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Heidi Pitlor

Impersonation Kindle Edition

by Heidi Pitlor (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

71 ratings

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“By turns revealing, hilarious, dishy, and razor-sharp, Impersonation lives in that rarest of sweet spots: the propulsive page-turner for people with high literary standards.” —Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers

Allie Lang is a professional ghostwriter and a perpetually broke single mother to a young boy. Lana Breban is a powerhouse lawyer, economist, and advocate for women’s rights. With aspirations of running for office, Lana and her staff have decided she needs help softening her public image. That’s when Allie is hired to write Lana’s memoir about her life as a mother. 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 soon Allie’s childcare arrangements unravel; she falls behind on her rent; her subject, Lana, is frustratingly aloof; and Allie’s boyfriend decides to go on a road trip toward self-discovery. As a writer for hire and a mother, Allie has gotten too used to being accommodating. At what point will she speak up for all that she deserves?

Impersonation tells a timely, insightful, and bitingly funny story of ambition, motherhood, and class.

Print length

334 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Algonquin Books
Publication date

August 18, 2020
File size

907 KB
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Heidi Pitlor
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From the Publisher

About the Author

Heidi Pitlor is the author of the novels The Birthdays and The Daylight Marriage. She has been the series editor of The Best American Short Stories since 2007 and the editorial director of Plympton, a literary studio. Her writing has been published in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Huffington Post, Ploughshares, and the anthologies It Occurs to Me That I Am America: New Stories and Art and Labor Day: True Birth Stories by Todays Best Women Writers.

--This text refers to the audioCD edition.

Review

"[A] searing and nuanced exploration of identity."

-- "Booklist"

"[Pitlor] dryly and sometimes poignantly channels the zeitgeist through nuanced characters, settings, and just-right details.Both the story and its resourceful heroine are fresh, intelligent, and charming."

-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"

"In a novel that's smart, surprising, thought provoking, and bound to set a few readers on edge, making for good book-club debate, Pitlor offers an astute study of what it means to be a woman today."

-- "Library Journal"

"Pitlor's smart and thought-provoking latest explores the complexities of feminism, privilege, and the telling of one's life story . . . the sharply observed depictions of how lives are shaped by financial status ring all too true. Fans of Meg Wolitzer's The Female Persuasion will want to take a look."

-- "Publishers Weekly"

"Pitlor's voice is witty and brisk, bringing warmth and light to questions of identity, independence and, yes, intellectual property. Who owns your stories? How much are they worth? Allie Lang's answers are complicated. Watching her reach them is like sitting down with a refreshingly honest friend who skips the part about how great her life is and dives right into the real stuff. We need more friends like this. Authors, too."

-- "New York Times Book Review" --This text refers to the audioCD edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0851971LP
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Algonquin Books (August 18, 2020)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 18, 2020
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 907 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 334 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #178,535 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #531 in Political Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #1,025 in Political Fiction (Books)
- #2,499 in Mothers & Children Fiction

Customer Reviews:
71 ratings

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Heidi Pitlor

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HEIDI PITLOR is a former senior editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Her fiction has been published in Ploughshares, and she is the author of the novel The Birthdays.

Customer reviews

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4 star		36%
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2 star		4%
1 star		3%

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Bee True

Timely and important book

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2020

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This book has all of the right ingredients, a relatable, likeable protagonist, a plot that kept me turning the pages, fantastic humor, and relevant issues.

I rooted for Allie, a single mother who is struggling financially, throughout the entire book. I loved her. I understood her. She is the type of person I would want as a friend—open, honest, and hardworking. Her son is the center of her world, and like most mothers, she will do anything for him. There were moments I laughed, and moments when I found this book incredibly poignant. For me the core of the book is motherhood. Other issues are raised as well: the metoo movement, politics, class, race and feminism, which are all deftly and seamlessly woven into Allie’s story. This is the type of book that makes you think about your own life, reflect on the lives of women, contemplate how far we’ve come, and how we still have miles to go.

This is an incredibly timely, important story that needs to be read by a wide audience.

3 people found this helpful

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Priscilla F Bourgoine

A Fun, Delight of a Read

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2020

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What an engaging, fun, and compelling read! Pitlor gives the reader prose that sings and a plot that punches. I couldn't put this story down until I learned what the outcome for the single-parent Allie and ghostwriter would be. Pitlor captures the reality of what I call "double-parenting" when one is going it solo raising a young child like Allie's son, Cass, and attempting to keep a roof over their head. Despite the hardships, this novel is riddled with humor and wit. There's a bit of romance, too. Overall, this is a captivating, timely, literary read that while it addresses the political climate of 2016 in the U.S., remains entertaining from page 1 to page 322.

One person found this helpful

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Constant Reader

Not My Cup of Tea

Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2021

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Kudos to anyone who has the self discipline, talent and faith to bring a story to publication. It is hard work. I was not captivated by the writing and didn't enjoy the story. That's another thing that makes a writer's life so unrewarding at times, not everyone is going to like their stories, but still, they persist.

Helpful

LikeToRead

Good story of someone trying to live alone

Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2021

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I am not sure if any writer would relate to the story. But, the author made Alli's life and struggle interesting for me to experience through reading.. Alli had quite a mother to deal with and I admired her ability to forgive.

Helpful

marlee s. myers

Poorly written, derivative work. Not worth the time to read.

Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2020

Verified Purchase

Uninteresting characters, poorly drawn plot, not well written.

One person found this helpful

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ms. berres

one off?

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2021

Verified Purchase

I found this book to be mostly believable except for one particular - why wouldn't she sell the Gucci bag if she's so low on money?

Helpful

A Character The Reader Can Relate To

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2020

Allie Lang is a single mother, by choice. She lives with her five year old son, Cass and her on-again, off-again boyfriend. Allie is a ghostwriter by profession, although she has to supplement her income with substitute teaching and landscaping odd jobs. Her childcare is shaky. She can't afford a fulltime program so she has Cass in a childcare center one or two days a week for the socialization and then she has a neighbor watch him on other days. Unfortunately, the neighbor is elderly and getting forgetful but it's what Allie can afford. Her days are filled with uncertainty and she can't plan for the future like those in more stable situations are able to. But she has tons of time to spend with her son and she is her own boss, reliant on herself and her creativity to carve out a life.

When her latest ghostwriting assignment blows up, Allie is at loose ends. Then a dream job comes her way. Lana Breban is a famous woman, a feminist who has come to embody the struggle. She is a household name but her team feels that a biography would humanize her, showing her as not only a revolutionary but a wife and mother. They hire Allie and she is ecstatic as Lana is one of her heroes. But the work doesn't go well. Lana is constantly off somewhere, at conferences and rallies, brainstorming with corporate heads and lawmakers. She gives Allie very little material and it becomes apparent, there is little to give. Lana has been a very hands off mother, leaving the raising of her child to a housekeeper and nannies. Under pressure, Allie slowly begins to substitute in her own memories and struggles of being a mother. Lana is pleased and tells Allie to do more of that and when the book is finished it is more Allie's story than Lana's. But trouble is waiting in the wings.

Heidi Pitlor has worked in the publishing industry for most of her career. She is also the senior editor of the Best American Short Stories series since 2007. Her inside knowledge of the publishing industry makes this novel authentic. She is a wife and mother to twins so she knows the difficulties of motherhood. In Allie, she has created a woman that the reader can instantly relate to and cheer for. The novel illustrates the difficulties women face without being preachy about them. This book is recommended for readers of women's fiction and relationships.

2 people found this helpful

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