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This book was healing. I want to press it into the hands of every woman I know, mother or not, and tell them this will help them to understand their lives. And it will make them laugh while they reckon. Somehow it is perfect even when nothing ever is.

She has a knack for saying things the rest of us might think but don't say. I laughed several times. 

While I LOVE complex family stories, I was initially hesitant about this one. I think it’s great that there are currently so many more middle-aged main characters, but I worried about my ability to connect with Rocky, a middle-aged woman with adult children and aging parents. Fortunately, this could not have been farther from the truth!
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I absolutely devoured this book, and there were moments it spoke directly to my soul. I was able to connect with Rocky as a mother in a way that I didn’t expect and honestly, didn’t even know I needed. Her experiences, though fictional, feel real and incredibly validating. 
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I love the learning Rocky continues to do as she works to support her adult children in a healthy way. I also really appreciate the strong sense of duality throughout this story—both in Rocky’s present day and as she reflects on her past experiences. Two things can always be true, and it’s such a valuable life lesson.
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I have read critiques about the portrayal of menopause in this book. While this is something I personally cannot speak to, I think a lot of Rocky’s behavior and emotional state is also due to the unresolved/unprocessed trauma that she’s just beginning to unpack over the course of this week at the beach with her family. To expect this not to have an impact or to be resolved by the end of the book is absolutely unrealistic.
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The setting and readability of this story lends itself well to being the perfect summer read, though, you could really enjoy this book anytime of the year. It’s important to note that there are some BIG trigger warnings (many of which I was not aware of) so be sure to check those out before picking this one up!
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This was good! It reads like a long internal monologue and the plot never resolves but that’s kinda the point? I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s like a memoir, I guess but on fictional characters. The cape cod trip was what initially drew me in because I can deff relate to those parallels. The content is a bit heavy at times so please check the content warnings if you’re looking to avoid certain topics like pregnancy, pregnancy loss, etc. There were a few moments that made me laugh out loud and reminded me of the marvelous Mrs maisel traveling with her parents to camp in New York. A good quick read! 

*perfect* 💕
I’ve never read a book before that so perfectly illustrates the push-and-pull turmoil of motherhood and being a woman

Title: Sandwich
Author: Catherine Newman
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: 4.50
Pub Date: June 18, 2024

T H R E E • W O R D S

Relatable • Nostalgic • Messy

📖 S Y N O P S I S

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.

This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past—except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing—her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends Rocky into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I had the opportunity of travelling to East Sandwich, MA in April 2024 for a grief retreat with some amazing ladies, so adding Sandwich to my TBR was an obvious choice. Marketed as the ultimate summer read, I knew it would be an ode to Cape Cod and the slow pace of life associated with escaping city life and making memories.

Spanning one week, we follow three generations on their annual family vacation, while also getting flashbacks to vacations from years gone by. Exploring themes of motherhood, parenting, shifting family dynamics, ageing, making memories, and the love language of food, this novel wholly embraces Cape life.

Each member of the family has their own personal flaws, yet it is these flaws that makes this such a relatable story. I appreciated being inside Rocky's mind and getting a front row seat to her train of thought, which was at times hilarious. There are definitely summer vacation vibes here, but it also has a layer of depth and serious topics.

Sandwich was the perfect short read for my summer travel. My travel to the area where it is set enhanced my reading experience and ultimately brought the setting to life even more than Newman's writing does. Marketed as a summer read, this one has a lot more emotional depth than I was anticipating, so if you're looking for something light and fluffy, this isn't it. I'll definitely be exploring more of this author's work in the future.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• Cape life
• family vacations
• the love language of food

⚠️ CW: mental illness, post-partum depression, pregnancy, miscarriage, blood, abortion, infertility, sexual content, death, death of parent, grief, body shaming, cursing, alcohol, vomit

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Maybe grief is love imploding. Or maybe it's love expanding. I don't know. I just know you can't create loss to preempt loss because it doesn't work that way. So you might as well love as much as you can. And as recklessly. Like it's your last resort, because it is."

"There are wounds that never really heal, no matter how much time they take."

"Life is a seesaw, and I am standing dead center, still and balanced: living kids on one side, living parents on the other. Nicky here with me at the fulcrum."