Book Blurb:
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.
My Review: 4 stars
Sandwich by Catherine Newman was literally the book I didn’t know I needed but somehow, Rocky, the FMC, seemed to know me on a crazy intimate level. I suppose most women who have: 1. dealt with or are dealing with menopause 2. have burgeoning adult children that we still try and manage even though they are grown and flown or 3. dare I say parenting our aging parents will relate to this book.
In just a mere 240 pages, so much about life, and living was explored. Rocky, like many women, feels like she’s the captain of the boat – doing everything for everyone, all while dealing with the highs and lows of being in the sandwich generation. The title was clever and supported by the double entendre of also making sandwiches everyday while away at their rented vacation home in Cape Cod.
Grief plays a large part of the narrative as we watch our parents age, and the silent grief mother’s hold on to as their children no longer need them in the ways they once did. The quote below about the kid’s amazon accounts was so accurate that I wanted to hug the author for putting words into my feelings.
I’m not sure readers under forty would appreciate this book as much as I did. I read it in an afternoon and fell in love with this family.
Quotes I liked:
I’ve heard grief described as love with nowhere to go.”
“People who insist that you should be grateful instead of complaining? They maybe don’t understand how much gratitude one might feel about the opportunity to complain.”
“Who wants a guy to last longer? Finish up is my feeling. My library book’s not going to read itself!”
“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. Don’t move a muscle, I think. But I will, of course. You have to.”
“They’re too cheap to get their own Amazon Prime accounts, the kids, so they use ours still, for the free shipping. I get a Venmo notification and the “Your Amazon.com order has shipped” email and click to see what they’ve purchased, try to piece together the lives lived without me.”
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