Wreck

Wreck A novel

Catherine Newman, 1968-

Book - 2025

"The acclaimed bestselling author of Sandwich is back with a wonderful novel, full of laughter and heart, about marriage, family, and what happens when life doesn't go as planned. If you loved Rocky and her family on vacation on Cape Cod, wait until you join them at home two years later. (And if this is your first meeting with this crew, get ready to laugh and cry-and relate.) Rocky, still anxious, nostalgic, and funny, is living in Western Massachusetts with her husband Nick and their daughter Willa, who's back home after college. Their son, Jamie, has taken a new job in New York, and Mort, Rocky's widowed father, has moved in. It all couldn't be more ridiculously normal . . . until Rocky finds herself obsessed wit...h a local accident that only tangentially affects them-and with a medical condition that, she hopes, won't affect them at all. With her signature wit and wisdom, Catherine Newman explores the hidden rules of family, the heavy weight of uncertainty, and the gnarly fact that people-no matter how much you love them-are not always exactly who you want them to be"--

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Subjects
Domestic fiction.
Novels.
Romans.
Genres
Domestic fiction
Novels
Romans
Published
New York, NY : Harper 2025.
Language
English
Main Author
Catherine Newman, 1968- (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
pages cm
ISBN
9780063453913
9780063453920
Contents unavailable.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

A woman faces a health crisis and obsesses over a local accident in this wonderful follow-up toSandwich (2024). Newman begins her latest with a quote from Nora Ephron: "Death is a sniper. It strikes people you love, people you like, people you know--it's everywhere. You could be next. But then you turn out not to be. But then again, you could be." It sets an appropriate tone for a story that is just as full of death and dread as it is laughter. Two years after the events ofSandwich, Rocky is back home in Western Massachusetts and happily surrounded by family--her daughter, Willa, lives with her and her husband, Nick, while applying to Ph.D. programs; her widowed father, Mort, has moved into the in-law apartment behind their house. When a young man who graduated from high school with Rocky's son, Jamie, is hit by a train, Rocky finds herself spiraling as she thinks about how close the tragedy came to her own family. She's also freaking out about a mysterious rash her dermatologist can't explain. Both instances are tailor-made for internet research and stalking. As Rocky obsessively googles her symptoms and finds only bad news ("Here's what's true about the Internet: very infrequently do people log on with their good news.Gosh, they don't write,I had this weird rash on my forearm? And it turned out to be completely nothing!"), she also compulsively checks the Facebook page of the accident victim's mother. Newman excels at showing how sorrow and joy coexist in everyday life. She masterfully balances a modern exploration of grief with truly laugh-out-loud lines (one passage about the absurdity of collecting a stool sample and delivering it to the doctor stands out). As Rocky deals with the byzantine frustrations of the medical system, she also has to learn, once more, how to see her children, husband, father, and herself as fully flawed and lovable humans. A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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