Occasionally a writer comes along who seems able to turn every domestic triumph and tear, every dinner concocted, co-sleep endured and I.P.A. swallowed (or not) — in other words, the ordinary stuff of first-world life — into material rife with wit, humor and soul-bearing openness ... Newman...is that sort of writer ... Slim, engrossing ... Impassioned, crackling, vividly detailed writing ... A prominent theme is the passing of time: the loss of youth; the replacement of bodily desire, function and pleasure with the security and privilege, the joy and miracle, of long-term life and love ... Sweet, savory, tenderhearted.
Newman elegantly segues from Nora Ephron-like comic passages like that one to elegy. To return to the same place every summer, after all, is to be periodically brought up short by the passage of time ... Sandwich is my idea of the perfect summer novel: shimmering and substantive. One more aspect of Newman’s book deserves highlighting: like many other recent novels by best-selling female authors — I’m thinking of Jennifer Weiner, Ann Patchett and Megan Abbott — Newman introduces a storyline here about abortion. She writes about that contested subject — and the emotions it engenders — in a way that I’ve never encountered in fiction before.
The great lines and witty observations never stop ... The abundance of love flourishing in Rocky’s family is refreshing and inspiring, but Newman is not afraid to go to the dark side of it.
Readers in this age group will relate to Rocky’s woes, and as the novel’s tone becomes more serious, they may identify with Rocky’s history as well. This is a quick yet moving read that will stay with readers long after the last page.
Rocky is the first to know the secret, further triggering her own examination of motherhood, but otherwise these secrets have little power in the narrative. Secrets are the foundation of drama, and Newman has layered several into the novel to create plot. However, the secrets themselves have very little consequence. If there is a weakness in the storytelling, it is how these progressive, well-adjusted, caring, and open-minded people are unaffected by the reveals ... There are many pieces of this portrait of motherhood, and at times Sandwich feels as cramped as a summer cottage. But that density is necessary to provide the full picture: of successful motherhood, of terminated motherhood, the beginning, the end, the in-between. Newman’s success is in delivering this treatise through an entertaining summer read, relatable to anyone who’s had a summer beach vacation.
