Kinjal Goyal

Sandwich by Catherine Newman is one of those rare novels that sneaks up on you quietly, tenderly, and with so much honesty that it leaves you teary-eyed and smiling at the same time. It’s a story about a middle-aged woman on a family vacation, but more than that, it’s a deeply human exploration of love, motherhood, aging, longing, and the absurd, beautiful messiness of life. As a psychologist, I found the emotional landscape of this book incredibly rich. Newman captures the inner monologue of her protagonist with such nuance and humor that even the most fleeting moments; a glance, a passing thought, a small act of care, feel profound. The protagonist’s role as the ‘sandwich generation’ is both literal and symbolic: caught between caring for aging parents and parenting young adults, while also managing the invisible labor of emotional caretaking. It’s exhausting, funny, heartbreaking, and deeply relatable. What I appreciated most is Newman’s ability to bring humor into the darkest corners of the psyche. She doesn’t shy away from the rawness of relationships or the quiet despair that sometimes accompanies routine, aging, or the fear of being unseen. Yet, her writing is buoyant, filled with affection and wit, and never turns cynical. The novel made me reflect on the way we carry our roles as women: wife, mother, daughter, caregiver..often invisibly, and how important it is to name our needs and our griefs. Sandwich doesn’t offer solutions, but it gives space for recognition, for truth, and for the radical act of witnessing our own lives. Highly recommended for anyone in midlife, for mothers, daughters, and those who love stories told with tenderness and truth. It’s not just a book.. it’s a hug in a written form.

I found this book on Adam Grant's podcast, Rethinking. When I heard the author, Gabrielle and Adam in conversation, I knew I had stumbled upon a book I would love. And love it, I did! A book that is about love, but not romance. A love that runs deeper. The main characters, Sam and Sadie are children when the story begins. As they grow up, right in front of your eyes, you explore their worlds, their emotional 'matrices' with them, almost as if in real time. I have never read a novel based on the lives of video game creators and it was insightful in a technical sense as well. The pace of the book is just right; it doesn't hurtle at breakneck speed, but it doesn't allow the reader to languish either. The language is another wonderful treat. I found new words (and some old ones used intricately) throughout the book. It is a literary feat to keep up such a high standard of writing, while ensuring the reader feels involved, and not ignorant. The cover art of the book seemed simple enough when I began reading. But when I 'played' the games that Sam and Sadie created, the cover just made so much sense! A special shout out to the design team for translating words (which were trying to describe an image in the first place) into such an apt rendition. Read this book to enjoy a rich and diverse emotional landscape, superlative writing and for the joy of a lovely story. I would recommend it to everyone above the age of thirteen. Savour it alone, or read it as part of a Book Club. In fact, I'm certain, like with most well narrated stories, this one will reveal different nuances to different readers. After all, we need to bring something into the book before we can take something back from it. "We are all living, at most, half of a life, she thought. There was the life you lived, which consisted of the choices you made. And then, there was the other life, the one that was the things you hadn't chosen." - Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Sister of my Heart is not a new book. It has been in the market for nearly 25 years. It found me recently though and I just finished reading it. It is a story of two girls, born and raised in a home replete with splendour and legacy, raised by three women; tied by a common tragedy. As the girls, Anju and Sudha grow up, their lives ebb and flow, sometimes together, sometimes away from each other. The writing though, slowly covers your heart with a warm blanket. As I read the story, I felt like someone finally ‘saw me’. As if someone saw me in moments when I thought I had wrapped up my emotions. This skill that Chitra has as a writer is what I’m always floored by. I was filled with gratitude that I existed in a time matrix where she is. If I had read these books in a different time and generation, I would have yearned for the opportunity to speak to the person who used words so wonderfully. Chitra’s writing heals, her words inspire, her thoughts transcend the physical boundaries of what we see. I hope that many more readers find what I found between the pages; a deep joy, an overwhelming sadness, a hiraeth of sorts. And the feeling that someone is bearing witness to emotions that others feel and stringing them so intricately together. As a writer, Chitra has some beautiful gems embedded throughout the book. After years of separation, when Anju and Sudha meet: ‘But when I see Sudha, her face bright with a simple, generous joy, the walls I'd set up so carefully collapse around me like a house of cards. Inside my heart it feels like a wet, new rain. In spite of all my insecurities, in spite of the oceans that'll be between us soon and the men that are between us already, I can never stop loving Sudha. It's my habit, and it's my fate.’ Read ‘Sister of my Heart’ to feel the brush of some familiar emotions and to explore some raw, unexpected ones too. Experience the circle of life of two girls, through birth, adulthood, marriage, parenthood, all studded with dreams, love and loss. Allow yourself to weep with the characters, and they will share the love with you when the time comes. Like all her other novels, this one makes the reader forget the lines between fact and fiction. Truly another masterpiece by a brilliant storyteller. I’m glad I found it, albeit a few decades later.