Et cetera : What We're Reading: Wreck

If you loved Rocky in ‘Sandwich,’ you’ll be glad to hear she is back in Catherine Newman’s latest novel, ‘Wreck.’ Rocky continues to navigate life with her grown children and aging father, all the while experiencing a strange slew of health conditions. Most concerning is a rash that neither she nor her team of doctors can explain. It’s progressively getting worse, and she neurotically turns to google in the middle of the night, even though she knows she shouldn’t. She and her daughter remain close, and they enjoy the pleasures of Fall together including Halloween, when Rocky mistakes her daughter’s date for a trick-or-treater. They are both obsessed with a news story about a local man who was killed when his car was hit by an oncoming train. Was it suicide? Or was the train operator at fault? The plot thickens as they barrel on toward Thanksgiving.

Rocky is over-the-top expressive in her moods, fears, and insecurities, all the while loving deeply with her whole heart. This book offers plenty of belly laughs just in time for the holidays with Newman’s trademark side of tenderness as well.

Happy reading,

Kelly