Sandwich by Catherine Newman ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

A moving, hilarious story of a family summer vacation full of secrets, lunch, and learning to let go.

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June 2024; Harper; 978-0063345164
audio, ebook, print (240 pages); women's fiction

I've read a lot of comments about this book on social media so I decided to order it from Amazon to find out what all the hype is about.  It was an interesting read about a woman stuck between the generations -- in the middle of her adult children and her aging parents - trying very hard to make everyone happy often trying too hard which makes her unhappy with her own life.

For the past two decades, Rocky and her family have spent a week at Cape Cod during the summer.  This year is no different - Rocky and her husband Nick, their son and his girlfriend, and their daughter all crowd into a tiny rental to enjoy the week at the beach and reminisce on their past trips to the same house.  The last two days of the week, Rocky's aging parents come to the beach house.  With three generations of the family all in one small house, she realizes how sandwiched she is between her almost adult children and her aging parents.  Much of the story takes place in her mind as she complains about the changes that menopause is bringing to her body and the effect it is having on her mind.  She's proud of her children but misses them being small and relying on her to take care of all of their needs.  She seems very ambivalent about her husband - it's almost like she loves him but oftentimes doesn't like him much.  She's kept secrets from him for their entire marriage and feels justified in it.  During this week at the beach, she realizes that it's finally time to share her secrets with him no matter what happens as a result.

This is a character-driven story so don't expect a lot of action. It's a look at the life of a family  - parents, adult children, and aging parents  - during one week on their annual beach vacation.  The characters are quirky and some of the family interplay is funny but overall, it's a serious look at learning to accept the changes that occur as we age -- whether we want them to or not.

Buy Sandwich at Amazon 

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is two hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

 

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