Book Review – Sandwich

In 1960, Random House Co-founder Bennet Cerf bet Dr. Suess $50 that he couldn’t write a book using only 50 words.  The result was Green Eggs and Ham.

I think someone bet Catherine Newman $50 that she couldn’t write a book that included a vagina reference on every page.  Although, I am grateful for the term ‘vaginal atrophy’, which I will now sneak into most of my daily conversations.

I’m probably not the intended audience.

But…

Believe it or not I liked this book.  There were enough points of resonance to keep me engaged and the craft was very good.  And it was nice and short!  Easy to digest, like a July afternoon nap in the backyard hammock of a Cape rental.

I found it discarded, as I find a lot of my books, and was immediately intrigued by the cover and the implied content therein – Sandwich.  Sandwich is a town in Cape Cod.  Or as we Massholes would say ‘On Cape’.  Because in our universe, you are either ‘on Cape’ or ‘off-Cape.

The title doesn’t refer to Sandwich the town as much as it refers to the ‘sandwich generation’ where you have grown kids and elderly parents and the unique family dynamics around that.  (From the clues in the book they are staying somewhere in the mid-Cape).

Sandwich is told from the POV of Rocky, a menopausal mom and every page is awash with comedy and tragedy as she tries to figure out her life.

Anyone who has spent time on summer vacation with their own family will appreciate the universal dynamics of cramming a bunch of family into a small house with a bunch of sand, wet bathing suits, boardgames and, maybe, a bit of alcohol.

Rocky is a unique, thoughtful and bat-shit crazy mom.  We all probably know one of these.

The punchline, at the end of all the tragedy and hilarity is that as much as you worry about not having life figured out, it doesn’t matter.  Life goes on.  With or without you.

So you’d better make the best of this brief vacation.