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"Okay, tell me which do you want: to be able to fly or to be invisible?"And so begins the tale of one particularly gifted family as it finds itself. Following his acclaimed debut, Things We Didn't See Coming, Amsterdam lets each member speak, opening up an intimate wilderness.
From a mystified teenager to an over-tired night nurse to a conflicted exile, he captures their secrets over thirty years, the many voices revealing an uneasy peace. The surprising strengths they each find show them how to change their lives - and what the family needs in order to survive.
About the Author
Steven Amsterdam is a writer living in Melbourne.
In The Press
“What the Family Needed is a wonderful novel: imaginative, intelligent, empathetic. It’s like a cross
between The Corrections and The Slap, except without any of the gloom or rage and with the addition of
something that may or may not be either a form of magic realism or simply that old staple of the literary
art, metaphor.”
— Sydney Morning Herald
“Every now and then, a novel arrives that conveys not only wisdom and understanding but also offers a
dose of magic. Part fable, part dreamscape, part family drama, What the Family Needed can be read in
several ways. Some of the delight is that nothing is lost in choosing one way over another; in fact, each
reading contains all other possible readings.”
— Brisbane Courier Mail
“To tell you the narrative concerns a family whose members have superpowers is only to graze the surface
of a moving and beautifully realised meditation on what it is to be an ordinary human being.”
— The Australian
“Strange and marvellous territory… With such a ferocious intelligence and playful curiosity at work here,
all we can hope for is to hang on for the ride.”
— The Monthly
“Amsterdam has a gift for switching reality about: in his sharp and engaging fiction, life seems ordinary but
radically unsettling. It’s not even clear what species of fiction we are dealing with… Exhilarating.”
— The Australian
“Ingenious.”
— Australian Book Review
“A wonderfully fresh perspective on families, homing in on those transformative moments that shape
not merely our futures, but our understanding of the past. This is a novel that pulses with hope… It’s a
tantalising novel, one that’s both sharp and touching, and Steven Amsterdam is fast becoming one of our
most interesting writers.”
— Canberra Times
“Unputdownable.”
— Townsville Bulletin
“What the Family Needed is a probing exploration of familial love and forbearance, communication and
letting go.” 4.5/5 stars
— Bookseller & Publisher
“There’s something fresh and engaging about Steven Amsterdam’s writing — a lightness of touch with
some of life’s more troubling human scenarios sprinkled with a frisson of other worldliness… Like his
2009 debut Things We Didn’t See Coming is packed to the brim with fascinating ideas that play on your
mind and characters so vivid… It’s a magical concept…”
November’s Great Read, 2011
— Australian Women’s Weekly
ISBN: 9781742702117
ISBN-10:
Publisher: Sleepers Publishing
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Dimensions (cm): 19.7 x 13.1
x 2.1
Weight (kg): 0.23
Audience:
General
