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    What the Family Needed
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    What the Family Needed
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    What the Family Needed
    Audiobook6 hours

    What the Family Needed

    Written by Steven Amsterdam

    Narrated by Tanya Eby

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "Okay, tell me which you want," Alek asks his cousin at the outset of What the Family Needed. "To be able to fly or to be invisible?" And soon Giordana, a teenager suffering the bitter fallout of her parents' divorce, finds that she can, at will, become as invisible as she feels. Later, Alek's mother, newly adrift in the disturbing awareness that all is not well with her younger son, can suddenly swim with Olympic endurance. Steven Amsterdam's incandescent novel follows the members of this gorgeously imagined extended family over three decades, as they each discover, at a moment of crisis, that they possess a supernatural power.

    But instead of crimes to fight and villains to vanquish, the family confronts inner demons, and their extraordinary abilities prove to be not so much magic weapons but expressions of their fears and longings as they struggle to come to terms with who they are and what fate deals them. As the years pass, their lives intersect and overlap in surprising and poignant ways, and the real magic is revealed to lie not in their superpowers but in the very human and miraculous ways they are able to accept, protect, and love one another.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateMar 21, 2013
    ISBN9781469258478
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for What the Family Needed

    3.5/5

    62 ratings21 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed Steven Amsterdam's novel "What the Family Needed". The general plot is great, but like others, I didn't like the time jumps. It's well-written and the story line is great.
    • 2/5
      Well written and vaguely interesting but I gave up waiting for more to happen before I ever found out why this family gained its various superpowers. I was sold on this by a number of reviews but found it lacking in a plot to hold my interest.
    • 3/5
      I was happy to receive a copy of What the Family Needed. I enjoyed the author's previous novel, Things We Didn't See Coming. I liked how this book is broken up by character, but coupled with the jumps in time, I felt the story was a bit disjointed. And with each chapter being on the longer side, it felt like I was reading a bunch of short stories. I ended up wanting to hear more about certain characters (Ruth) and less about others (Alek). Each character also possesses a supernatural power, which you realize as each chapter enfolds, but sometimes that confused me. For example, if Ruth had the ability to hear other people's unspoken thoughts, then how come she couldn't hear what her family was thinking? Only strangers? I think the supernatural power idea is a great one, but it needed to be implemented more consistently. Overall, I would recommend the book and it's a fairly quick read.
    • 3/5
      Steven Amsterdam's "What the Family Needed" takes an interesting premise -- members of a regular, slightly dysfunctional family receive different superpowers loosely connected to their individual strengths and fears -- and develops it into a series of disconnected and ultimately unfulfilling short narratives.The prose itself is crisp and unpretentious; my main problems with the book were the discontinuity between the "chapters," which are set years apart, and the lack of any thematic cohesion across the stories. I kept expecting Amsterdam to build towards some narrative climax tying the individual stories together, but the ending only left me with more questions about what exactly he was trying to convey."What the Family Needed" is a prime example of both the strengths and weaknesses of much of modern literature: technical proficiency that signifies little.Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.
    • 5/5
      Synopsis: How do you write a synopsis for “What the Family Needed”? Ha ha ha! It is not like any other book I’ve read, and that’s a GOOD thing! It is about a family with typical family issues who, like all of us, are navigating through life: childhood, love, marriage, dysfunction, pain and loss. The characters interrelationship with each other is frequently rocky. But in the midst of all this…. this…. normality, there is something very unique and wonderful going on. As it happens, as time progresses over several decades, the characters discover their own wondrous and special super power.What I liked: This is a strange, short-ish little book that I just loved. Fable-like in texture, each chapter focuses on a different character, and his or her unique challenges and the super power that he or she discovers. How each power manifests, what each character does with his/her power is only part of this delightful story of the tenacious love and angst hidden inside families. There is a mystery here too: where are this crazy super powers coming from? Amsterdam doesn’t disappoint.What I didn’t like: Nothing. Summary: This is a thoughtfully sweet and heart-wrenching novel. Odd though it is, it filled me up, and will stay with me a long time. Recommended.
    • 5/5
      I really, really, really enjoyed this book. The of development or discovery of super powers by each member of a family is almost incidental to the story of individuals, trying to deal with the trials and trauma close familial relationships almost necessarily bring. The secrets they hide, and the ones they don't, the feelings they have but shouldn't, and the feelings they should have but do not... it's all so familiar. Who doesn't wish they had something, some inner power or strength, to lean on when failed by loved ones and themselves? Even when, as in this book, that inner strength really comes, in one way or another, from the love and support of someone else.
    • 4/5
      A novel that is a collection of related short stories about a family that finds super-human strength when it is needed most. Seven different relatives have their turn as the main character when they describe dealing with the entire range of human emotion and experience. An excellent read for anyone who likes magical realism, for sure, but also for those who enjoy books about idiosyncratic families and interpersonal relationships, and are also willing to take a leap of imagination.
    • 4/5
      When I read the blurb of this book where a young boy asks whether you want to fly or be invisible I was very intrigued. Steve Amsterdam’s book combines this fantasy question of superpower with the practicality of using it to help your family. In concept, it would seem similar to mothers getting superhuman strength when the life of their child is in danger (lifting cars etc.) However, Amsterdam uses a more subtle approach. Each member of the family has a superpower that helps them in moments of family crisis. A teenager finds out the real reason behind her parent’s divorce, a mother is willing to go to the ends of the earth to save her son, and a young father finds new purpose. I enjoyed Giordana’s, Natalie’s, Ruth’s, and Alek’s stories the most. The invisible girl premise always seems a metaphor for disappearing, but in Giordana’s case, it seems to be more of an appearance of truth in many ways. I couldn’t completely connect with Natalie’s story. I did understand the need for a parent to do whatever they can to help a child in need. Her fear is very clear and poignant. Ruth tried to use her power for good, but it seemed more of a general awakening of how she impacted the people around her. Alek’s is the most interesting with an explanation and a spoiler in the story. I felt the other stories were a little flat; there was too much reaching and reliance on the superpower as help. It was more powerful when the character was faced with using their superpower, but then didn’t use it. These stories provide more of an epiphany for the family member. I liked how the story didn’t tread over the same time period, but told the story over several decades. Every member as a crisis in their life at a different time and it was easy to connect to those stories. In the end it’s not about the superpowers, but a realization of the situation. It’s probably something already figured out, the superpower emphasizes what’s already known. I think that’s my favorite part of the book.
    • 3/5
      What does any family need more than a few super powers and the possibility of a do-over?With marital break ups and all families facing illness and death, don't we each wish we had the power to change each other or ourselves?Amsterdam's families come with foibles that make them easy to connect with and abilities to give them some distance from our everyday lives. There were bumps in plot or character transitions along the way, but this fed into the overall mood and sense that holding families together can carry a very heavy burden for some, super hero or no.
    • 3/5
      This book was a rather good idea that somehow failed to gel completely for me. The idea is fairly simple: seven members of a family reach points in their lives where they are seriously troubled. Each of them, unbeknownst to the others, developers a singular super power that helps them (maybe) move onward. It's told in the form of seven chapters, each so distinct as to be, effectively, a short story.What worked for me was the way in which Amsterdam treated the events. This isn't written as a fantasy or science fiction novel. The powers are treated much more matter-of-factly; no one becomes a super hero saving the world from destruction. Instead, they try to mend their lives as Amsterdam explored — to an extent — how just one little ability to alter the reality of our lives can make a difference.What didn't work for me was the lack of continuity and closure in lives of the characters. The episodic nature of the book doesn't allow you to remain with any individual to the end of their story and the final resolution had a distinctly deus ex machina whiff to it.This is a very quick read and I think it would be much better if it weren't. It is a rather odd blend of compelling and disappointing at the same time, where I liked it but could have liked it much more. As such, I'd tentatively recommend it, suggesting readers decide on how much the blurbs and spoiler reviews call to them and then deciding if they want to invest 260-some pages of time.
    • 3/5
      I think of this book like beautifully stitched, lovingly rendered, kaleidoscopic quilt squares. All of the author's considerable efforts creating this imaginative and well written novel are appreciated and noted; my failure as a reader was wanting the whole quilt. I agree with previous reviewers in that the novel does feel like a short story collection and, if marketed that way my satisfaction level would have been much greater. Nonetheless, it was a really enjoyable read right through to the end, and only then did I feel like I wanted more or it could have been more.
    • 3/5
      "What the Family Needed" is not a story about your typical superheroes like Batman who's mission it is to save the world but about a family who becomes their own "superheroes" with supernatural powers to save themselves. Each Chapter was written by a different character with a different perspective on their lives and super powers. The story's main focus is not on the super powers of each individual but on the issues and dynamics of a family over a thirty year period.I would call "What the Family Needed" a set of short stories instead of a novel. Many of the stories (Chapters) can stand alone but a few were completely off the mark, especially the last chapter that left me scratching my head. "What the Family Needed" has the potential to be a great book but it is not there yet.
    • 4/5
      Interesting premise and the characters were decent with justified reasons for each to have whatever power he or she received. It was a superhero novel with powers based on psyche and the "heroes" not really being super for the most part.I liked it and looked forward to each chapter to see what the next family member's power (or what they needed) would be. The last chapter though, without giving too much away, was a little bit of a letdown. I understood it, but it was a little too convoluted and not as nice and neat as the chapters/powers before. Maybe it was intentional due to what the power was, but it just lost a little momentum in a book that was otherwise a page-turner.
    • 2/5
      Members of a family develop special abilities as they grow older and experience the mundane traumas of life. This is the central conceit of “What the Family Needed” an interesting, though flawed, collection by Steven Amsterdam.Made up of an uneven set of short stories, “What the Family Needed” attempts to incorporate superpowers into a literary exploration of family dynamics and personal difficulties. In this way, it is similar to “Fortress of Solitude” by Jonathon Lethem. However, while superpowers are generally a sub-plot in “Fortress of Solitude”, used to illustrate several of the novels themes, they are at the forefront of “What the Family Needed.” Every story follows a similar pattern: a character is faced with a comparatively mundane difficulty (loneliness, difficulties in his or her marriage, etc) and then develops superpowers that, at least superficially, appear well suited to overcoming that difficulty. Unfortunately, more than a few of the stories feel like filler. Difficulties are described in such broad strokes that they approach cliché or simply excuses to write about superpowers. Many of the characters are insufficiently fleshed out, their so uninteresting that it is difficult just to flip forward to get to the super powered bits.That isn’t to say there isn’t anything to like in “What the Family Needed.” As much as some of the stories feel like filler, others are rather effecting. In some of the stories, the addition of superpowers serves to illuminate tragedy and difficulty rather than to distract from it. Though not deeply described, some of the characters are interesting enough to rise above their cliché surroundings. Taken together, these stories may not add up to a particularly compelling narrative, but several are worth reading on their own.Going in, I really wanted to like “What the Family Needed”. Superficial similarity to novels like “Fortress of Solitude” doesn’t do the novel any favors however. As good as several of the stories are, and some are quite good, others are easily skipped. Even the final story, which explains the deus ex machina in the earlier stories, feels unnecessary. It (mostly) fits with the comic book elements of the earlier stories and it (mostly) fits with the literary elements- but like the collection itself- it doesn’t fit together well.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed reading this book, I liked it that every chapter was written from a different perspective, the "sneaking" in that they all have somehow supernatural powers was interesting without making this in a magic or science fiction story. Easy to read, nice written, only the end was a little bit flat. I expected from the weirdest member of the Family a little bit more, or was it that he gave up on his supernatural powers because it isn`t so great after all ?
    • 4/5
      WHAT THE FAMILY NEEDED by Steven Amsterdam is more a collection of short stories than a novel, although the stories follow a timeline and weave together nicely. It begins with a chapter in which young Alek asks his teenage cousin what she prefers, “To be able to fly or to be invisible.” Giordana choses invisibility, and so begins her adventure. In subsequent chapters, the members of this otherwise typical family find special powers at a time when they most need them to get by.The weak link in the book is the final chapter: all should be explained at this point, but it left me a bit befuddled. The fault may lie with me since magic realism isn’t my favorite genre, but the explanation we receive through Alek’s character left a lot to be desired, and having raced to the finish, I was definitely unsatisfied.If nothing else, WHAT THE FAMILY NEEDED is an excellent examination of family dynamics with a bit of magic thrown in – and I don’t know of many families who couldn’t use a bit of magic from time to time.*I received an ARC of this book from LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.
    • 3/5
      Each chapter focuses on one family member at a particular point in time while referencing each of the other family members, so we see the progression of all of the characters over time but through different perspectives and as each person gets what he or she needs. Some characters and situations are better drawn than others, but taken as a whole they weave a compelling whole that is well worth reading.
    • 5/5
      Personal crises inspire supernatural abilities, at least for members of Alek's family. We spend a chapter each with Alek's cousins, aunt, brother, mom, dad and finally Alek, watching the family grow over a period of thirty years and seeing them through life events, good and bad. Invisibility, flying, and mind reading are extraordinary abilities that each family member discovers within him/herself in time to handle an extraordinary situation. However, this book isn't really about magic, and it's not really a fantasy. It's about reality, life complexities, the ties that bring a family together, and ultimately, love. And it's a compelling and highly readable story. This is my favorite book of the year, so far.
    • 5/5
      It is difficult to imagine that most of us have not experienced an occasion during which we have looked back on a crisis in our past and wondered how we ever managed to come through it. Steven Amsterdam has expanded on this in an interesting and entertaining way in his new novel "What The Family Needed". The book is told from the perspective of several family members. These individuals are granted a special power they can use to deal with various crisis situations. Though this premise sounds a bit like fantasy, the book doesn't feel like a fantasy novel. Would hate to see readers steer clear of this wonderful story because it is a "fantasy" novel. While "What The Family Needed" does contain elements of fantasy, the story is much more than a fantasy. In fact this novel is about situations any of us could face at any given time. Steven Amsterdam just explains for us the unexplainable, the "well" we draw from when life becomes unmanagable. If we have ever wondered how we made it through a serious crisis and have come to the conclusion that we really have no clue, Amsterdam's imagination has supplied some answers. The powers granted to the charaters in this novel are bestowed on them by one of the individuals in the story. A boy, young man and eventually middle aged man who is mentally ill, whose gift is to be able to give his family members that which they feel they need. It is interesting to discover what these characters feel they need and how they use their new powers to overcome adversity. This is a very unique book....Steven Amsterdam had taken a not so unusual topic, family dysfunction, and given it a new twist. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to recommending it to my fellow readers. Would make for a great discussion as the various situations, the troubled characters and the choices made by each family member are all discussion topics.
    • 3/5
      I found this novel really compelling--Amsterdam made me care about each member of this magically gifted family, from the constantly confused Alek to the erudite Giordana. However, the book takes on a large project in attempting to tell the story of an entire family, over three generations, in under 300 pages. As a result, I sometimes felt like the story lacked resolution. I don't need perfectly tied-up endings, but a bit more clarity would have improved the story for me.
    • 4/5
      Interesting book. Members of a family develop superpowers which emerge during a personal crisis. While it sounds like science fiction or fantasy, the book does not really fit those genres and is primarily focused on the human dramas. The powers become an expression of part of each character's yearnings. Each chapter is written from the perspective of a different character and occur at various points in the story line.