Wreck
by Catherine Newman
Wreck brings us back to Rocky and her family, the delightful cast of characters we met in Sandwich. This time Rocky is juggling a health crisis, coping with grief, and also navigating the parenting of adult children.
Catherine Newman’s books—in her own words, on a podcast I heard her on (and unrelated: I can’t decide if I want to BE her when I grow up or be her FRIEND, but I will read absolutely every single thing she ever writes)—says her books aren’t heavy plot books, and they’re not. But they’re sort of like being under a cozy blanket with a friend, chatting by the fire, drinking a cup of tea. Her writing is gorgeous but not difficult to get through, poignant but also funny. There are so many lines in her books that feel like profound observations of life, and her take on parenting is both inspiring and hopeful.
“Life is a near-death experience. And death is a real-life one. There is…only this, now…loving each other like there’s plenty of room on the life raft. Like there’s no tomorrow—or like there is one, and you don’t want to wake up hungover with regret. You just want to wake up while you still can. While the world is turning and the owls are calling and gratitude is the very air you are still breathing, because, whatever happens next, that’s how lucky you are. You are still breathing.”
“The enormity of my love for these tender, fleshy beings was twinned with a potential for loss so unimaginably deep and powerful that it was like a black hole lurking just outside our window.”
Her characters are vivid and lovable, and I always feel connected to my humanness when I read her work. Her books make me think in the best way, and they always remind me what’s most important in life: the people we give our love to, and give us their love in return.
