perhaps we are meant to see her disappear, and perhaps that’s intended to be part of the message. But if so, it doesn’t work for me. I need more internal development, or more of something else.
Conceptually the story is strong; but the execution leaves something to be desired. -
This is my first read by Heidi Pitlor.
Allie Lang is a ghostwriter. People who can’t write their own books hire Allie to write it for them. She doesn’t get all the fame from writing these books she only gets the money from the contracts; being a single mother this is a risky thing not knowing from one day to another about future contracts.
I was not captured by the story line or any of the characters, it was a slow read for me. I really wanted to enjoy it but it didn’t happen.
Thank you! Netgalley, Algonquin for this chance to participate in this Blog Tour and Heidi Pitlor for this e-arc in exchange of an honest review -
Heidi Pitlor’s new novel, Impersonation, follows a woman as she juggles work, caring for her son, and caring for herself as well. Set to be released on August 18th, this “timely, insightful, and bitingly funny story of ambition, motherhood, and class” takes a look at what life in America is like for one woman at this moment in time.
I loved the concept of a ghostwriter being the focus on the novel since it’s a profession not many people know about. However, what seemed to be a story of two women facing the same struggles actually is just a story about one woman trying to be the best mother she can be. I also was hoping for more interactions between Lana and Allie. Instead, all of the focus was on Allie and Lana is just seen through her eyes and it seemed borderline obsessive at times.
The narration quickly shifts from Allie’s writing to the past to the present which can cause a bit of mental whiplash at times. The book starts off slow and the direction of the novel is hard to navigate in the first two sections. It isn’t until the third and final part of the book that it becomes more fast-paced and palatable.
Additionally, I couldn’t really connect with the characters like I was anticipating. Maybe it’s because I’m not a mother myself, but I just found it hard to relate to being a middle-aged single mother struggling to raise her son well and comparing herself to those around her.
This novel also takes a very politicized stance on certain ideas, which I wasn’t really expecting. Topics like #MeToo Movement and the events leading up to the 2016 Presidential Election are brought up in terms of how Allie tries to portray Lana and how Allie wishes the country could be.
While this novel was interesting and might be a five star read for others, it wasn’t really my cup of tea. However, if you want to read a novel that digs deep into motherhood, feminism, and American politics, then I would definitely give this one a read!
*I received an ARC from Algonquin Books in exchange for my honest opinion. -
This novel is definitely of the moment and that might be to its detriment. It's about a woman in her early forties raising a son alone and working as a ghost writer for prominent personalities, though that work is not lucrative enough to pay the rent and childcare. So it's about economic instability and has a lot of other social issues packed into the story. How to raise empathetic sons, the me-too movement, the deep grief of seeing DJT elected into office, conflicts between mothers and daughters, and more. It did at times have a lecturing quality that rankled me even though I agree with about 90% of the lessons. All in all, it was an easy read. But the book's topicality and social critique somehow overpowered the things I like in novels like strong characters and real emotion coming through.
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Impersonation was an interesting and insightful book. The book explore different topics such as politics, motherhood, feminism, the me too movement and the 2016 Election. Allie Lang hired to write feminist lawyer Lana Breban's memoir. Lana had no interest in her own book or sharing anything about herself with Allie.
Both of these women face criticism for their mothering and careers, but there was also a clear class and privilege difference between them. In this way, the book explores how feminism can mean completely different things depending on societal class and race. The story was mostly character driven. -
I won this book in a Giveaway, but it took me a few weeks to get the nerve to pick it up. The cover is a bit intimidating (dark, science fiction-y) and the summary on the back cover did not excite me.
However, once I started reading it, I had a hard time putting it down! The story reads like a memoir, which is fascinating…the protagonist is a ghostwriter for celebrities and public figures while trying to balance single motherhood and dwindling finances.
The writing is fantastic, and the story is fun to read. -
Thank you Algonquin Books for this free eARC!
Impersonation is about Allie who is a professional ghostwriter among many other jobs she takes on to pay her bills. Allie has complicated relationships with everyone in her life and she’s what some people consider a “hot mess,” but it’s totally relatable. I know what it’s like to be a single mom to a boy so that part of her story really hit home for me.
I really enjoyed this book! Besides being about motherhood, politics, and the publishing world, it weaved in topics like classism, feminism, having a biracial child, and the Me Too movement without them feeling forced. 4.5 stars!
I definitely recommend checking out Impersonation especially if you ever struggle with asking for what you deserve. -
I enjoyed the main character’s life dilemmas and the writing is strong and intelligent. I found that I wasn’t really fond of the main character, her mother or stepfather. Too much vacillating and not enough speaking up for oneself. Wish the the main character had stood up for herself and had more clarity on what she wanted from life. Then she might have been more accepting of the frustrations that life brought her. Also had very little respect for Lana and Allie’s management team.
So, interesting story but unlikeable characters all round. -
A good book doesn’t necessarily mean likable characters, but it certainly helps to have at least one. Allie, Kurt, Lana, even Allie’s son, Cass weren’t drawn well enough to elicit any feeling other than apathy. And to me, that’s not grounds to like a book.
Allie, a single mother of Cass, earns her living through occasional landscaping jobs and ghostwriting memoirs for celebrities. She and her son barely scrape by. She juggles her work and caring for son, with occasional childcare help from a neighbor, Bertie, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, and her live-in partner, Kurt, who’s less than reliable. When a writing job falls through, Allie is thrilled to receive a contract to write a book for a well-known women’s activist/feminist about her life as a mother to a boy. Allie soon discovers that this dream job is more of a nightmare as Lana provides little in the way of her personal experience and the book must draw more from Allie’s own with Cass.
Impersonation does attempt to work hard at presenting a view of motherhood and the disparities between classes and at times, works, but my feelings for Cass and the rest of the characters often detracted from the message. -
This is one of those books where I misunderstood the book blurb. I thought it was going to be about a ghostwriter who started to take on her subject's life, Single White Female style. So for a lot of the book, I kept waiting for the thriller aspect to start. It took me to about 40% before I realized this was not going to be the book I thought it was and although I didn't love where the book was going, I decided to stick it out.
Overall, I was just bored by this. I wish it had been more tightly plotted and there had been more true-to-life consequences for Allie doing the thing she didn't want to do. I also kept waiting for the author to reveal that Also, as much as Allie balked at putting all of that highbrow discourse on breastfeeding, birth plans, and attachment parenting in Lara's memoir, I wish Pitlor had also skipped it. It dragged an already slow book down and at some point I just started skipping large swaths of anything without dialogue because I didn't care. -
This book had a lot of promise for me. A single parent living on the margin who is a ghostwriter for the rich and famous sounds like an interesting storyline. Right? But Allie (the single parent ghostwriter) is not a great narrator. She lacks any dynamic characteristics and I didn’t connect with her at all. Maybe that was the point I thought. Maybe she as the ghostwriter is this clean slate of a person so she can take on the famous people she writes for? But if that is the case, then it would be important to have a lot of meaningful interaction with the people she is writing for. And that doesn’t happen either. So the boredom continues. The crisis in this book you see coming so early on that when it happens you feel grateful. A “let’s put this behind us” kind of moment.
It just all felt like eating too much vanilla ice cream. Vanilla ice cream is fine but about three bites in you kind of wish for a chocolate chip or a strawberry or just anything to add to the flavor. I know this analogy is not my best but my point is this book needed a lot of chocolate chips. -
When reviewing fiction, I try not to pass judgment on the plot and the actions of characters. It is the height of narcissism to assert that you must like every character, agree with every action, and be left at the end with only feelings of comfort and joy. But for books like this which are almost entirely plot-driven, and which contend to portray the world as it actually is by an over-reliance on real world events and circumstances, I’m afraid it’s gotta happen. After all, Heidi Pitlor’s own protagonist believes “show, don't tell” to be eyeroll-worthy advice, and that was the line I needed to understand these were not the thoughts and ideas of an arm’s-length fictional character, but Pitlor’s own self. The book is fifty-percent dialogue (rough guesstimate), with informative lines like “Oh?” and “Hey!”
Pitlor and her avatar, Allie Lang, are on the Right Side of History. Allie is a liberal feminist, working class hero, trans rights activist, and (probable) “Notorious RBG” tshirt owner who would vote for a Democrat if they were braindead and on life support. That’s not my problem with the novel. It’s that every single person in the book who disagrees with or asks something of Allie is coded as an ignorant, idiotic person who hates progress. Any time someone expresses dissatisfaction with the world’s most popular woman, Hillary Clinton, they are gifted with some of the worst lines on the planet. “She said ‘important,’ not annoying,” responds her stepfather in reference to Hildawg. Allie cannot find the humor in any line about HRC that is not of the trite, “nevertheless, she persisted” variety. Her friend Maggie’s husband, later revealed to have wrong ideas on gun control, is described as a man who “loved nothing more than the Celtics and cigars.” She describes antagonistic picketers as holding up signs that say “MOTHERS STAY HOME WITH THEIR CHILDREN” and “CAN’T FEED ‘EM? DON’T HAVE ‘EM!”; of course, Pitlor can’t resist placing a final “LOCK HER UP!” sign in the hands of the haters. When her neighbor Bertie’s son arrives in town to take the aging woman to his home in Wichita, a decision Allie isn’t happy with, he is gifted with the line “You drive that Tacoma? That’s a big truck for a little lady.” This is shortly followed by a scene where she intentionally hurts a dog to own the males and their toxic masculinity (her overcoddled, precious son is scared of dogs, because of course). I would run out of room were I to list every single instance of someone who disagrees with Allie then expressing deplorable opinions or enjoying distasteful hobbies. Near the end, she and her boyfriend Kurt cackle about “coastal elites” directly after describing a room full of elite people on the East coast. There is not a hint of irony to be found.
Speaking of Kurt, I have to talk about Allie’s single momdom. Allie is a single mom by choice, and by choice I mean that she selfishly concludes that her son’s father will not have anything to do with her son’s life, without an ounce of consideration to the father or her son. Allie displays some of the biggest “pick-me” qualities I've ever seen in fiction, celebrating herself for not burdening her baby daddy with icky stuff like parenthood and responsibility. This would be sort of acceptable did she not also spend the entire book whining about how she doesn’t have a partner to help her and has no money for childcare. If Pitlor believes she is writing a working class character that working class women will relate to (choosing to alienate the normal, non-abusive father of her child to make a feminist point), she’s so far off the mark it’s comical. There’s also the fact that her child is half-Indian, but keeping her son away from his Indian father and culture never strikes Allie as problematic. Speaking with her (misogynistic, Trump-supporting, dogfight-watching, because of course) landlord, Jimmy, who tells her that she does in fact need help raising her son, she fires off an internal screed about how he doesn’t understand how independent and free she is due to being old and male. I haven’t yet mentioned that, after throwing off her baby daddy, she brings home a man she finds on a park bench and moves him in with her son. In this book, allegedly about how to raise a son, that this is an absolutely insane decision is never considered. (This is the abovementioned Kurt.)
When Allie, a ghostwriter, is exposed for taking moments of her life and substituting them for the life of celebrity feminist Lana Breban (and with Lana’s blessing), a roundtable of their team is called. “I've been on the phone all morning - it sounds like Remy’s team is already spinning this as hypocrisy.” Then we are promptly informed that Remy Calhoun is a capital-C Capitalist who formerly owned a bottled water company and currently owns an NBA team, and there it is again, the immediate demonization of any character who has an inconvenient opinion about any situation pertaining to Allie. Nevermind the fact that it is, quite literally, hypocrisy, no spinning necessary. When all of the drama spills out onto the viral internet, there are mentions of “KKK insignia” and “nooses,” in spite of the fact that both Allie and Lana are white. It’s a really bizarre portrayal of victimhood, like misogyny isn’t convincing enough on the oppression scale. If that doesn’t convince you, look! They’re also racist! No, it does not matter that race does not factor into this particular portion of the plot. Roll with it. Lana is exposed as a massive hypocrite, but Allie thinks she’s on the right side of history hard enough that she’s bewildered anyone cares.
But the ghostwriting plot is kind of beside the point. It is a book about feminism. But there is no theory, no philosophy, no engagement with feminism as a belief system and a way of thinking and living. There’s a lot of blathering on about choice, but no further introspection about whether a choice is feminist by virtue of its being made by a woman. What a feminist is is purported to be obvious: Hillary Clinton, Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Alyssa Milano, Lana Breban. The blurbs claim the book brings up several interesting questions, like whether women can raise good men and “who owns your stories?” Sure, but all of these questions are distilled into an “it's complicated - LOL!” conclusion, and we’re left with the sort of “well, at least we're right” no-solution we've been plagued with since I was a teenager in high school smugly plopping a “support the magnetic ribbon industry!” magnet on my car. Rebecca Makkai claims the book is “razor sharp.” I think it's about as sharp as a plastic knife. Not the clear one. The white one. You know what I’m talking about.
One thing I did like was the recurring motif of “stuckness” in the form of a Virginia Woolf quote from To the Lighthouse. It was strange that Allie, who hates showing and not telling, would be such a big Woolf fan, but it’s consistent with the lack of depth of any of her proclamations further than the period that ends the sentence. Still, it worked for me, even if it was sort of forgotten in the final chapters. I guess its late disappearance could correlate with Allie finding contentedness, but since no one told me, how could I ever know?
If this entire reactionary book turns out to be satirical: well-played, Pitlor. But somehow I don’t believe this could possibly be true of a novel with a “Readers Guide” that contains questions like “Have you ever made incorrect assumptions about other people? What were the consequences then?” Then again, it could be a genius part of the bit. I will admit that I thought this was a Dorothy Books release (the cover is Dorothy-ish!) which probably explains why I bought it in the first place. Nevertheless, I persisted... -
3.5
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A lot of work for little payoff. Meh. More later.
My review is here:
https://bookadept.com/2021/02/12/impe...
And on reflection, I think I was kinder than I should have been! -
Set in the early days of the Trump presidency and the rise of #MeToo movement, Impersonation explores the intersection between what women are willing to accept and what they need and must learn to demand for themselves.
Allie Lang is the forty-year old single mother of five-year-old Cassie. Her writing career was sidelined back in Dartmouth when she resisted her advisor’s advances. She later left a good job to help her mother care for her ailing step-dad. Now, she cobbles together an income by substitute teaching, landscape work, and ghostwriting memoirs for celebrities of all calibers.
Al has a live-in boyfriend who is a great guy and a wonderful male role model for Cassie. But, he is also a recovering capitalist whose divorce spurred him to seek a more meaningful life. Between odd jobs, he travels across country. Al is afraid to demand more of his time, knowing he needs to find himself. She also resists becoming dependent on any one.
When a lucrative book deal falls through after the celebrity is named in the #MeToo movement, Al is given the job of writing a memoir about motherhood for a nationally known feminist. It should be a dream job, especially after the smarmy stories the last guy wanted to tell her. Except, Al can’t get Lana to talk about her life and has to, well, basically, make up stories.
Al struggles with the basic needs of putting a roof over their heads and raising a son and dealing with her parents and here-and-gone again lover. And, of course, trying to pin down her celebrity so she can finish the book and get paid.
The purpose of the memoir becomes apparent as Lana decides for a political career. Al’s purpose is to make an intelligent, powerful feminist appealing to Middle-American women–an anti-Hillary. As Al impersonates Lana, in the memoir Lana is impersonating the typical American mother and housewife. Al has not recourse but to plumb her own life for insights and stories.
The lesson Al must learn is that being independent does not mean a woman can’t ask for what she needs, like a better salary and a committed relationship and help in juggling job and motherhood.
I was pleased with the competent writing, the humor that had me laughing out loud, and the realistic portrayal of motherhood. Al works from home, and the challenges will resonate with many women who had to work from home with kids in the house during the pandemic. Best of all, Al is a mirror to the many ways women are more worried about taking care of other people than we are ourselves. When Al empowers herself, a happy ending ensues and she and Lana become a powerful team.
I received a free galley through NetGalley from the publisher. My review is fair and unbiased. -
"My work to hide or recast the truth-something that had become second nature to me-often had to move beyond the printed page."
Hmm... welp, a few days after turning the last page I'm still scratching my head over how I feel about this one.
Ghostwriter Allie Lang is this sad character who, I'm ashamed to say, made me feel a little better about my own imperfect life. She's smart and a talented writer... but making a living ghostwriting for D-list celebrities isn't exactly raking in the dough. So she supplements her ghostwriting income with odd jobs of substitute teaching and lawn care. She's a single mom who loves her kid but finds it hard to give him what he needs due to the lack of said dough. She kinda-sorta has a boyfriend but doesn't want to rely on him too much because she's a strong independent woman, goddammit. When one seemingly promising ghostwriting gig goes awry, she gets handed what just may be her big break - ghostwriting bigshot feminists lawyer Lana Breban's memoir about motherhood. But the job doesn't go quite as planned, and Allie finds herself flailing to stand up for herself and advocate for what she wants/needs/deserves.
As I read, I wondered who Allie represents in Pitlor's eyes. Did she think female readers would see a bit of themselves in Allie? Is Allie how Pitlor sees herself? Is she an every-woman of our modern era who clearly is a feminist, but struggles to put that feminism into practice? I think Allie wants to be a strong woman - but she doesn't want it enough to fully commit to it. She despises Trump... but won't flat out tell her landlord that in fear that he might raise her rent. She put other women down in order to raise herself up and later feels shame that she did so. She wants her young son to respect women and express his sensitive side, but she winds up coddling him in the process. There are many more examples, but they're spoilers so I'm going to leave it there. It wasn't that Allie was an unlikeable character - she just kept making the same sad decisions over and over throughout the book and it was a bit cringeworthy to read. But maybe that's Pitlor's message - that even with the progress us ladyfolks have made in recent years, still just overarchingly... sucks to be a woman.
Sadly, this book made me rethink how I feel about some of my favorite memoirs. I loved loved loved Michelle Obama's Becoming and Trevor Noah's Born a Crime and when the interwebs told me that both of 'em used a ghostwriter to some extent (and as we all know, Google does not lie) I found myself liking those books just a teeeeny bit less. Impersonation is a work of fiction and I have no idea how much Allie's experience mirrors actual ghostwriting, but I wanted have the wool solidly pulled over my eyes and believe that Obama and Noah (and countless others) wrote their stories themselves. So thanks for telling me that Santa isn't real, Pitlor. -
I am familiar with Heidi Pitlor as the editor of the BASS series for a number of years. I always read her intros in those books which typically were interesting.
My feelings about this story wavered up and down, at times entertaining, at times not so much. Ultimately this felt like a platform for Pitlor’s political and social opinions. Not that I disagreed with her for the most part, just that at times it was like listening to someone at a podium lecturing about feminism, the sh**show of the 2016 U.S. election, and its aftermath on American society.
Allie Lang is a struggling single mother more often than not broke. Although she works very hard as a landscaper, a substitute teacher and a ghostwriter for celebrities, she can’t quite make it on her own, so she has this unreliable guy living with her. She gets a job ghostwriting for Lana, a feminist celebrity who acts as though she and Allie have much in common but are from opposite poles.
It was disheartening to have this woman who had such potential when she went off to college end up in a small town near where she grew up and barely eking out a living. She (sort of) made the decision to be a single mother but it’s a struggle. She’s trying to bring her toddler son up without specific gender hang-ups but she seems embarrassed by some of his preferences when confronted by others about it. Rather contradictory of what she’s supposedly trying to instill. Maybe because it’s been many years ago, I could not relate so much to the single parent theme. -
In Impersonation, Pitlor follows Allie, a ghostwriter, who is tasked with writing the memoir of Lana Brebane, a successful feminist activist, focusing on her role as a mother, and raising a feminist boy. This novel takes place in the shadow of the 2016 election and its repercussions, which informs a lot of Allie’s mental conflict. She is constantly wondering how to be a good mother, earn enough money for her family, yet maintain her liberal, feminist values. Pitlor’s writing captures Allie’s mental hurdles really well, and this novel is a great character study that kept me hooked.
However, I found issue with the representation of feminism throughout the entire book. Lana represents this ideal feminist figure in the story, yet the version of feminism she spouts is one that is all talk, no action, and is not inclusive to race, class, ability, or sexuality. Lana constantly pulls these bizarre stunts in the name of feminism and trots out facts about minority groups, yet seems to do nothing to support these groups. It is a version of feminism that is not inclusive, and feels pretty outdated now. I wanted Allie to rebel against Lana’s vision and power over her, yet Allie constantly rolls over and justifies Lana’s behavior, even when she is blatantly manipulating Allie. Lana really bothered me—she seems to constantly gaslight Allie and take advantage of her in a variety of ways. I am sad that Allie was never given the chance to really own her story and come out from under Lana’s thumb.
I do think there are really interesting discussions of motherhood and success, and how one might define both, throughout this story. The parts I enjoyed the most were when Allie was ruminating on her own goals, and how she wanted to live her life with her son, Cass, and her partner, Kurt. The comparison between Lana and Allie’s versions of motherhood and partnership were stark, and I think this would make great material for a book club discussion. While I did have a big issue with the central message of this book, I’d be curious to see what Pitlor comes out with in the future.
Thanks to Algonquin Books for providing me with an ARC and asking me to participate in the blog tour for this book! -
The first quarter of the book was hard for me to get through. Something about the over-the-top characterization put me off. It seemed I was reading a parable or case study, not so much a piece of fiction I could get lost in. The plot hit its stride quickly, though, and I'm grateful I stuck around for what turned out to be a smart, insightful story with a few well-placed twists to keep the central message from being heavy-handed. I didn't always like or agree with the protagonist and the decisions she made, but I liked how true to life everything was, how uncertain and grey and murky. In real life, it's hard to know whether you're doing the right thing, and the pressure to live in a way that is popular and acceptable to your peers is probably heavier than it's ever been, thanks to people's ability to weigh in on your life choices from all over the internet. It was nice to see that exhausting confusion, that constant checking in with the capricious masses, encapsulated so well in such a readable, genuinely fun book.
