I so loved this family vacationing at a rental on The Cape, the same cabin they've booked for 20 summers: Rachel (aka Rocky) the menopausal mom, Nick the handsome dad, Willa the 22-ish scientist daughter, and Jamie the nondescript 25-ish son with his nauseous girlfriend Maya. Sandwich is wittily about a week spent together in remarkably close quarters, the lovingly described picnic food they eat, and the generation straddling simultaneous care of newly adult kids and aging parents; I love the apt title for all of that. But this story is also about fascinating relationship dynamics that don't involve dysfunction. Multiple family secrets are stunningly revealed, but not salacious ones that create havoc, rather these are relatable ones, and they are accepted with truly admirable grace. I love that a character's gayness is not a defining factor, or in and of itself a plot device. I can't believe I've never read Catherine Newman before, her writing had me laughing out loud and in tears; I've already ordered two more of her books.

Thank you net galley for an ARC of this book.

I think if I read this book in my early 20's I might not have made it 1/4 way through before I abandoned it for something else. Now at 50 with 2 kids inching closer and closer to college and my nest being empty this book walloped my heart. We vacation every summer with our extended family and our family of 4 travels together every year as well .These trips are our memories and mean everything to us. I hope to always continue them so we can always maintain that connection no matter where their paths take them. The part of the book that resonated with me was After. After Rachel's trip to the Cape when life goes back to normal but you still don't have your kids back in your nest. They are off leading their own lives but you got them for the week. I think about what our after will look like and she beautifully described what's to come.

Rocky is thrilled to once again be heading to the rental cottage in Sandwich for their annual vacation. Rocky’s kids are adults now and her parents are aging so many things have changed. Caught up in the bittersweet memories, Rocky has to come to grips with some of the trauma that she has kept hidden from her family. She’s also battling hot flashes and wondering how much her dissatisfaction with her husband is just hormonal. What starts out as a lighthearted family sojourn becomes a touching and introspective novel about being a woman, wife, mother and daughter.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

This book was odd, and it leaves me with the feeling that I missed a thing or two, and/or didn't pick up on some things the author wanted us to know.

Rocky, a 54 year old wife and mother, is on her annual week-long vacation with her family. Her parents are now much older (her dad stole the show!) and her son and daughter are new adults. Rocky is "sandwiched" in the middle, trying to maintain a healthy marriage to her husband Nicky while figuring out who she is now that she is a middle aged empty nester going through menopause, a fact the author never lets us forget. I felt that her behavior and internal dialogue are a little to "out there" to have been blamed on menopause, though. I am left feeling like I must be missing a mental health diagnosis for Rocky.

Her daughter, Willa, is a 20 year old lesbian who at times seems wiser than her years and at other times I had to go back and make sure what I was reading wasn't one of the flashbacks from when Willa was young. Her son Jamie, and his girlfriend, Maya felt like background characters to me, as did Rocky's husband, Nicky. The entire family seemed delightful, but unrealistic. I couldn't related to any of them, however I loved the openness the kids and the parents have with each other.

I loved Newman's writing style and I will look for her works in the future. I was really drawn into the premise of this book, and thought I'd enjoy it more than I did. Although I couldn't related to this family, the way the author wrote the characters and their story kept me engaged. I also liked how each chapter was one day during their week at the beach. It kept things tidy.

Trigger warnings: descriptive miscarriage and abortion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sandwich is a reflective summer story as Rocky and her family spend their annual week at their rental property in Cape Cod. Told over the course of a week, and also in part over many years, Rocky is navigating middle age, marriage, motherhood, menopause and aging parents. I enjoyed the way Catherine Newman tells Rocky's story, equal parts witty banter with her husband and adult children and touching moments of brutally honest self reflection. I would highly recommend this book for other lovers of family dramas, looking for a shorter summer read, that is not lacking in heart or humor. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Books for this advanced copy, all opinions are my own.

I was really excited to check out this book, since I have recently moved from Cape Cod and we lived right near Sandwich. Parts of the story made me nostalgic to go back and visit but overall, I had a really hard time getting into this book. I felt like I had to force myself to pick it up each time as I wasn’t connecting to the overall story because … what was the story?

To me, the book was short, describing a family’s week long vacation but also dealt with secrets a family keeps and then how said family keeps it together.

I want to create a disclaimer as well for miscarriage and loss, I wish I had known that prior to reading this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rocky is living her best menopausal life sandwiched between her aged parents and grown-up children. Spending a week together in Cape Cod unleashes family secrets, cherished memories and a whole lot of laughs. This is a heartfelt and really funny novel about the passing of time and family dynamics from a writer whose books are always an automatic purchase for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Catherine Newman, and Harper for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

A thought-provoking read that I finished in a single afternoon. I will preface by saying I'm not at the correct age to fully appreciate or relate to this book. Being close in age to Jamie, Maya, and Willa though, I adored reading about them and understanding more of Rocky's perspective towards them, as Rocky is my mother's age. This read was surprisingly deeper and more heart-felt than I was expecting. My main issue is that it was just a bit too short though. I felt like I needed more time to sit with all the characters and get to know them. I would recommend for women aged 40+ to read for an elevated summery read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy. Unfortunately I did not finish Sandwich. I could not relate To the main character. I had a tough time being interested in the storyline.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman was a HIGHLY anticipated read for me - I just love this author and as a person who spends a month on the cape every summer it felt like this was made for me. I really loved it. It’s subtle and also somehow completely direct. It’s simple but deeply complex. It’s rooted in emotion and how our relationships to each other, and ourselves, change over time. That alone is wonderful but layer in enviable descriptions of setting and food that make you desperate to be sitting at the pond with the same sandwich in your hand and a family dynamic that is so real it’s impossible not to see parts of your own family reflected within them.

While I didn’t sob the way I sobbed (gave myself a migraine I cried so hard) reading We All Want Impossible Things she still got me and tears were shed. I think if I were the same age as the author and facing a similar 😏 sandwich 😏 in life this would cut even deeper, emotionally.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for the ARC - Sandwich is out 6/18/24!

Thank you to Harper publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity read this eARC!

The cover of this book and the summer vibes of it immediately drew me to request this eARC. The synopsis gave the book's plot a mysterious tilt. There was a lot that I liked about this book and some definite things that I found hard to love. The style that it is written in made for an incredibly fast read (I finished this within one afternoon and evening!) The female experience was relatable in many ways to me even as someone without children or having gone through motherhood. I adored the descriptions of summer food, time spent on the beach and the salty, sweaty, sandy feel of summer. However, I do wish there had been some kind of trigger warning at the beginning of the novel as I found the underlying plot to be hard to read at times and I felt it to be very negative feeling by the time I finished it. I think the ending was well done, but I felt the balance of bemoaning the trials and tribulations of womanhood with celebrating its many changes was a bit off. Overall a good reading experience, but not at all what I expected going into it. I would recommend with the caveats of the trigger warnings and the overall feelings the book can evoke.

A week-long family vacation forms the backdrop for the most relatable story I’ve read since I can’t remember when. Summer vacations on Cape Cod are a tradition two decades in the making for Rocky and her family. This summer finds Rocky in her 50s in the throes of menopause, a loving wife, mom to two young adult children, and daughter of aging parents. It’s a week of love, laughter, secrets long hidden, and plenty of sandwiches.

The title Sandwich has multiple meanings. Of course, it’s quite literally about the lunch staple: Rocky takes great joy in the “epic making of the sandwiches,” showing her lover by customizing elaborate creations to each family member’s taste. Then there’s the setting. Although the author never tells us the exact location where the story takes place, my mind imagines it’s set in Sandwich, the oldest town on Cape Cod. And then there’s the metaphorical: the middle-aged adult daughter “sandwiched” between children and caring for older parents.

I felt so seen, so understood, by this tender and funny story. I need more characters like Rocky in my life! Although my kids are still teenagers, otherwise I’m right where Rocky is. Menopause has made Rocky unapologetically filterless, a bit forgetful, and overflowing with emotion. I can’t describe how utterly relatable she is. I laughed out loud at her thoughts and words, I marveled at their poignancy, I choked up as they touched my heart. I highlighted the hell out of passages I never want to forget. I fell in love with this charming, authentic story and can’t recommend it highly enough!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper for providing me an advance copy of this book.

This is the ultimate book for every mom over 40 with kids on the brink of adulthood. If the conversations didn’t come alive for you, your family is too normal. This awakened thoughts that I’ve never given a voice to before. This is going to be a summer smash! And now I’m going to go make a sandwich with the works.

In Sandwich, Catherine Newman tells the story of Rocky, a middle-aged mom vacationing on Cape Cod for the week with her family. On the one hand, Rocky is thrilled to have this focused time with her husband Nick and her young adult kids, Willa and Jamie. On the other hand, she’s neurotic with menopause, empty-nest grief, and worry over her aging parents, who come to visit them for a few days during the week. Before the family’s time together is over, they share secrets, soothe some hurts, and get a glimpse of both sorrows and joys to come.

I’ve been a fan of Catherine Newman since back in her Bringing Up Ben and Birdy days. The blend of heartfelt feeling and humor in her writing has always resonated with me, and I feel like she just gets better with time and life experience. Newman is absolutely at the height of her powers in Sandwich. It’s the kind of novel you love, not for the plot, but for the characters and their relationships. From the first page to the last, Rocky and her family felt so vivid and real to me. I really connected with Rocky, in particular—probably because I’m also a slightly tetchy menopausal woman facing down the prospect of an empty nest. In any case, I loved this story of a mom “sandwiched” in the middle of life, squished by all the powerful and sometimes conflicting emotions that come with marriage and family.

This book follows Rocky and her family during their one week summer vacation in Cape Cod. It was really well written with some excellent humor woven in. I think I would have given this 5 stars if I read it in 15 years and could relate more to the menopause and having grown children. Be cautious of potential trigger warnings, especially miscarriage and abortion.

Thanks Netgalley for an arc of this beautiful novel. I’ve been spending time on Cape Cod since I was a child so I’ll always gravitate towards novels set there. This is the story of Rocky and Nick and their two kids, Jamie and Willa- both in their 20’s. The book is set during their one week vacation on the Cape. I just loved it- the characters are well developed and the plot has some tension but it’s mostly just a slice of life book. Perfect to read on the beach or anywhere.

I had so much fun reading this. It came at the perfect time in my life. It was so relatable.
Rocky and her family rent the same cabin on Cape Cod the same week every year. They have been doing this since her children were little. This year the kids are grown and her parents are elderly and Rocky’s in menopause. This hit so close to home. I laughed out loud so many times. I’m definitely reading her backlist.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for a honest opinion.4⭐️

If you're a woman in your 50's and have ever taken a family vacation....Sandwich may be the perfect novel for you! Over the course of a week at the beach in Massachusetts, we get to know Rocky (short for Raquel), her husband Nick, and adult children Jamie (and girlfriend, Maya) and Willa, along with a visit from Rocky's parents. They're all jammed into a small cottage and during the course of their vacation, revisit old memories, make new ones and reveal secrets.
They've rented the same cottage for 20 years and Sandwich primarily explores the story of Rocky's motherhood, much of which took place at the cottage. The novel certainly captures the "joys" of menopause (and reminded me of How Hard Can It Be by Allison Pearson) as well as the changes that take place in families over the years.
Thanks to Netgalley and HarpersCollins for the opportunity to read Sandwich in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks, Harper Books, for the early review copy via NetGalley. (US Pub: 18 Jun 24)

Newman’s previous novel, WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS, made my “Best Of 2023” list, and I’ve been dying to crack this one open. So, I treated myself to it over Mother’s Day weekend.

Its straightforward premise leaves plenty of room for character development and hilarious and heartbreaking conversations. (“You’re going to be barking up this rational tree, and I’m going to be alone in a different tree, not getting barked at.”)

For the past twenty years, Rocky’s family has spent a week at a seaside Cape Cod cottage, and the novel covers this year’s trip, complete with plenty of delicious food (including many, many sandwiches), cramped sleeping arrangements, and a faulty septic. But with flashbacks and conversations, Newman reveals not only the topography of Rocky’s life but also produces a witty and tender exploration of familial love, warts and all.

Newman! She just gets me. Or maybe I get her. All I know is she will describe something, and I recognize it at a visceral level. (“I keep picking my phone up, like it’s a Magic 8 Ball with an answer for me.”)

But don’t just take my word for it. Ann Patchett (!!) gushed, “Sandwich is joy in book form. I laughed continuously, except for the parts that made me cry. Catherine Newman does a miraculous job reminding us of all the wonder there is to be found in life."

FYA (For Your Awareness), be prepared to run the gauntlet of emotions and experience via candid discussions of sex, sexuality, abortion, miscarriage, and menopause.

Also, know that (if you are like me) you will laugh yourself stupid (and maybe pee a little). When Rocky’s daughter quizzes her over the Hogwarts' house names (“All the names of everything have oozed out and away from the drainage holes menopause has punched into my memory storage.”), I laughed so loud that I startled my dog.

I was so grateful to get an advanced copy of Sandwich by Catherine Newman thanks to NetGalley and Harper.

There is so much I loved about this book. I liked the structure, and that it’s told over the course of a week. While we learn so much about Rocky and her family’s life, it is a very tightly written story.

And yet, in this short novel, Newman packs in so much. Like being human, which Rocky describes as “crushingly beautiful,” so is this very intimate, honest, reflective story.

Rachel, or Rocky, is our 54 year old main character whose first person perspective guides us through her history as a young mother, to the present, as a mother of a 21 and 24 year old. We spend a week with Rocky, her husband, Nick, their kids Willa and Jaime, Jaime’s girlfriend Maya, and Rocky’s aging parents.

Throughout this week, we get a glimpse into Rocky’s past and her feelings about this stage of her life, as a wife, a mother and a feminist. Rocky’s nostalgia for the old days with her young children is balanced by her recognition of how difficult those days were. There is uniquely hilarious situational humor right alongside serious and sad commentary on women aging, menopause, love, loss, secrets, shame, worrying, motherhood, marriage and aging parents.

The writing in this book is simple but profound. Newman layers these characters and drives her points home expertly.

I also love the setting of Cape Cod in the summer, and it reads like a light, enjoyable summer read while covering a depth of topics in a way that does justice to them through these characters' stories.

It’s only early June, but I think this will definitely have a place as one of my top books of this summer!