Sandwich

 

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

Fiction

2024

Finished on June 27, 2024

Rating: 5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

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.

I loved this novel! After reading We All Want Impossible Things last year, I couldn't wait for the release of Catherine Newman's new book, which came out earlier this month. I rarely buy newly published books, but I wasn't going to wait for this one to come out in paperback. I knew if I borrowed it from the library, I'd wind up buying a copy for a re-read anyway. My only regret is that it wasn't longer. Like Rocky, the week-long vacation with her family went far too quickly.

"It's only Monday!" I say. I say this every year. This is the part of our vacation where I feel like the week will never end. Like it's just going to stretch out luxuriously this way for the rest of time. It won't last, though. Later I'll cry, "How is it already Friday?" and everyone will nod and sigh because I ask this every year.

Coincidentally, I started reading Sandwich while my brother's family was visiting our coastal home for a full week. "How is it already Friday?" echoed my feelings as our week drew to a close. Newman's setting is vivid, and if I squint my mind's eye, I can almost imagine Rocky's vacation home here on our bluff in Little Whale Cove. Of course, instead of lobster dinners and mini-golf windmills, we have crab cakes and whale watching, but it's really not so different!

Little Whale Cove

Years ago, when I read Nora Ephron's hilarious book, I Feel Bad About My Neck, I had not quite reached the age to which she was referring, but I still enjoyed her essays, knowing my time would come when my wrinkled neck would annoy me. (Spoiler alert: It has!). Conversely, Newman's protagonist is in the middle of menopause, while thankfully, my experience of hot flashes and emotional outbursts ended over a decade ago.

I'm looking in the mirror at my hair. My hair! What on earth? It used to hang down in heavy, glossy waves, and now it sticks out of my head like a marshful of brittle autumn grasses. It is simultaneously coarse and weightless in a way that seems like an actual paradox, as if my scalp is extruding a combination of twine, nothing, and fine-grit sandpaper.

Despite the age difference, I found Rocky's thoughts and experiences relatable and validating. I also found her relationship with her two adult children, specifically with her twenty-something-year-old daughter, enviable, albeit not without its flaws.

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.

Followers of this blog know that my favorite genres are memoir and fiction, specifically those centered around family, marriage, mother-daughter relationships, and aging women. Sandwich checks all the boxes. As with We All Want Impossible Things, I found Newman's latest novel humorous and tender. Reading late in the night, I disturbed my husband's sleep as I laughed aloud on numerous occasions. 

I'm happy to have purchased a copy of the book for my keeper shelf and look forward to reading it again later this summer. Fans of Anna Quindlen, Joyce Maynard, Stewart O'Nan, Abigail Thomas, and Kelly Corrigan are sure to enjoy this gem. Highly recommend!

Evenings at Five

 

Evenings at Five by Gail Godwin

Illustrations by Frances Halsband

Fiction

2003 Ballantine Books

Finished on January 18, 2023

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Every evening at five o'clock, Christina and Rudy stopped work and began the ritual commonly known as Happy Hour. Rudy mixed Christina's drink with loving precision, the cavalier slosh of Bombay Sapphire over ice shards, before settling across from her in his Stickley chair with his glass of Scotch. They shared a love of language and music (she is an author, he a composer, after all), a delight in intense conversation, a fascination with popes, and nearly thirty years of life together.

What did I think, that we had forever? muses Christina, seven months after Rudy's unexpected death. While coming to terms with her loss, with the space that Rudy once inhabited, Christina reflects on their vibrant bond - with all its quirks, habits, and unguarded moments - as well as her passionate sorrow and her attempts to reposition herself and her new place in the very real world they shared.

In this literary jewel, a bittersweet novella of absence and presence and the mysterious gap between them, Gail Godwin has performed a small miracle. In essence, Evenings at Five is a grief sonata for solo instrument transposed into words. Interwoven with meditations and movements, full of aching truths and a wicked sense of humor, it exquisitely captures the cyclical nature of commitment - and the eternal quality of a romance completed.

A dear friend gifted me this lovely book fifteen years ago, and while I know I read it sometime in early 2008, I didn't have any memory of the story when I picked it up again last week. Having just finished two exceptionally long novels (Coming Home and A Fine Balance), I was ready to read something not quite so long. I began with Foster by Claire Keegan, and was so pleased with that novella, that I searched my shelves for something else that I could read in one evening. Evenings at Five was just the ticket. Like Foster, the book is roughly 5x7, fitting neatly in one hand. With a mere 114 pages (many of which include lovely line drawings, spanning across the spread of two pages), this was a perfect choice for a quick, yet thoughtful, read. 

I'm not sure if it's due to my more mature age (I was 47 rather than 61 when I first read Evenings at Five), but the characters and their lives resonated with me much more this time around. My husband and I are now both retired and have a similar "happy hour" ritual each evening at five. This tender story could easily be overwhelmingly depressing, but I found it lyrical and filled with love, and one which I will return to in the future.

Henry, Himself

Henry, Himself by Stewart O'Nan
Fiction
2019 Viking
Finished on August 9, 2019
Rating: 5/5 (Excellent!)

Publisher's Blurb:

A member of the greatest generation looks back on the loves and losses of his past and comes to treasure the present anew in this poignant and thoughtful new novel from a modern master

Stewart O’Nan is renowned for illuminating the unexpected grace of everyday life and the resilience of ordinary people with humor, intelligence, and compassion. In this prequel to the beloved Emily, Alone, he offers an unsentimental, moving life story of a twentieth-century everyman.

Soldier, son, lover, husband, breadwinner, churchgoer, Henry Maxwell has spent his whole life trying to live with honor. A native Pittsburgher and engineer, he’s always believed in logic, sacrifice, and hard work. Now, seventy-five and retired, he feels the world has passed him by. It’s 1998, the American century is ending, and nothing is simple anymore. His children are distant, their unhappiness a mystery. Only his wife Emily and dog Rufus stand by him. Once so confident, as Henry’s strength and memory desert him, he weighs his dreams against his regrets and is left with questions he can’t answer: Is he a good man? Has he done right by the people he loves? And with time running out, what, realistically, can he hope for?

Like Emily, Alone, Henry, Himself is a wry, warmhearted portrait of an American original who believes he’s reached a dead end only to discover life is full of surprises.

Emily, Alone (which I absolutely loved) tells the story of Emily Maxwell after the death of her husband, Henry. Now O'Nan turns back the clock and gives us this remarkable prequel, showing us Henry's point-of-view as a husband and a father. This character-driven novel is comprised of short chapters (or vignettes), which share the details of everyday life ranging from concerns and worries for adult children (and grandchildren) to mundane chores such as tending a lawn, making an ATM bank deposit or outsmarting a mouse. At seventy-five, Henry is well-aware of his mortality, scanning the obituaries and paying close attention to the age of those listed in the columns. With all the struggles and frustrations that come with marriage and parenthood, Henry is patient and understanding while Emily is more brusque and testy. After nearly 50 years of marriage, they no longer need to fill their conversations with inane chatter or lengthy explanations. They know each other so well, they can speak in the briefest of sentences and know what the other is thinking. Well, for the most part. Even the closest relationships have misunderstandings. While their love is long-standing and faithful, O'Nan shares Henry's insecurities and weaknesses, creating one of the most well-drawn and vivid male character I've encountered in a novel.

I loved this deeply affecting book for its honest glimpse into a man's heart and mind. Not since The Arrivals (Meg Mitchell Moore) have I read something so profoundly real with regard to family dynamics.  I can't say that I always know what my own husband is thinking or feeling, but after nearly 31 years of marriage, I can guess what he will say after reading this review. "Sounds like an excruciatingly boring book!" I disagree and I look forward to reading Wish You Were Here (which is the first in this trilogy) before giving Emily, Alone a second reading. Bravo, Mr. O'Nan. This is a gem.

Click here to learn more about the novel.

A Celibate Season

A Celibate Season by Carol Shields and Blanche Howard
Fiction
1991 Penguin Books
Finished on September 9, 2017
Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

A passionate and profound portrait of marriage -- told entirely through letters -- from two award-winning authors.

"In retrospect it seems somewhat wacky to me that... we didn't stop to consider the problems that might accompany ten months of celibate life."

For Jocelyn and Charles, the demands of family and career mean a ten-month separation, during which they decide to communicate with one another by writing letters. Each finds this intimate and exhilarating, as they are able to reveal things that would never be spoken aloud. Yet as the months pass, their letters depict two very distinct views of their time apart -- and of their marriage. As the separation begins to unravel the threads that bind their marriage together, we bear witness to the evolution and eventually the breakdown of communication. For their "season of celibacy," as they originally joked, is proving to be more of a challenge than either had ever imagined, one that tests the strength of their marriage and their commitment to one another.

I am a huge fan of epistolary novels and A Celibate Season didn't disappoint! I enjoyed this slim book, although it got a little bogged down with the details of Jock's (Jocelyn) job with the Commission in Ottawa. I was not happy with the last few letters (I almost threw the book across the room!) in which there was a turn of events that I wasn't expecting and left me feeling disappointed with both the characters and the authors. And yet, I was satisfied with the conclusion of the story and believe it's a book I will want to read again at a later date.