Sandwich: From the much-loved author of We All Want Impossible Things

Sandwich is very funny, and touching, and sad, and really gets under the skin of how feels to be a woman, passionately in love with all her family. A great read.

I just adore Catherine Newman's writing. I even end up thinking in her voice, narrating my daily life to myself as if it's one of her books, because her prose is just so natural and lovely.This, her second novel, is even better than her first. It centres around one family's week-long holiday in Cape Cod, with the menopausal protagonist Rachel (also known as Rocky) firmly 'sandwiched' between her ageing parents and her young adult children. It's a simple yet powerful exploration of family, parenthood, marriage, love, loss, and the whole fleeting yet blinding beauty of life.There are many quotes that have stuck with me, but this one sums up the book: '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.' What an achingly bittersweet paragraph.This book also made me laugh a surprising amount. Some of the characters are very funny, and the banter between the cast made me want to climb inside their cottage with them to join in their holiday. They will all stay with me for a long time.'Sandwich' will definitely be in my top reads of 2024. My only criticism is that it's quite short and I didn't want it to end so soon.

This is an easy summer read, and it's quick and not too demanding of the reader. It's chick-lit, and I mean that in a positive descriptive way. The title "Sandwich" has a double meaning, it's referring to the town on the north shore of Cape Cod and it's also referring to the narrator's generational place in her family, "sandwiched" between her parents and her almost-adult children. The family has a long history of week-long summer rentals on the Cape, and there is meaning in those vacations. There are funny, tender moments, and the reader will experience many flashes of recognition. Families tend to have a lot in common, and the reader will recognize some of herself in the story.

This is the first book I’ve read by Catherine Newman. She is truly a gifted writer. Unfortunately she has decided to write about one of the most obnoxious families I’ve ever met in a novel. Every female character, except for grandma, is pretentious, clueless, immature, and in need of therapy. The storyline involves the absolute, all-consuming passion the main character has for being pregnant and being a mother (obsessed with her “perfect” children) for instance when she talked about them, saying “I ached with love…and I felt like a gaping wound. If I could have stuffed the children into it, I would have. Into me. To fill the hole. To keep them safe. To keep them,” while also being completely cavalier about abortion. One character says: “I got pregnant in high school. Having an abortion was a super easy decision then. I got it done during a free period between chem and Spanish.” She laughs. “Those were the days!” I am a liberal, a feminist, and I fully believe in women’s reproductive rights and the right to choose but this is obnoxious. I find it difficult to care for characters who speak this way. Newman does write the relationship between the main character and her elderly parents in a very touching and real way. And she can be very funny, but so many times, I just wanted to throw the book across the room. Oh well…not for everyone.

I was really excited to get this book after so many good reviews, but it’s horrendous. The writing is jumbled and at times, rambling and incoherent. The characters are barely developed, and at best I’d describe them as annoying. It feels like the author just threw thought diarrhea out onto page after page, just to slap together a book and call it done. It’s incredibly painful to read, there are better fun summer reads out there. This is the worse book I’ve read this year, possibly ever.