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grahamclements's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoyed Steve Amsterdam’s award winning, apocalyptic, climate change novel Things We Didn’t See Coming, so I was quick to purchase a copy of What the Family Needed. Calling Things We Didn’t See Coming a novel might be bit of 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 this time 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 Aunts family’s stable 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: invisibility or flight? She chooses invisibility. Minutes later she wishes she could sneak down stairs 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 stories of their own. The stories are in a 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 wanted.
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 and fix her delusional son Alek, if only she was more efficient.
Peter just 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 desires of the characters: wouldn’t it be nice to find out what people are saying when you are not around, or to flee a boring life, or if nothing ever changed.
The novel ends with Alek’s story. It is clear from the start of the novel 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 was looking for. I felt a bit dudded, disappointed.
Things We Didn’t See Coming had a sense of urgency about it, a demand that we change, and 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 be careful what you wish for because the change might not be worth it. It is a gentle novel, perhaps too gentle.
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 Aunts family’s stable 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: invisibility or flight? She chooses invisibility. Minutes later she wishes she could sneak down stairs 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 stories of their own. The stories are in a 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 wanted.
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 and fix her delusional son Alek, if only she was more efficient.
Peter just 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 desires of the characters: wouldn’t it be nice to find out what people are saying when you are not around, or to flee a boring life, or if nothing ever changed.
The novel ends with Alek’s story. It is clear from the start of the novel 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 was looking for. I felt a bit dudded, disappointed.
Things We Didn’t See Coming had a sense of urgency about it, a demand that we change, and 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 be careful what you wish for because the change might not be worth it. It is a gentle novel, perhaps too gentle.
buckyeahice's review
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
alison_marie's review against another edition
3.0
More like 3.5 stars. This book isn't at all what I expected, but I was pleasantly surprised by its actual tone and storyline.
alexbennetts's review against another edition
3.0
I quite liked this book. Some of the unanswered questions - "Why didn't Ruth begin to read Alek's/others' minds?" - make it a bit vague by the end of it. Why didn't Giordana's invisibility come into effect again through the story? Maybe I missed something in the vital last chapter that undid all of this. We know Peter never gains his powers because of the changes Alek makes, but I'm not sure if it ever ponders on the others. Ruth is the big one because she has the power to unravel everyone else's secrets in a flash but... it's kind of just left there. Does she know Alek can change all this?
It's a really nice book though. I was a bit blasé at the beginning just because, look, another story about a broken family, how boring. But it takes the turns it needs to make and picks up after that segment. A worthy read.
It's a really nice book though. I was a bit blasé at the beginning just because, look, another story about a broken family, how boring. But it takes the turns it needs to make and picks up after that segment. A worthy read.
karenleagermain's review against another edition
3.0
Steven Amsterdam's novel, What the Family Needed plays with the idea of having a superpower get you through a tough time in your life. Each chapter in Amsterdam's novel focuses on a different family member and the time in which they received their super power.
The powers are not something that the characters receive with surprise. It's more like it's something necessary to help them. It's this lack of surprise that helped with the plausibility and allowed me to just go along for the ride. It would have become very tedious to read if I had to sit through all seven characters have their individual shocked reactions to their new powers. Just as the book is titled, the characters easily accept the powers as something that they need. I can suddenly dissapear or speed through water? Cool.
The family involved is two adult sisters and their individual families. I'm still unsure if I liked how the stories connected. I felt like a few of the chapters would have worked better as a individual short story. i could have enjoyed the content more, rather than thinking about how it was going to intersect with the other characters. I enjoyed the characters as part of a family unit, but overall the premise behind the stories was far more entertaining than the family dynamic. I didn't finish the novel feeling like I gained more from having the stories connected. I would have enjoyed it more if it had been a collection of unrelated chapters.
My favorite chapter was, Ben, a father with an infant son who is given the power to fly in order to gain perspective. It was beautifully written and the story least connected to the other characters. I also really loved Peter, who gained the ability to materialize what he needed to have after his wife passed away. This isn't a conventional story involving super powers. The powers are much more subtle and tied to emotional needs. The story has many poignant moments.
I enjoyed the concept and Amsterdam's writing style, but admittedly, the story did not manage to hold my interest. I finished it, but there were many times where I fell asleep reading or struggled to keep focused. It was uneven. However, I look forward to checking out other works by Amsterdam, as he has a unique perspective.
Like my review? Check out my blog!
The powers are not something that the characters receive with surprise. It's more like it's something necessary to help them. It's this lack of surprise that helped with the plausibility and allowed me to just go along for the ride. It would have become very tedious to read if I had to sit through all seven characters have their individual shocked reactions to their new powers. Just as the book is titled, the characters easily accept the powers as something that they need. I can suddenly dissapear or speed through water? Cool.
The family involved is two adult sisters and their individual families. I'm still unsure if I liked how the stories connected. I felt like a few of the chapters would have worked better as a individual short story. i could have enjoyed the content more, rather than thinking about how it was going to intersect with the other characters. I enjoyed the characters as part of a family unit, but overall the premise behind the stories was far more entertaining than the family dynamic. I didn't finish the novel feeling like I gained more from having the stories connected. I would have enjoyed it more if it had been a collection of unrelated chapters.
My favorite chapter was, Ben, a father with an infant son who is given the power to fly in order to gain perspective. It was beautifully written and the story least connected to the other characters. I also really loved Peter, who gained the ability to materialize what he needed to have after his wife passed away. This isn't a conventional story involving super powers. The powers are much more subtle and tied to emotional needs. The story has many poignant moments.
I enjoyed the concept and Amsterdam's writing style, but admittedly, the story did not manage to hold my interest. I finished it, but there were many times where I fell asleep reading or struggled to keep focused. It was uneven. However, I look forward to checking out other works by Amsterdam, as he has a unique perspective.
Like my review? Check out my blog!
daffz's review against another edition
3.0
There were a few things I liked a lot about this book but also a lot of things I found lacking. The way it was written in multiple stories from different points of view over 30 years was nicely done and made the book interesting. I enjoyed reading about all the different powers and how the characters used them in their day to day life.
However, I wish the consequences of those powers had been touched on more. After the chapter in which the power surfaced, they're never really mentioned again. (only briefly in the end, in Alek's chapter) Are we really supposed to believe that a flying man wouldn't make the news?
Of course, it could be said that the strange disappearance of the powers after the chapter ends was because of Alek changing reality. But I think that doesn't really make it more satisfying.
However, I wish the consequences of those powers had been touched on more. After the chapter in which the power surfaced, they're never really mentioned again. (only briefly in the end, in Alek's chapter) Are we really supposed to believe that a flying man wouldn't make the news?
Spoiler
Of course, it could be said that the strange disappearance of the powers after the chapter ends was because of Alek changing reality. But I think that doesn't really make it more satisfying.
ari__s's review against another edition
3.0
This was a strange little book. I think I liked the idea behind it and how it was told through multiple members of the family across multiple perspectives. The supernatural element was a curveball, but seemed to work out in the trajectory of the stories - at the very least, it emphasized the message the reader was intended to take away after each installment. I particularly appreciated the last segment, which (for the most part - the last page bugged me) both explained and complicated the entirety of what proceeded it. I definitely liked this book, but with an unshakable monotone. I wasn't able to fully engage with the characters, which always hinders me from fully appreciating a book. Slightly similar to how I feel about chai tea (I don't know what it tastes like, but I know I like it), I liked this book, though I don't really know why or exactly how much.
drrawsonreads's review against another edition
2.0
I can understand why some people love this book, but I didn't really enjoy reading it. The story is told in a series of vignettes that take place over the course of several decades, and each is told from the perspective of one member of an extended family. Each of the characters becomes aware over the course of their story that they have a superpower of some sort, and their reactions to these discoveries are unbelievably mild. The writing style is pretentious at some points and unclear at others. Adding to my frustration, each story ended just as it was getting interesting, and later stories answered only some of the questions readers were left with from earlier stories. The final chapter went a little of the way toward correcting some of my issues with the book, but not enough for me to recommend this one to anyone.