Sandwich by Catherine Newman

This is a quiet, slightly hilarious book about what I used to think of as life as we know it, one where the predictable is that we have a constitution that our elected officials believe in and whether we agree with them politically or not, they are not petulant children who want to break things. In the before times, this book would be seen as chronicling the predictable lives of comfortably off white people in North America. Rocky is in her mid-50's and spending a vacation week with her children and her parents--they are literally in a town called Sandwich, but it is also the metaphor, where Rocky is in the middle, having an empty nest but looming responsibilities. 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. I really enjoyed this book--I found the author could make me laugh about things that are real and not altogether funny, but more in the vein of laugh so you don't cry.