What do you think?
Rate this book
Sandwich
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Fiction (2024)From the beloved author of We All Want Impossible Things, a moving, hilarious story of a family summer vacation full of secrets, lunch, and learning to let go.
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.
It's one precious week: everything is in balance; everything is in flux. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.
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.
It's one precious week: everything is in balance; everything is in flux. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.
236 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 18, 2024
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 9,054 reviews
June 22, 2024
I am the exact target audience for this book. I’m 54 yr old menopausal woman with two grown children who spends lots of time in Sandwich Ma! But this book just did not do it for me. I was annoyed at the places in Sandwich were completely fictional (not that real names of places needed to be used but it’s what makes it fun for locals to read and they did not describe places that actually exist)and a HUGE pet peeve is the audio narrator (who did do a fantastic job otherwise) pronounced Barnstable wrong (it’s more like ‘barn stibel’ not barn STABLE, like horse barn) and if I were the author I would demand that be fixed!
But besides those personal pet peeves, I just found the relationships with her children a little TOO open and there were also comments made that were really over the top, like for shock value, and I am far from a pearl clutcher, but a lot of these seemed really unnecessarily crude.
As for Rocky, the main character, I will say she made me thankful my menopause experience isn’t as bad as hers. She is one angry angry woman on the verge of exploding at any and all times. I almost want to have my husband read it so he knows how lucky he is lol This woman’s husband is a friggen saint. To go with the flow as much as he does.
And although I, as well as many moms, get sentimental about their kids and missing the younger days, she really goes over the top almost to point where it’s creepy.
I did enjoy the ending and it put a lump in my throat but overall, it just didn’t hit the mark for me as a fun beach read.
But besides those personal pet peeves, I just found the relationships with her children a little TOO open and there were also comments made that were really over the top, like for shock value, and I am far from a pearl clutcher, but a lot of these seemed really unnecessarily crude.
As for Rocky, the main character, I will say she made me thankful my menopause experience isn’t as bad as hers. She is one angry angry woman on the verge of exploding at any and all times. I almost want to have my husband read it so he knows how lucky he is lol This woman’s husband is a friggen saint. To go with the flow as much as he does.
And although I, as well as many moms, get sentimental about their kids and missing the younger days, she really goes over the top almost to point where it’s creepy.
I did enjoy the ending and it put a lump in my throat but overall, it just didn’t hit the mark for me as a fun beach read.
Read
September 23, 2024This book was annoying.
July 3, 2024
Loved this one 🥹 “This is a book about love and change and loss, all packed into an annual family week on Cape Code. And it’s a total delight.”
I don’t know if this one will be for everyone, the writing is different than anything I’ve read before, but I adored it
I don’t know if this one will be for everyone, the writing is different than anything I’ve read before, but I adored it
June 26, 2024
So boring. No plot. Ranty. Excessively political. Just liberal woke nonsense for no reason. I’m very pro-choice but I’m not interested in reading anymore books that are just someone’s social justice warrior project. I’m also done with books where women are written as complete idiots but miraculously they are so smart in their career but don’t have the good sense to get through 5 minute of real life.
June 28, 2024
I know this got a lot of rave reviews and I know I'm in the minority, but I was so disappointed by this book. I didn't feel the book had much substance nor was it original, and I really don't get reviews saying it's witty. I guess I grew up in a home too dysfunctional to allow me to ignore my willing suspension of disbelief and think there exists such perfect families. It annoyed me. There's no real conflict. When the Mom doesn't want to deal with something she blurts out that she's having hot flashes and/or is menopausal. It was trite. Maybe she could have seen a doctor and tried to deal with her hormonal issues in some way rather than relying on making sandwiches to make her perfect life THE most perfect it could be. I rarely write reviews because I'd rather move onto my next read and, with the quantity of books I read, I feel my time could be better spent not giving my opinion on something everyone else has already given their opinion on. For once, I felt like I needed to justify my review since this has been touted as one of the best new reads. I've never had a perfect life and reading about people that do was really f'n boring to me. The only upside was that this was really short, so I didn't waste much time. And, I got it from the library, so I only wasted time but no money. In case the one-star review isn't indicative enough, I hated this book.
June 27, 2024
Might be the Worst Book I’ve Read this Year ( And I Read About 5/week)
Reading this was painful, I had to force myself to finish. Mostly a monologue about one woman’s struggle with her feminine body; abortion, depression, menopause, etc. There really is no generational sandwich, other than the one she creates in her head. Her children are of age and live independently, her parents are elderly but live independently. Her husband should be given a hero award for sticking with her. I can think of nothing positive to say about this book other than I finished it.
Reading this was painful, I had to force myself to finish. Mostly a monologue about one woman’s struggle with her feminine body; abortion, depression, menopause, etc. There really is no generational sandwich, other than the one she creates in her head. Her children are of age and live independently, her parents are elderly but live independently. Her husband should be given a hero award for sticking with her. I can think of nothing positive to say about this book other than I finished it.
June 23, 2024
Sandwich by Catherine Newman follows fifty-four-year-old Rachel or “Rocky” as is called by those close to her, over the course of her annual family trip to Cape Cod. We meet her husband Nick, her adult children – daughter Willa, son Jamie and his girlfriend Maya and her elderly parents also join them for a few days in their rental cottage. There is a lot to manage and Rocky is the middle of it all. We follow her as she navigates the demands of her family, her own struggles with bouts of melancholy and mood swings (not to mention the hot flashes) brought on by menopause and is often overwhelmed by memories of the years gone by – some happy and some not so much.
The narrative is presented from Rocky’s first-person PoV and spans a week in the characters’ lives, with past events being shared as flashbacks as present-day events evoke nostalgia and Rocky is reminded of past events. The pacing is on the slower side, which suits the nature of the story. This is a story about what it means to be a family-the shifting dynamics within, navigating the ups and downs, growing together and giving each other space for individual growth, making memories, evolving, holding on and learning to let go. The author addresses several sensitive topics, including parenting, sexuality, menopause,motherhood, miscarriage,marriage, aging, family secrets, grief, sacrifice and much more with maturity and insight.
Beautiful prose, relatable characters and realistic situations, plenty of love, laughter and food (and of course, sandwiches) as well as tears and frustrations, and some truly heartfelt conversations and poignant moments make for a quiet yet incredibly thought-provoking read!
Many thanks to Harper for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel was published on June 18, 2024.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
The narrative is presented from Rocky’s first-person PoV and spans a week in the characters’ lives, with past events being shared as flashbacks as present-day events evoke nostalgia and Rocky is reminded of past events. The pacing is on the slower side, which suits the nature of the story. This is a story about what it means to be a family-the shifting dynamics within, navigating the ups and downs, growing together and giving each other space for individual growth, making memories, evolving, holding on and learning to let go. The author addresses several sensitive topics, including parenting, sexuality, menopause,motherhood, miscarriage,marriage, aging, family secrets, grief, sacrifice and much more with maturity and insight.
Beautiful prose, relatable characters and realistic situations, plenty of love, laughter and food (and of course, sandwiches) as well as tears and frustrations, and some truly heartfelt conversations and poignant moments make for a quiet yet incredibly thought-provoking read!
Many thanks to Harper for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel was published on June 18, 2024.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
July 1, 2024
"And this may be the only reason we were put on this earth. To say to each other, I know how you feel. To say, Same. To say, I understand how hard it is to be a parent, a kid." Catherine Newman, Sandwich
I laughed, I cried and I laughed some more. Family, parenting, love, Cape Cod and the underestimated smell of being on the beach that brings both clarity and relaxation. Sandwich is a wonderful representation of how families live - love - disagree and how they endure. Marriages, aging parents, children who grow to find their own love and the complicated dance of a marriage between two that ebbs and flows over the course of several decades. There is no sweeter story than that of family - and with that comes all the heartaches and tribulations - and culminates with love.
I laughed, I cried and I laughed some more. Family, parenting, love, Cape Cod and the underestimated smell of being on the beach that brings both clarity and relaxation. Sandwich is a wonderful representation of how families live - love - disagree and how they endure. Marriages, aging parents, children who grow to find their own love and the complicated dance of a marriage between two that ebbs and flows over the course of several decades. There is no sweeter story than that of family - and with that comes all the heartaches and tribulations - and culminates with love.
June 25, 2024
Ahh, give me a story about a 50 year old woman, throw in menopause (identifiable & relatable), add poetic, entertaining, atmospheric writing and we have the perfect literary sandwich combo, worthy of gobbling up.
Sandwiched between generations - her now adult children and her loveable, aging parents, Rachel, aka Rocky takes us on a journey of a family annual week holiday at Cape Cod. There is self growth, passage, grief, relationships, family joy, loss, secrets and revelations to be had.
Written with incredibly clever humour but also with sweet, tender-heartedness. Rockys internal monologue curates memories from her own childhood, her marriage (early on and now) and raising her “perfect and beautiful” children.
It’s rare a book can make me laugh out loud and weep in equal measures as Sandwich did. Her candid vag and lady bits talk - told both from child bearing to her now old saggy aging one had me literally cackling - nearly all from my own similar experiences.
The raw and visceral emotion Newman brings to the narrative is written with unabashed vulnerability and introspection, seemingly deliberately and yet intricately observed.
“ Nick immediately pulls off his Red Sox T-shirt and Red Sox cap and asks Willa if she wants to swim. ‘Nah.’ She says. ‘I’m lazy. I’m just going to lay in the sun for a while.’ Nick catches my eye because lay instead of lie, but we don’t say anything because we’re trying not to be colonialist grammar-police fucktrumpets or what ever it is Willa has accused us of being.”
5 freaking stars 🌟
🤩 Huge thanks to the wonderful team @penguinbooksaus @catherinenewman for this absolute winner! 💌
Sandwiched between generations - her now adult children and her loveable, aging parents, Rachel, aka Rocky takes us on a journey of a family annual week holiday at Cape Cod. There is self growth, passage, grief, relationships, family joy, loss, secrets and revelations to be had.
Written with incredibly clever humour but also with sweet, tender-heartedness. Rockys internal monologue curates memories from her own childhood, her marriage (early on and now) and raising her “perfect and beautiful” children.
It’s rare a book can make me laugh out loud and weep in equal measures as Sandwich did. Her candid vag and lady bits talk - told both from child bearing to her now old saggy aging one had me literally cackling - nearly all from my own similar experiences.
The raw and visceral emotion Newman brings to the narrative is written with unabashed vulnerability and introspection, seemingly deliberately and yet intricately observed.
“ Nick immediately pulls off his Red Sox T-shirt and Red Sox cap and asks Willa if she wants to swim. ‘Nah.’ She says. ‘I’m lazy. I’m just going to lay in the sun for a while.’ Nick catches my eye because lay instead of lie, but we don’t say anything because we’re trying not to be colonialist grammar-police fucktrumpets or what ever it is Willa has accused us of being.”
5 freaking stars 🌟
🤩 Huge thanks to the wonderful team @penguinbooksaus @catherinenewman for this absolute winner! 💌
August 12, 2024
Sandwich is a slice of life novel, following Rocky and her family on their annual week-long summer vacation in Cape Cod. Her two children are now young adults, her parents are aging, and her husband remains a steady presence in her life throughout their highs and lows.
Overall, I enjoyed this story which has themes of family, motherhood, and love. It explores a variety of relationships. This isn’t a long book and the conversation style was easy, even when more substantial topics were involved.
Sandwich is set during a week of vacation but there are also many flashbacks, providing more insight into Rocky as a character. All of the characters felt realistic, and while I understood Rocky was coming to terms with this new stage of her life, she was too angsty for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Books for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Overall, I enjoyed this story which has themes of family, motherhood, and love. It explores a variety of relationships. This isn’t a long book and the conversation style was easy, even when more substantial topics were involved.
Sandwich is set during a week of vacation but there are also many flashbacks, providing more insight into Rocky as a character. All of the characters felt realistic, and while I understood Rocky was coming to terms with this new stage of her life, she was too angsty for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Books for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
July 31, 2024
3.5 stars, rounded up for the humor. A week in the life of an extended, multi-gen family as told by Rocky, a mid-fifties "empty nester" woman with a lot of issues. I liked, but didn't love this one - there was a lot I did connect to, I've been through the change & am caring for my Mom and I, like many, many women, do have a reproductive history with some loss & a few regrets. But this was a tad slow & just too much of the FMC's obsessive thoughts for my personal taste. It does make some good points, so perhaps others will get more from it than I did. That said, as a "Childless cat lady", I really, really loved "Chicken", the family cat, and how various family members all gave him a voice! 😻😻😹 meow!
August 23, 2024
Just no.
There is a difference between taking artistic license and then there is just flat out distasteful. This is the latter for so many reasons. I don’t even know where to begin.
Between the non-traditional dialogue writing style and vivid descriptions of the morning after pill, miscarriage of her child in the ocean, abortions (picking up blood clots in the toilet and all), I am just flabbergasted. Not to mention the Oedipal relationships with her kids. I don’t understand the love for this book whatsoever.
I would give this book zero stars if I could. Worst book that I have read in a very long time.
There is a difference between taking artistic license and then there is just flat out distasteful. This is the latter for so many reasons. I don’t even know where to begin.
Between the non-traditional dialogue writing style and vivid descriptions of the morning after pill, miscarriage of her child in the ocean, abortions (picking up blood clots in the toilet and all), I am just flabbergasted. Not to mention the Oedipal relationships with her kids. I don’t understand the love for this book whatsoever.
I would give this book zero stars if I could. Worst book that I have read in a very long time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2024
I spend soooooo much time in my reviews declaring “while I wasn’t the target demographic for this one” or “go read reviews by people who actually can relate to this plot/these characters” but I’m here to tell you THIS. STORY. WAS. WRITTEN. FOR. MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Rocky (Rachel, but everyone calls her Rocky), Nick, the kids Willa and James (and James’ long-time girlfriend Maya), and eventually Rocky’s parents Mort and Alice are spending their yearly week at a rental house on Cape Cod. This annual tradition has been going on since the kids were just wee little babies. They’ll eat lobster, get their suntan on while swimming in the Atlantic and looking for hermit crabs, they’ll attend the annual library sale, get ice cream in town – you know, all the typical touristy type things. All while Rocky is in the throws of menopause.
I am a true believer that everyone should read whatever book synopsis, title or even cover (I mean, look at that house!) strikes their fancy. And lord knows I got the FOMO real bad so I read tons of things that I really should have just left on the library shelves. But this might be a case where you end up with a “meh” reaction at best or might actively dislike Rocky if you aren’t experiencing the “joys” of what she’s going through . . . .
“there are still other manifestations that you have never gotten a single rotten whiff of until they’re happening specifically to you. Like the fact that your vagina sweats in the night. It perspires! This same vagina that so stubbornly refuses to produce any other type of moisture that when your gynecologist’s nurse asks if you’re sexually active, you laugh, shrug, make a so-so sign with your hand. “I’m going to put yes for that,” she says, cheerfully. “Some active volcanoes haven’t erupted in fifty years!” Your gums recede. You are covered in weird growths, as if a toddler has gotten a sheet of mole stickers and stuck them all over your breasts and armpits. Everything needs to be biopsied, except for the one under-boob skin tag that has actual tentacles, like an octopus; this is apparently so normal that the mammogram person barely looks when you show it to her—“That’s totally fine!”—but then she puts a festive little donut sticker over it so the radiologist won’t mistake it for a tumor. You have so many nipple hairs and most of them are white now. And your period does a kind of horror-movie swan song as if it is finally realizing its Freddie Krueger aspirations.
As a gal who is willing to practically slit my husband’s throat for daring to ask questions like “why do you have all that underboob sweat????” when we’ve only taken a five minute car ride (in frigid air conditioning, no less) to go get cat litter and a rotisserie chicken from Sam’s Club, Rocky was my type of butthole and now she’s my new best friend.
Allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the Stars
June 19, 2024
If you’re looking for a light, sweet, beachy read, as the cover of this book would infer, move along because this isn’t it.
This book, clocking in at a mere 240 pp, manages to smother you with miscarriages, abortion, grandparents killed by Nazis, a super woke obnoxious daughter, and way over here in 2024 there is even a mention of Covid and a request to wear a mask. It even goes as far as to mention Sandy Hook. Depressed yet? No? Ok, how about incessant talk of menopause?
I guess I wasn’t the right audience. Adding a star for the beautiful cover, as misleading as it was. And there were a couple of cute lines. All in all, I was underwhelmed.
This book, clocking in at a mere 240 pp, manages to smother you with miscarriages, abortion, grandparents killed by Nazis, a super woke obnoxious daughter, and way over here in 2024 there is even a mention of Covid and a request to wear a mask. It even goes as far as to mention Sandy Hook. Depressed yet? No? Ok, how about incessant talk of menopause?
I guess I wasn’t the right audience. Adding a star for the beautiful cover, as misleading as it was. And there were a couple of cute lines. All in all, I was underwhelmed.
June 24, 2024
It’s not clear who this book is for. It’s certainly not for women with grown children because it will give you an anxiety disorder if you don’t have one. I lost count of how many times the women said “I’m the worst.” I’m pretty sure one of them was a man living as a trans gay woman. It felt like misogyny thinly disguised as humor. Only it did not make me laugh. It was cringy. The men are all cluelessly floating through life bothered by nothing. They even said “men have reason and math in place of where feelings would be.” Really, what year do you live in? The main character is full of angst and self-loathing and self-absorption. Her family tells her she’s a narcissist a few times and she laughs. She should listen. And the family is weirdly enmeshed. They eat every meal practically sitting on top of each other and do everything together. It’s not a book for men obviously since they are minor players. And it’s not for young adults because they are treated like children. It’s not a good tale for anyone that I can tell. It’s one very neurotic person who has written a book for herself to vent I guess.
September 23, 2024
5 ⭐
“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.”
• It made me feel grateful, sad, contemplative, hopeful
• Filled with family vacations on the Cape, a strong yet gentle female MC, a realistic marriage, growing children and delicious sandwich recipes
• It made me want to book a trip to the Cape, make a tuna salad sandwich, schedule brunch with my mom, tell my husband I love him
• Search "Coastal Cottage ambience" on YouTube for the perfectly paired reading vibe
• Listen to "All in Good Time" by Fiona Apple and Iron & Wine after the last page
• If this book was a food/drink, it would be a tuna salad mixed in a bowl with "Scandinavian mushrooms printed around its enamel"; tuna, mayo, heaps of celery, pickled pepperonccini peppers, and a splash of juice from the pepper jar. Wrapped in foil, with a package of Vienna Fingers cookies, a big bag of cherries, dill-pickle potato chips and a big mason jar full of water with lemon slices in it (pg 28)
Good for book club - Yes
Good as a gift - Yes w/ caveat (tw: miscarriage/fertility struggles, aging parents)
Should I get the physical copy - Yes
What season should I read it in - Mid to late summer
Audiobook narration - 5/5
Note: Catherine Newman, you did it again. This book made me feel BIG, BIG feelings. I cried a lot and parts of it were really difficult, but oh my goodness was it beautifully written. What a stunning story of family, how we love, fight, disagree, come back together, grieve, celebrate, and laugh. So sweet and tenderhearted, I could listen to this over and over and over again. It won't be for everyone, but I loved every sentence.
“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.”
• It made me feel grateful, sad, contemplative, hopeful
• Filled with family vacations on the Cape, a strong yet gentle female MC, a realistic marriage, growing children and delicious sandwich recipes
• It made me want to book a trip to the Cape, make a tuna salad sandwich, schedule brunch with my mom, tell my husband I love him
• Search "Coastal Cottage ambience" on YouTube for the perfectly paired reading vibe
• Listen to "All in Good Time" by Fiona Apple and Iron & Wine after the last page
• If this book was a food/drink, it would be a tuna salad mixed in a bowl with "Scandinavian mushrooms printed around its enamel"; tuna, mayo, heaps of celery, pickled pepperonccini peppers, and a splash of juice from the pepper jar. Wrapped in foil, with a package of Vienna Fingers cookies, a big bag of cherries, dill-pickle potato chips and a big mason jar full of water with lemon slices in it (pg 28)
Good for book club - Yes
Good as a gift - Yes w/ caveat (tw: miscarriage/fertility struggles, aging parents)
Should I get the physical copy - Yes
What season should I read it in - Mid to late summer
Audiobook narration - 5/5
Note: Catherine Newman, you did it again. This book made me feel BIG, BIG feelings. I cried a lot and parts of it were really difficult, but oh my goodness was it beautifully written. What a stunning story of family, how we love, fight, disagree, come back together, grieve, celebrate, and laugh. So sweet and tenderhearted, I could listen to this over and over and over again. It won't be for everyone, but I loved every sentence.
July 4, 2024
This book is getting a lot of attention and many five star reviews, so I had high hopes going into this story.
I was expecting a well rounded story about a family’s annual vacation to Cape Cod and a touching look at the interactions between the members and generations of this family. Unfortunately, it concentrated more on the topic of women’s reproductive health: pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, and menopause.
It had some lighter moments, but I felt that the MC was way too annoying and narcissistic (even her family said she was).
Overall, I liked it. I just didn’t love it and would hesitate to recommend it.
I was expecting a well rounded story about a family’s annual vacation to Cape Cod and a touching look at the interactions between the members and generations of this family. Unfortunately, it concentrated more on the topic of women’s reproductive health: pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, and menopause.
It had some lighter moments, but I felt that the MC was way too annoying and narcissistic (even her family said she was).
Overall, I liked it. I just didn’t love it and would hesitate to recommend it.
June 19, 2024
Here, most likely is the best book of my reading year.
I feel heard and validated. It’s all I need.
Marriage, Motherhood, Menopause in all the wonder and horribleness.
*be warned that there is a lot of vag humor going down in these pages.
*be warned there is a smidgen or even a smattering of left leaning political agendizing going down in these pages and it centers around abortion. If that’s gonna make you mad, sad or otherwise spoil your day just leave this one on the shelf.
AS FOR ME, I adored this whole beautiful everything.
I feel heard and validated. It’s all I need.
Marriage, Motherhood, Menopause in all the wonder and horribleness.
*be warned that there is a lot of vag humor going down in these pages.
*be warned there is a smidgen or even a smattering of left leaning political agendizing going down in these pages and it centers around abortion. If that’s gonna make you mad, sad or otherwise spoil your day just leave this one on the shelf.
AS FOR ME, I adored this whole beautiful everything.
August 27, 2024
Catherine Newman’s We All Want Impossible Things was one of my favorite books of 2023, and just as soon as I saw Sandwich hit @goodreads, with its early blank cover, I added it to my TBR and began stalking its release, and here it is!
How does Catherine Newman pack so much into this slim story? The emotion… the HUMOR… I read this one in a couple of quick sittings and shared many anecdotes with my mom that had her chuckling, too. Life is so much easier when you can find the humor in the mundane, especially when you can laugh at yourself, which Newman conveys so well though the insights of her characters.
Rocky is the star of the novel, and she’s perfectly imperfect. If you’ve ever had a single hot flash, you can understand some of her emotions, and if you’ve ever made a hard choice you may have second guessed for years, you will feel seen by Rocky’s story, too.
The story takes place during a week spent at the beach together, following a family tradition held for years. The same house, the same family members with an addition or two, the same big love, and also the secrets lingering just below the surface.
I’m most grateful for a story of someone meandering through midlife the best she can, with real struggles, lots of emotion, and shifting dynamics; all balanced with characters who have good hearts, who feel like real people, and who make it through, with the help of each other, even when it’s very, very hard.
Sandwich is what I call the perfect read. It has everything I want in a story and delivered every ounce of what I hoped it would be. I sent Catherine Newman a DM while reading and asked if she could please write all the books. 😬 Love love love. A favorite this year.
Thank you, Judith @booksoldenburg, for the wonderful buddy read.
I received a gifted copy.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
How does Catherine Newman pack so much into this slim story? The emotion… the HUMOR… I read this one in a couple of quick sittings and shared many anecdotes with my mom that had her chuckling, too. Life is so much easier when you can find the humor in the mundane, especially when you can laugh at yourself, which Newman conveys so well though the insights of her characters.
Rocky is the star of the novel, and she’s perfectly imperfect. If you’ve ever had a single hot flash, you can understand some of her emotions, and if you’ve ever made a hard choice you may have second guessed for years, you will feel seen by Rocky’s story, too.
The story takes place during a week spent at the beach together, following a family tradition held for years. The same house, the same family members with an addition or two, the same big love, and also the secrets lingering just below the surface.
I’m most grateful for a story of someone meandering through midlife the best she can, with real struggles, lots of emotion, and shifting dynamics; all balanced with characters who have good hearts, who feel like real people, and who make it through, with the help of each other, even when it’s very, very hard.
Sandwich is what I call the perfect read. It has everything I want in a story and delivered every ounce of what I hoped it would be. I sent Catherine Newman a DM while reading and asked if she could please write all the books. 😬 Love love love. A favorite this year.
Thank you, Judith @booksoldenburg, for the wonderful buddy read.
I received a gifted copy.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
December 20, 2024
What a strange thing to be exactly the target audience for this book and yet feel that if you had to read one more page, your head would explode. Or is that feverish frustration just another hot flash coming on? Because they seem to be on a 20-minute cycle with me these days. That prickly heat which starts in my cheeks, spreads across my sternum in a red wave, tucks its slimy wet palms under my arms—it feels disconcertingly like an oncoming panic attack, which also seems to be my new menopausal BFF... which... crap. I'm supposed to be writing a book review.
Look, Catherine Newman is hilarious. This book made me LOL, hard, more than once. It also made me weepy. But I also kind of loathed it, for profoundly personal reasons that are all tied up in my own story as a Gen Xer who is now a middle-aged divorcée and a would-be mother who knows all too well the anguish of miscarriage. Ultimately, the bits that moved me to laughter or to tears weren't enough to hold the latitude I so badly wanted to give. They were flash-bang moments of deeply-relatable female angst in the midst of droning melodrama centered on a privileged and sheltered family that was so Instagram-ready with raging faux-humble I was all a-gag on my spoon. The melodrama is almost entirely in Rocky's head, the protagonist and mother of two well-adjusted adult children she is desperately trying to tuck back into her womb. Granted, menopause makes for unrelenting (personal) drama, but Rocky just wore me out.
There was much about this book that made me very sad and weary, which was likely not Ms. Newman's comic intent. There are also lots of sandwiches in the story. Rocky is forever making sandwiches (meant, of course as a coy reminder of the book's Big Theme: a woman generationally sandwiched between her grown children and her aging parents). I'm a big fan of sandwiches, personally. Just not so much this one. It gave me heartburn.
Look, Catherine Newman is hilarious. This book made me LOL, hard, more than once. It also made me weepy. But I also kind of loathed it, for profoundly personal reasons that are all tied up in my own story as a Gen Xer who is now a middle-aged divorcée and a would-be mother who knows all too well the anguish of miscarriage. Ultimately, the bits that moved me to laughter or to tears weren't enough to hold the latitude I so badly wanted to give. They were flash-bang moments of deeply-relatable female angst in the midst of droning melodrama centered on a privileged and sheltered family that was so Instagram-ready with raging faux-humble I was all a-gag on my spoon. The melodrama is almost entirely in Rocky's head, the protagonist and mother of two well-adjusted adult children she is desperately trying to tuck back into her womb. Granted, menopause makes for unrelenting (personal) drama, but Rocky just wore me out.
There was much about this book that made me very sad and weary, which was likely not Ms. Newman's comic intent. There are also lots of sandwiches in the story. Rocky is forever making sandwiches (meant, of course as a coy reminder of the book's Big Theme: a woman generationally sandwiched between her grown children and her aging parents). I'm a big fan of sandwiches, personally. Just not so much this one. It gave me heartburn.
July 25, 2024
DNF. This book just wasn’t for me AT ALL. I found the main character Rocky to be extremely annoying, self-centered, self-serving and honestly, just bizarre. The woman is in her fifties and talking all misty eyed about her pregnancies (as if they were yesterday) non-stop, talking about her menopausal symptoms non-stop and her reproductive parts non-stop. Ew. She acted as if her hot flashes gave her license to act obnoxious. The vulgar vocabulary and filthy language was so unnecessary and unpleasant to read and took away from the story. It also took away from the beautiful setting of the Cape which I will admit the author tried very hard to capture. I felt like the entire story was the main character’s own personal inner and outer monologue which was so SCHMALTZY and so CRINGE. Who in reality talks this way? The dialogue was so choppy and frenetic. Who was saying what?? You really couldn’t tell. Her children were 19 and 23 but the author wrote them as if they were very young children. Her husband was written as a weak, spineless fool. I really didn’t invest in any of the characters because frankly they weren’t likable, not one of them. I’m very disappointed because it seemed like a book I would have enjoyed because I spent many childhood and adult summers at the Cape. I put it down a third of the way because it actually was becoming painful to listen to any more of the main character’s whining, vulgarity, and her enamoredness/obsession with her grown children. (Again, CRINGE.) So disappointing because it had a great premise and the potential to have been a very good book. Really missed the boat. Just not an enjoyable or pleasant read at all.
Read
August 22, 2024I 100% get that this book isn't for everyone (I got a message on Instagram when I shared that I was reading it that said, "Just finished this book. I loathed it. She's crazy, she's passed her crazy to her daughter. She's abusive to her husband. I kept reading because of the great reviews. Yuck.") but for me, it absolutely worked and I blew through it in a day.
July 9, 2024
What an unfortunate decision to ‘sandwich’ some beautiful writing about menopause, marriage, grown children/empty nests, and aging parents, between a woke agenda that delegitimized the novel. It was the ‘And Just Like That’ of books, checking every box. ‘Trans men can have babies!’ ‘My body my choice!’ These are actual words in this book.
Regardless of your stance on abortion, the main character’s frequent dialogue with her daughter about abortion rights was inauthentic and clearly based on the author’s personal agenda. And the ending with her son felt purposely callous just to prove her stance on abortion.
It’s important to read about lived experiences that aren’t our own to gain understanding and common ground, but even more important that those experiences are described in a way that feels real.
I wanted to read a family saga set on a beach with deep characters. I got an MSNBC novella.
Regardless of your stance on abortion, the main character’s frequent dialogue with her daughter about abortion rights was inauthentic and clearly based on the author’s personal agenda. And the ending with her son felt purposely callous just to prove her stance on abortion.
It’s important to read about lived experiences that aren’t our own to gain understanding and common ground, but even more important that those experiences are described in a way that feels real.
I wanted to read a family saga set on a beach with deep characters. I got an MSNBC novella.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 27, 2024
I'm dazzled that this has got so much hype. The mother and daughter were particularly unbearable.
February 23, 2024
(3.5 stars) I could so relate to the narrator in this book. Rocky (short for Rachel) is caught between her aging parents, who are having health issues, and her adult children, who are facing major life events (including sexuality issues). Dealing with all of this, while herself going through menopause, leaves Rocky clinging to her good sense of humor for sanity.
Rocky’s family gets together annually at the beach in Cape Cod, in a beach house that is getting older along with everything/everyone else. Food is a central theme – Rocky makes delicious-sounding sandwiches for the beach and cooks up fabulous-sounding dinners. I’m pretty sure that the title, Sandwich, refers to the small town in Massachusetts, but it would also work for sandwiches, the food, and the fact that Rocky is sandwiched between her children and her parents. I enjoyed the naturally-flowing banter between the family members and could appreciate their reactions to the issues that arise throughout the week of vacation. There were certain hot topics that were dealt with that may turn some off (e.g., abortion), but I, personally, saw my views reflected back at me. This is a book for readers who enjoy quiet stories and witty banter. It should work particularly well for those in their 50s and 60s.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC.
Rocky’s family gets together annually at the beach in Cape Cod, in a beach house that is getting older along with everything/everyone else. Food is a central theme – Rocky makes delicious-sounding sandwiches for the beach and cooks up fabulous-sounding dinners. I’m pretty sure that the title, Sandwich, refers to the small town in Massachusetts, but it would also work for sandwiches, the food, and the fact that Rocky is sandwiched between her children and her parents. I enjoyed the naturally-flowing banter between the family members and could appreciate their reactions to the issues that arise throughout the week of vacation. There were certain hot topics that were dealt with that may turn some off (e.g., abortion), but I, personally, saw my views reflected back at me. This is a book for readers who enjoy quiet stories and witty banter. It should work particularly well for those in their 50s and 60s.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC.
June 24, 2024
I was so looking forward to this book. I loved the premise of a family with grown kids going back to their regular summer vacation spot. But the family was so not relatable to me—their values, beliefs—that it was not enjoyable to read. I have many thoughts about this book, none of them kind. And would love to discuss in person, but won’t go on a rant here.
January 6, 2024
Sandwich by Catherine Newman. Thanks to @harperbooks for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rocky has always looked forward to her family’s vacation at Cape Cod. This year her children are adults, but still young enough to need her, and her parents are getting older but healthy. She wants to value every moment of the vacation, but all families have secrets and a past.
Oh wow did I love this book. The characters are so perfectly imperfect, and I loved them all. I felt for Rocky and saw myself in her in ten years. This was really just the perfect read; full of love, tragedy, growth, a normal and imperfect marriage, and secrets. I cried at the end and this will be a difficult one to stop thinking about. Catherine Newnan is definitely a favorite author of mine after this and We All Want Impossible Things.
“What exactly are we doing here? Why do we love everyone so recklessly and then break our own hearts? And they don’t even break. They just swell, impossibly, with more love.”
Sandwich comes out 6/18.
Rocky has always looked forward to her family’s vacation at Cape Cod. This year her children are adults, but still young enough to need her, and her parents are getting older but healthy. She wants to value every moment of the vacation, but all families have secrets and a past.
Oh wow did I love this book. The characters are so perfectly imperfect, and I loved them all. I felt for Rocky and saw myself in her in ten years. This was really just the perfect read; full of love, tragedy, growth, a normal and imperfect marriage, and secrets. I cried at the end and this will be a difficult one to stop thinking about. Catherine Newnan is definitely a favorite author of mine after this and We All Want Impossible Things.
“What exactly are we doing here? Why do we love everyone so recklessly and then break our own hearts? And they don’t even break. They just swell, impossibly, with more love.”
Sandwich comes out 6/18.
August 17, 2024
Menopausal musings, summer nostalgia, and anticipatory grief come together for one family’s traditional week-long vacation in Cape Cod. Through laughter and tears, Catherine Newman reminds us at every turn how to find intentional joy in the peaks and valleys of the midlife (sandwich) years.
Read
August 20, 2024Not reviewing because I didn’t finish it. This book is highly sentimental, and, personally, I feel like I am nearly in the FMC’s journey at the moment. The book includes too much about child loss, growth and change of children, aging as a woman, etc. for this depressed mom (me) to read about. It all hits home too much. Some books are just too hard to read for personal reasons, and this is definitely that for me.
August 17, 2024
"This week is proving to be very revelatory," Willa says to me in the parking lot, and I say, "Isn't it!"
This lovable book had just the right mix of humor and pathos, life and death, sand and sun, and, yes, sandwiches.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper for sharing.
This lovable book had just the right mix of humor and pathos, life and death, sand and sun, and, yes, sandwiches.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper for sharing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 9,054 reviews