Sandwich by Catherine Newman: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

 

Today's Featured Book 

Sandwich

 by Catherine Newman

Genre: Fiction

Published: June 18, 2024

Page Count: 236 pages

Summary: 

"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."

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

"Picture this: a shorelined peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. Zoom in a little closer. It’s a Cape Cod beach town. It’s midsummer. The narrow highway is thick with lobster dinners and mini-golf windmills and inflatable bagel pool floats. But turn off the main drag in either direction and find yourself quickly at the sea: sandy cliffs and windswept grasses; tumbling pink roses and vast blue skies and a tideline hemmed with stones and mussels and bright green ruffles of seaweed. Beneath the waves: shivers of great white sharks, stuffed to the gills—or so one imagines—with surfers. 

In the passenger seat of one slightly rusting silver Subaru station wagon: a woman in her fifties. She is halfway in age between her young adult children and her elderly parents. She is long married to a beautiful man who understands between twenty and sixty-five percent of everything she says. Her body is a wonderland. Or maybe her body is a satchel full of scars and secrets and menopause. They’ve been coming here for so many years that there’s a watercolor wash over all of it now: Everything hard has been smeared out into pleasant, pastel memories of taffy, clam strips, and beachcombing. Sunglasses and sunscreen and sandy feet pressed against her thighs and stomach. Little children running across the sand with their little pails. Her own parents laughing in their beach chairs, shrinking inside their clothes as the years pass. Grief bright in the periphery, like a light flashing just out of view.

Newman, Catherine. Sandwich: A Novel (pp. 1-2). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. "

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice, but Freda is currently taking a break and Anne of Head Full of Books is filling in. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

''“What the hell kind of toaster is this?” my father is saying now. “Why do I have to turn so many knobs? Dark? Light? Bake? Broil? I can’t just make toast? It has to be rocket science?” 

“Mort,” my mother says. “Mort, sit down. You’re going to burn yourself. This is the exact same toaster oven we have at home.” 

“Is it?” my dad says, abashed. “Oh.” 

“Oh my god,” I whisper, and Nick, curled up next to me with his eyes closed, laughs.'

Newman, Catherine. Sandwich: A Novel (p. 130). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

I tried this and gave up on it; I don't know why. I read a couple of reviews (thank you, Les of Coastal Horizons!) and I decided I gave up too soon.

This time I listened, and it didn't take long for me to be enamored of the characters. Our main character, Rocky, is 50-something and menopausal, trying to get accustomed to the empty nest she shares with her husband, Nick. It's summer, and it's time for a week with their young adult kids, Jamie and Willa, along with Jamie's longtime girlfriend, Maya, and Rocky's parents, at their escape in Cape Cod. 

I delighted in the clever conversations between the family members. I learned a lot about young people's vocab (I think that was one of their words) and relationships, and I learned a lot about life and parenting and women's experiences from the point of view of a 50-ish woman. 

Most importantly, I laughed and cried---that's, for me, the mark of a really good novel. 

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

Can you suggest a book that you believe everyone should read at least once in their lifetime? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

Instead of suggesting one book (how could I possibly pick one book that everyone could like?!), let me suggest a category of books: I suggest that you, at some time in your life, choose a classic that (1) sounds like something you would connect with, and (2) sounds daunting. I especially recommend this to you if you have tried classics in the past and hated them! I encourage you to do so, using every resource you were forbidden to use when you were a kid---Cliff's Notes, abridged versions of the book, other people's reviews, comic book versions of the book, anything it takes to get through the book. Don't hesitate to give up and try another classic if the first (or second or fiftieth) doesn't work for you. And report back, please, and let others know your experiences.

Here are some that I wanted to try but thought were too daunting for me, that I've since read and loved, that you also might try: