I enjoyed Steve Amsterdam’s award-winning apocalyptic, climate change novel Things We Didn’t See Coming, so I quickly purchased a copy of his follow-up novel What the Family Needed. Calling Things We Didn’t See Coming a novel might be a misnomer as it is a collection of short novellas. But they all feature the same character and are told in chronological order. Amsterdam uses the same technique with What the Family Needed, but each story is told from the viewpoint of a different character.
What the Family Needed begins with teenagers Giordana and Ben arriving at their Aunty Natalie’s house with their mother, Ruth. Once again, their mother has deserted her husband. Giordana is looking forward to the normalcy of her aunt’s stable family life, but she has not factored in the fantasies of their son Alek.
Gordiana feels her mother does not care about her opinion of her father and that she is taken for granted by her mother. It’s like she is invisible. While being entertained by one of Alek’s made-up fantasy games, he asks her to choose a superpower of invisibility or flight. She chooses invisibility. Minutes later, she wishes she could sneak downstairs and listen to what her mum is saying about her dad, and she suddenly becomes invisible.
Ben, Ruth, Natalie, cousin Sasha, Uncle Peter, and Alek all tell their own stories. The stories are in chronological order, so they don’t overlap or show an incident from a different viewpoint.
Ben’s story starts a few years after Giordana’s. He is unemployed and full of regret for marrying and having a baby too young. He wants to be free. Guess which super ability he gets.
Ruth is a nurse who wants to make the lives of her patients and families as comfortable as possible. If only they would tell her what they really want.
Sasha has never been able to form a long-term relationship. He would do anything to get his lover to return his love.
Natalie is busy—too busy to help fix her delusional son, Alek. If only she were more efficient.
Peter wants his family to stay stable and for nothing to change.
They each acquire a super ability, but their abilities have mixed results.
The novel is written in a wry tone. Most readers will identify with the characters’ desires: Wouldn’t it be nice to find out what people are saying when you are not around, to flee a boring life, or to know if nothing ever changes?
The novel ends with Alek’s story. It is clear from the start of the book that he is the catalyst for the gaining of super abilities by his relatives and other members of his family. I was very keen to find out how and why. Alek’s story offers surface answers but not the bottom-of-the-iceberg answers I sought. I felt a bit dudded and disappointed.
Things We Didn’t See Coming had a sense of urgency about it. It demands that we change, and has a character that changes to suit the environment. While What the Family Needed shows that change can be hard to cope with, even when magic intervenes. In the end, it says to be careful what you wish for because the change might not be worth it. It is a gentle novel, perhaps too gentle.
One Response
Some interesting themes for sure. Probably not for me as I read his previous novel after your recommendation. It didn't grab me in quite the same way.Think I'll give it a miss.Nice review though and glad you've found more time for reading this year.