Sandwich: A Novel by Catherine Newman
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Web ID: 20312088Wow! What a Ride...
"Sandwich" is about three generations of one family being brought together for their annual family vacation. All have a unique voice but the one resounding voice heard above the others is Rocky’s. Along with her husband, she is sandwiched between her parents and two adult children. The main focus of this story is their extended family as seen through Rocky’s eyes and heart. It’s bold and tender, full of humor and sadness, and her first-person narrative exposes her secrets, fears, and regrets. But mostly, it's a story about deep, endearing love. I read Catherine Newman's previous novel "We All Want Impossible Things" and fell in love with her simple writing style, emotional storytelling, and perfectly imperfect characters. My first response after reading it was "Wow, what a ride!". How does Newman pack so much believable life and living into novels that are barely over 200 pages? I was hooked on "Sandwich" seconds after reading its short prologue. It's my favorite read of 2024 and I highly recommend it. Thank you, Catherine Newman, for another great ride! 5⭐ Thank you to Harper and Catherine Newman for the DRC via NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Not what I expected
Not what I was expecting, but I enjoyed leaning about this quirky, loving family as they spend their annual week at the beach cottage. It’s about love and its evolving state, whether it’s romantic or parent/child. It’s about keeping secrets and whether the holder of the secrets is trying to protect their loved ones or themselves. It touches on post-partum depression and anticipatory grief and shines a spotlight on couple dynamics and navigating a marriage. The story is narrated with humor and self-deprecation by Rocky, the mom, who is dealing with menopause, the weight of guilt, and being an empty nester. Recommended.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
The BEST
I love this book SO much. I am someone who struggles to finish books because they bore me or I get distracted with something else, but not Sandwich. The way she writes evokes all emotion and also makes you feel like you are right there with her/the characters. I am so glad to have read this.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Great Read
I am not quite yet the target age for this one, although I am told I am perimenopausal. According to this book, I have a lot to look forward to (sarcasm LOL). This book is multigenerational and covers an extended family's annual family cape cod trip. I really identified with Rocky in many ways. I have an adult child who is making her way in her first year in college. I related the feelings of separation and the bittersweet moments described. I really loved the wit and the humor that this author brought into this book. I cannot remember the last time I read something so full of heart. I definitely couldn't put it down. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Not for me: boring with an annoying FMC
(2.5 stars, rounded up) Sandwich is set during a one-week family vacation on Cape Cod, in a house they’ve rented for a week for decades. Not a whole lot actually happens during the week, so be prepared for a lot of conversation, making of sandwiches, and personal memories, all told by the mother of the family, Rocky (nickname for Rachel). I was bored for a good portion of the story. The main narrator (Rocky) is a really whiny, annoying person! She’s in her 50s and is going through menopause - and she’s REALLY going through menopause! (I’m thankful my experience was nothing like hers. She should really see a doctor about it.) Her two adult children are with Rocky and her husband for the week, along with the son’s long-time girlfriend. So there’s five people sharing a relatively small house with one bathroom. And then Rocky’s aging parents arrive for a couple of days. So that’s the set-up. The current story is told in the present tense (“I say” versus “I said”) and Rocky’s flashbacks are told in the past tense. It took me a while to catch on to that. Rocky keeps thinking back to when her now-grown children were little and how much she loved them, as well as reliving two traumatic episodes from those days. I thought her husband, Nicky, was pretty much a saint to deal with Rocky. I believed I would relate to the people in this book, having raised three sons and having lost both sets of parents/grandparents, but I just didn’t connect with any of these people. The writing at times was quite lovely, which is why I rounded up my rating a bit. There’s a lot of blunt language (plenty of cursing) and frank talk about pregnancy and abortion, among other topics. The family is Jewish, but not in a very obvious way (they certainly don’t keep kosher, since some of their meals consist of scallops and lobsters), but during a discussion with Rocky’s parents, the fact that Rocky’s grandparents died in the Treblinka concentration camp came to light. Really? Not until that moment? I found that truly unbelievable. And the secret that Rocky was keeping from her husband was just terrible. I’m not sure how he stays with her, to be honest. Like I said, he came across as practically a saint. Sorry, but this one just wasn’t for me. At least it was short. Thank you to Harper and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Delightful.
"For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals, and messes of all kinds: emotional, marital, and–thanks to the cottage’s ancient plumbing–septic too." ~ From the publisher What you see above is just a little tease of Sandwich, which I found to be utterly delightful. I do not describe many books as delightful so hear me when I say it. Reading this book gave me all the feels and was delightful to read. One precious week at the beach house. Both adult children able to attend as Rocky and her husband happily recreate all of the memories from years past. The seafood dinners, the snacks on the deck, the trek to the beach, and this year, their son’s girlfriend has decides to join them. The dynamics have changed. The kids are no longer babies, requiring Rocky’s constant attention, they have their own ideas of how to spend time at the beach house. What’s also changed is Rocky. Experiencing menopause while happily remembering how she raised two small children is touching, but also terribly bittersweet for Rocky. She is definitely going through it in this story. As the days tick by, the joy of just being together takes center stage. There is a lot of internal dialogue as Rocky comes to terms with her new, older self. I love internal dialogue and for those who love food mentions, all the good stuff is here too. The sandwiches on the beach, the trips to the fish market, the clam shack, etc. I adore these domestic moments. It’s not all fluff though. Rocky, also known as Rachel, has some secrets of her own as she fights to remain level-headed and not be so hormonal, all of the time. As her body betrays her, and that’s really how she sees it, she can’t help but wonder what’s next for her. Her whole life was tending to littles. Now that they’re no longer little, what now? When her aging parents visit them at the beach house, that too becomes a heavy topic. Aging parents. Seeing the slow markers of decline but trying to ignore them and maybe even wish them away. Sandwich is about a family, in the past, present, and future set amongst a gorgeous Cape Cod backdrop. Newman hits on a few social issues such as pro-choice / pro-life, women’s health, a touch of mental health as well. I’ve been really gravitating towards these types of “life” reads. I was jokingly calling these types of books menopausal fiction but no, it’s not really that. These stories are more about life than anything else and I just love them. This book reminded me of Same as it Ever Was, which I recently reviewed but this one is happier, cozier, just more enjoyable overall. I loved it so much that I plan to buy my own copy as the one I read was borrowed. Highly recommend.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Misled
Unless you like to read books with a lot of foul language and issues of today in your face, I don’t recommend this one. It’s one of the few books that I didn’t even finish.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Moving story of a family
Sandwich By Catherine Newman This is a photograph in words of three generations of a family sharing a family tradition of spending a week together in a small cottage at Cape Cod. The story teller is Rachel ("Rocky"), the fifty something mom to her two adult children and daughter to her aging parents. Nick is Rocky's husband and the love of her life – even though they seem to be on different tracks emotionally. This story goes back and forth through the years of time spent at this cottage. It also delves into old secrets and wounds, not always recognized or acknowledged. But in spite of all the problems, the one constant here is love. Rocky is overwhelmed with love for her children and is having trouble letting go. The same is true of her feelings for her parents. She says toward the end of the book that she has "heard grief described as love with nowhere to go." This truly sums up the story. To experience love, we must learn to deal with loss in all its forms.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com