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Things We Didn't See Coming
It’s the anxious eve of the millennium. The car is packed to capacity, and as midnight approaches, a family flees the city in a fit of panic and paranoid, conflicting emotions.The ensuing journey spans decades and offers a sharp-eyed perspective on a hardscrabble future, as a boy jettisons his family and all other ties in order to survive as a journeyman in an uncertain landscape. By turns led by love, larceny, and a new sexual order, he must avoid capture and imprisonment, starvation, pandemic, and some particularly bad weather.In Things We Didn’t See Coming, Steven Amsterdam links together nine luminous narratives through the mind of one peripatetic and resourceful wanderer who always has one eye on the exit door and the other on a future that shifts more drastically and more often than anyone would like to imagine.
174 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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1295 people want to read
About the author
Steven Amsterdam
9 books55 followersIs a writer living in Melbourne. He was born and raised by lifelong New Yorkers in Manhattan.
He wrote his first story about a hamster whose family was starving. A lilac bush in bloom saved everyone.
Steven Amsterdam has edited travel guides, designed book jackets, is a psychiatric nurse. Is a palliative care nurse.
He wrote his first story about a hamster whose family was starving. A lilac bush in bloom saved everyone.
Steven Amsterdam has edited travel guides, designed book jackets, is a psychiatric nurse. Is a palliative care nurse.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 289 reviews
August 15, 2013
I don't have a particularly good relationship with post-apocalyptic fiction, tending to find it either too far-fetched or, if not far-fetched, too depressing to want to immerse myself in for very long. I was spoiled early by having to read Robert Swindells's relentlessly bleak postnuclear misery-fest Brother in the Land for a school English class, after which I spent much of the next few years lying awake at night worrying that the noise of jumbo jets coming over Gatwick's flight path might in fact be the noise of a nuclear wind rushing towards our house. Thanks Miss Cutler.
Of course it's useful (necessary, even) to be scared by these ideas once or twice – but once you've got to grips with the basic principles, I'm not always sure the lessons learned are worth the emotional trauma involved. Which is what these books try and put you through, because despite the tone of some of my reviews I'm actually not a very critical reader – I tend to be pretty wide-eyed and immersive when it comes to fiction.
More generally, though, I think the genre suffers disproportionately from the prevailing fallacy that tragedy is somehow ‘truer’ than comedy. (Which some critics genuinely believe, not without reason, but which I don't.) This is why for example I am in no great hurry to read The Road, because although I often love Cormac McCarthy's writing style, I think his general philosophy depends on wilfully ignoring huge vistas of human experience and interaction – which is creatively interesting, but when it comes right down to it, no less selective a vision than that of someone like Terry Pratchett.
All of this is my way of saying that I liked Things We Didn't See Coming a lot more than I expected to when a cute sales assistant in a Melbourne branch of Readers flirted me into buying it ‘because the author's a local’. Actually Steven Amsterdam is originally from New York, but Melbourne has been his home for years now: the landscape of this book feels vaguely American, but the language includes some telltale non-US elements (like ‘Mum’). It begins on the eve of the millennium, and disappears off into an alternative present / near-future where society and the environment have broken down.
The book is constructed as a novel-in-short-stories, a format I like anyway and one which works especially well here. In nine standalone chapters, we see our unnamed narrator at different stages in his life, from a ten-year-old boy to a semi-invalid, prematurely-aged wasteland survivor. There is a lot of enjoyable speculation to be had over what must have happened in the long years between chapters, as secondary characters come and go, and as the world around us changes: we see at various times endless rain, urban looting, rural survivalism, drought, plague, even momentary periods of political stability with a decadent ruling class. The prose is sparse, uncomplicated and effective, and a lot of the key developments are unexplained and off-stage.
I like that the geopolitical/environmental speculation is not the main point here. What Amsterdam is really interested in is how interpersonal relationships work, how trust breaks down and whether it can ever be properly built up under extreme circumstances, and how to work out what really matters and strip down your life to just that. There is a nice strain of dark humour running through the book, and although it takes a steady look at the worst aspects of human nature, it doesn't forget the other aspects.
Only one of the stories felt underdeveloped to me; all of them completely held my attention and left me with lots to think about. Recommended for late-night reading under Gatwick flight path.
June 30, 2021
4.5★s
Second reading of this book for me, after a 5 year interval. In the meantime we've all been impacted by climate change phenomena and the coronavirus pandemic.
The book was published in 2009, and undoubtedly was written earlier than than. It's interesting that Steven Amsterdam was so prescient. I'm giving this an extra rating, because the story hits so close to the bone with our present circumstances in so many ways.
2016 review:
This is a thought-provoking, clever book, rather serious and grim, but with occasional flashes of humour. In 2009 it won The Age Book of the Year prize for fiction.
The story revolves around the survival over several decades of an individual following a global disaster. Although the type of disaster is not disclosed, I deduced that it was an enormous natural cataclysm, which, over time, disrupts the weather, destroys the earth and shatters societies. Food shortages lead to starvation and lawlessness. Epidemic and endemic diseases decimate populations, governments struggle to maintain any semblance of order…
The plot develops over nine chapters, at different phases of the narrator’s life, from his teenage years through to age 40. The various stages describe changes in his lifestyle as he tries to adapt to constantly changing conditions, and at the same time document changes in his inner self. Although he is basically a decent person, the conditions under which he lives lead the narrator into all sorts of dubious moral conundrums. He is resourceful and a survivor, definitely likeable, despite some dubious actions and the appalling circumstances of his life.
One key aspect of Amsterdam’s post-apocalyptic vision intrigued me in particular. In the wake of world-wide disaster, the government plays an important role in peoples’ lives. Although there are some individuals living beyond the pale, as would be expected, the society is definitely not anarchic. Indeed the narrator spends many years as a government employee working in rescue and rehabilitation positions.
My mind was occupied for ages around the issue of geography in this book. Although born in the US, Amsterdam has been resident in Australia for many years. So I was intrigued by the narrow confines of his dysfunctional world. I felt that without a doubt he located the disaster somewhere within the contiguous United States. But there is no sense of whether it affected the entire planet. And that got my back up because I get really annoyed with the blinkered vision of Americans that their country IS the world, and that any disaster that falls within their boundaries is viewed as world-wide (meantime people could be happily going about their daily lives unaffected in Shanghai or Shepparton!!) Certainly the absence of any geographical reality contributes to a sense of claustrophobia in the narrative. The government is an eminence grise, with no references given to Washington or the UN or similar.
This book is not going to appeal to all tastes. It is a serious contribution to the body of dystopian literature, and so would resonate with readers who appreciated The Road, although it is nowhere near as grim as that remarkable book. The later chapters, as the earth healed and society re-organised felt reminiscent to me of William Gibson’s Sprawl. Like Gibson’s writing, the book is packed with clever imaginings about what a post-apocalyptic world might look like, and what sorts of activities the survivors might engage in…
4★s
Second reading of this book for me, after a 5 year interval. In the meantime we've all been impacted by climate change phenomena and the coronavirus pandemic.
The book was published in 2009, and undoubtedly was written earlier than than. It's interesting that Steven Amsterdam was so prescient. I'm giving this an extra rating, because the story hits so close to the bone with our present circumstances in so many ways.
2016 review:
This is a thought-provoking, clever book, rather serious and grim, but with occasional flashes of humour. In 2009 it won The Age Book of the Year prize for fiction.
The story revolves around the survival over several decades of an individual following a global disaster. Although the type of disaster is not disclosed, I deduced that it was an enormous natural cataclysm, which, over time, disrupts the weather, destroys the earth and shatters societies. Food shortages lead to starvation and lawlessness. Epidemic and endemic diseases decimate populations, governments struggle to maintain any semblance of order…
The plot develops over nine chapters, at different phases of the narrator’s life, from his teenage years through to age 40. The various stages describe changes in his lifestyle as he tries to adapt to constantly changing conditions, and at the same time document changes in his inner self. Although he is basically a decent person, the conditions under which he lives lead the narrator into all sorts of dubious moral conundrums. He is resourceful and a survivor, definitely likeable, despite some dubious actions and the appalling circumstances of his life.
One key aspect of Amsterdam’s post-apocalyptic vision intrigued me in particular. In the wake of world-wide disaster, the government plays an important role in peoples’ lives. Although there are some individuals living beyond the pale, as would be expected, the society is definitely not anarchic. Indeed the narrator spends many years as a government employee working in rescue and rehabilitation positions.
My mind was occupied for ages around the issue of geography in this book. Although born in the US, Amsterdam has been resident in Australia for many years. So I was intrigued by the narrow confines of his dysfunctional world. I felt that without a doubt he located the disaster somewhere within the contiguous United States. But there is no sense of whether it affected the entire planet. And that got my back up because I get really annoyed with the blinkered vision of Americans that their country IS the world, and that any disaster that falls within their boundaries is viewed as world-wide (meantime people could be happily going about their daily lives unaffected in Shanghai or Shepparton!!) Certainly the absence of any geographical reality contributes to a sense of claustrophobia in the narrative. The government is an eminence grise, with no references given to Washington or the UN or similar.
This book is not going to appeal to all tastes. It is a serious contribution to the body of dystopian literature, and so would resonate with readers who appreciated The Road, although it is nowhere near as grim as that remarkable book. The later chapters, as the earth healed and society re-organised felt reminiscent to me of William Gibson’s Sprawl. Like Gibson’s writing, the book is packed with clever imaginings about what a post-apocalyptic world might look like, and what sorts of activities the survivors might engage in…
4★s
December 12, 2018
What if The Y2K Milllenium Bug had led to the World Wide Web meltdown?
There is a universality in such apocalyptic dystopias which reflect our contemporary fears about the end of civilisation and human advancement.
In this brilliant debut novel, Amsterdam uses the clever literary device of revealing events in nine narrative shifts, creating a disorientated reading experience - which matches the confusion and uncertainty of a civilisation in collapse. The episodic snapshots hint at resource wars, pandemics, famine and floods – the usual four horsemen scenario, but we are kept guessing about the actual root causes of the ecological disasters.
Meanwhile our plucky narrator/protagonist develops from precocious child into teenage scavenger/ thief, and eventually adult survivor – most likely due to his audacious temperament as well as his adaptability and resourcefulness.
It is a chilling narrative but one told in a spare and often wryly playful style which mitigates the bleakness and makes for a gripping read.
There is a universality in such apocalyptic dystopias which reflect our contemporary fears about the end of civilisation and human advancement.
In this brilliant debut novel, Amsterdam uses the clever literary device of revealing events in nine narrative shifts, creating a disorientated reading experience - which matches the confusion and uncertainty of a civilisation in collapse. The episodic snapshots hint at resource wars, pandemics, famine and floods – the usual four horsemen scenario, but we are kept guessing about the actual root causes of the ecological disasters.
Meanwhile our plucky narrator/protagonist develops from precocious child into teenage scavenger/ thief, and eventually adult survivor – most likely due to his audacious temperament as well as his adaptability and resourcefulness.
It is a chilling narrative but one told in a spare and often wryly playful style which mitigates the bleakness and makes for a gripping read.
January 22, 2013
Actually 4.5 stars, but decided to round up>
An interesting book structurally, this “novel” is actually 9 stories featuring the same narrator, each separated by a few years, each taking place in a increasingly dystopian future. We witness his relationship with his parents, his grandparents, his highly destructive girlfriend, and also see him move from job to job in a post-apocalyptic world – in one, he rides through the countryside on a horse, helping/convincing people to leave their homes as Biblical floods destroy their worlds; in another, he works as an adventure travel guide for the dying. The writing is spare, the gaps are many, so we have to fill in the parts of the story the author leaves out – he simply drops us into a time and place, lets us figure out what’s happening, then moves on to the next chapter. The result is highly episodic, but also mesmerizing, and very moving. The author is a palliative/psychiatric nurse living in Australia, and the empathy and compassion of the main character simply refuses to be buried, even as he does some awful things and hints at even worse. I thought the book was a wonderful, and very successful, experiment that I thoroughly enjoyed.
An interesting book structurally, this “novel” is actually 9 stories featuring the same narrator, each separated by a few years, each taking place in a increasingly dystopian future. We witness his relationship with his parents, his grandparents, his highly destructive girlfriend, and also see him move from job to job in a post-apocalyptic world – in one, he rides through the countryside on a horse, helping/convincing people to leave their homes as Biblical floods destroy their worlds; in another, he works as an adventure travel guide for the dying. The writing is spare, the gaps are many, so we have to fill in the parts of the story the author leaves out – he simply drops us into a time and place, lets us figure out what’s happening, then moves on to the next chapter. The result is highly episodic, but also mesmerizing, and very moving. The author is a palliative/psychiatric nurse living in Australia, and the empathy and compassion of the main character simply refuses to be buried, even as he does some awful things and hints at even worse. I thought the book was a wonderful, and very successful, experiment that I thoroughly enjoyed.
September 12, 2022
i hate vce english
update on second reading:
i still hate this book
update on second reading:
i still hate this book
September 9, 2013
This is one of the shortest books I've read in a while but it has taken me the longest amount of time to read.
I struggled with the concept, is it short stories about different characters or chapters of the one characters life through the different stages of post-millennium apocalyptic turmoil? I didn't feel there was a unifying factor that brought all the stories together in the end apart from there possibly being a veiled examination of the life cycle (birth, life and death) running underneath the main narrative.
I loved apocalypse stories and whilst I didn't love this book as a whole, I did quite enjoy the various types of apocalypse Amsterdam examined, the endless rain in Dry Land was a particularly fascinating apocalypse as was the seemingly pro-polygamy society in The Forest for the Trees. My favourite story though due to its almost personally effecting narrative was The Theft That Got Me Here. The characterisation in this story is beautiful and heart-breaking.
I struggled with the concept, is it short stories about different characters or chapters of the one characters life through the different stages of post-millennium apocalyptic turmoil? I didn't feel there was a unifying factor that brought all the stories together in the end apart from there possibly being a veiled examination of the life cycle (birth, life and death) running underneath the main narrative.
I loved apocalypse stories and whilst I didn't love this book as a whole, I did quite enjoy the various types of apocalypse Amsterdam examined, the endless rain in Dry Land was a particularly fascinating apocalypse as was the seemingly pro-polygamy society in The Forest for the Trees. My favourite story though due to its almost personally effecting narrative was The Theft That Got Me Here. The characterisation in this story is beautiful and heart-breaking.
November 20, 2010
I think I didn't get this book. The concept of moving through time so quickly for each chapter wasn't so much interesting as distracting. I kept turning the pages back wondering what happened in between and where the other characters suddenly went. What the hell happened in the years between chapter 4 and 5? How old is the narrator now? Who the hell are these people??
I ended up just floating through the narrative, not really interested but not totally disinterested. It was short and I got through it quick but after it was finished I didn't feel any sort of attachment to the book. Overall I don't think I liked it very much. As far as post apocalyptic stories go, it was definitely one of the least interesting I've read. Because of all the jumping it made the plot harder to understand and I had absolutely no idea what was going on with the world half the time. Did everyone die? Was there nuclear war? What's this disease going around mentioned in one of the chapters? Why in the last chapter is the narrator leading dying people around a volcano? It's more questions then answers and ultimately, didn't end up being that interesting.
I ended up just floating through the narrative, not really interested but not totally disinterested. It was short and I got through it quick but after it was finished I didn't feel any sort of attachment to the book. Overall I don't think I liked it very much. As far as post apocalyptic stories go, it was definitely one of the least interesting I've read. Because of all the jumping it made the plot harder to understand and I had absolutely no idea what was going on with the world half the time. Did everyone die? Was there nuclear war? What's this disease going around mentioned in one of the chapters? Why in the last chapter is the narrator leading dying people around a volcano? It's more questions then answers and ultimately, didn't end up being that interesting.
December 28, 2021
What's he so worried about? It's always been the end of the world. p15
The most surprising thing about this series of cleverly linked dystopian stories is that it is not hot off the press but rather it was published in 2009.
Is there anything gained by even explaining....? p107
End users excpect too much. If you want the rainbow, you've got to have some rain. p129
July 23, 2014
From my FBC review,a discussion of the each story with the first sentence or so excerpted:
1:What We Know Now
"For the first time, Dad is letting me help pack the car, but only because it’s getting to be kind of an emergency."
The narrator at 14 on New Year's Eve 1999-2000 and the beginning of the "troubles". The one pure mainstream story, it seems a later addition for the sake of completion but the last story connects back here and illuminates it.
2:The Theft That Got Me Here
"The new pills seem to be helping. Her eyes droop less. Grandpa’s not optimistic, but that’s not news."
The narrator at 16 living with his grandparents in a city that's isolated by manned barricades from the countryside; when grandma has a lucid day and grandpa's is depressed since the city is taking away his driving license, the three of them manage to escape the city and have a romp in the countryside; of course city folk are not welcomed there...
The true beginning of the book in many ways and partly comic, partly tragic but always excellent.
3:Dry Land
"A rain horse is a horse that’s been sensitized to travel in downpours without complaint."
The best story of the book follows the narrator at 23 working for the "land management" agency that evacuates people from the countryside following months of continuous rain; when a mishap happens and he is forced to seek shelter in a seemingly abandoned house, he discovers a mother and daughter that want more to be together than to survive...
Powerful and with a great twist ending
4:Cake Walk
"Margo walked off this morning, as soon as the sun started warming up the ground, leaving me to dig up something else for us to eat"
The narrator is about 26 now in the first of the 3 Margo stories that follow the narrator's relationship with a practical girl that is willing to do anything to survive and prosper in the "new world"; in this one they hide in a desert-like scape after they left the city following a plague, when an infected man happens upon their hidden tent, while Margo went on a trek in the morning with their only gun.
5:Uses for Vinegar
"That could only be her."
Set some 2-3 years later in a burnout town, the narrator is a bureaucrat dealing with relocation of the dispossessed folk there, when Margo and her current boyfriend appear; still "in love" with her, the narrator is willing to follow her away from there, but is she coming or not?
6:The Forest for the Trees
"I’m on the terrace of the main campus, in a recliner doing my work, the screen propped on my lap, my shirt off."
Several more years passed and now there is some resemblance of order; a rich girl turned politician and Senator representing a large part of the country becomes the narrator's and Margo's latest patron...
These three stories are the heart of the collection in many ways and they are all superb too, though they lack the power of "Dry Land" to some extent; the narrator has to answer the question: what price is he willing to pay for survival and for love/relationship?
7:Predisposed
"All I did was ask Jeph if he would help collect branches for a roof repair today."
Narrator at 36, weary of the world and asking for refuge in an isolated commune as security specialist and guardian of the only child alive there, the 14 year old teen Jeph; the first of three shorter, more vignette-like stories that deal more with moral questions than with the narrator's place in the world at large; more plague, privatized medicine with cures for the cash payers, long waiting lists for the rest; a good story but less polished than the previous ones.
8:The Profit Motive
"This is an era of violence."
Several more years passed and now there is another attempt at rebuilding the civilization after a truce in the local wars was imposed; still idealistic the narrator goes to ask for a position to help and has to take a test that quickly becomes weirder and weirder; another superb twist ending, but the story would have benefited by being slightly longer too.
9:Best Medicine
"I leave them badgering the nurse in the cafeteria. All I want is to appreciate the volcano alone, without the whole needy-crowd thing."
The narrator at 40 running a small business as a private tour guide for the terminally ill; here we get more background and a connection with the beginning, while the ending is another superb one
All in all "Things We Didn't See Coming" is a gem of a book that will stay with you for a long time and I strongly recommend it for anyone who wants an interesting but a bit unusual book that is very well written and has an endearing narrator who never loses his humanity despite all that happens
1:What We Know Now
"For the first time, Dad is letting me help pack the car, but only because it’s getting to be kind of an emergency."
The narrator at 14 on New Year's Eve 1999-2000 and the beginning of the "troubles". The one pure mainstream story, it seems a later addition for the sake of completion but the last story connects back here and illuminates it.
2:The Theft That Got Me Here
"The new pills seem to be helping. Her eyes droop less. Grandpa’s not optimistic, but that’s not news."
The narrator at 16 living with his grandparents in a city that's isolated by manned barricades from the countryside; when grandma has a lucid day and grandpa's is depressed since the city is taking away his driving license, the three of them manage to escape the city and have a romp in the countryside; of course city folk are not welcomed there...
The true beginning of the book in many ways and partly comic, partly tragic but always excellent.
3:Dry Land
"A rain horse is a horse that’s been sensitized to travel in downpours without complaint."
The best story of the book follows the narrator at 23 working for the "land management" agency that evacuates people from the countryside following months of continuous rain; when a mishap happens and he is forced to seek shelter in a seemingly abandoned house, he discovers a mother and daughter that want more to be together than to survive...
Powerful and with a great twist ending
4:Cake Walk
"Margo walked off this morning, as soon as the sun started warming up the ground, leaving me to dig up something else for us to eat"
The narrator is about 26 now in the first of the 3 Margo stories that follow the narrator's relationship with a practical girl that is willing to do anything to survive and prosper in the "new world"; in this one they hide in a desert-like scape after they left the city following a plague, when an infected man happens upon their hidden tent, while Margo went on a trek in the morning with their only gun.
5:Uses for Vinegar
"That could only be her."
Set some 2-3 years later in a burnout town, the narrator is a bureaucrat dealing with relocation of the dispossessed folk there, when Margo and her current boyfriend appear; still "in love" with her, the narrator is willing to follow her away from there, but is she coming or not?
6:The Forest for the Trees
"I’m on the terrace of the main campus, in a recliner doing my work, the screen propped on my lap, my shirt off."
Several more years passed and now there is some resemblance of order; a rich girl turned politician and Senator representing a large part of the country becomes the narrator's and Margo's latest patron...
These three stories are the heart of the collection in many ways and they are all superb too, though they lack the power of "Dry Land" to some extent; the narrator has to answer the question: what price is he willing to pay for survival and for love/relationship?
7:Predisposed
"All I did was ask Jeph if he would help collect branches for a roof repair today."
Narrator at 36, weary of the world and asking for refuge in an isolated commune as security specialist and guardian of the only child alive there, the 14 year old teen Jeph; the first of three shorter, more vignette-like stories that deal more with moral questions than with the narrator's place in the world at large; more plague, privatized medicine with cures for the cash payers, long waiting lists for the rest; a good story but less polished than the previous ones.
8:The Profit Motive
"This is an era of violence."
Several more years passed and now there is another attempt at rebuilding the civilization after a truce in the local wars was imposed; still idealistic the narrator goes to ask for a position to help and has to take a test that quickly becomes weirder and weirder; another superb twist ending, but the story would have benefited by being slightly longer too.
9:Best Medicine
"I leave them badgering the nurse in the cafeteria. All I want is to appreciate the volcano alone, without the whole needy-crowd thing."
The narrator at 40 running a small business as a private tour guide for the terminally ill; here we get more background and a connection with the beginning, while the ending is another superb one
All in all "Things We Didn't See Coming" is a gem of a book that will stay with you for a long time and I strongly recommend it for anyone who wants an interesting but a bit unusual book that is very well written and has an endearing narrator who never loses his humanity despite all that happens
April 9, 2015
This was story was told in a very disconnected, episodic style that didn't work for me. I get that the disconnection between the times in the narrator's life were reflective of how difficult it was to maintain continuity in relationships in the apocalyptic world...but the details were so sparsely filled in about everything that it just struck me as lazy storytelling. It seemed like instead of bothering to come up with answers about how the apocalypse came about and its repercussions, the author just threw about vague natural disasters and political upheavals as reasons for the constant shuffling around of the narrator, without grounding of the action in any place. And instead of bothering to resolve difficult circumstances or relationships, the author just cut off the story and resumed it at an indeterminate later time, giving the narrator no opportunity to reflect on the situations that had changed him. Overall it was an unsatisfying read.
December 20, 2020
did not like this book, plot was pretty bad and what was that ending, did he die??? also the main character, what was going on with him??
September 23, 2018
Things We Didn’t See Coming is a trap. In paperback form, it does not have a blurb, just pull quotes. It is not until you open it and get a few stories in that you realise that they are all connected - and only then, if you’re me, because three consecutive stories featured a character called Margo. One can’t be blamed for not coming to this realisation sooner: Things We Didn’t See Coming has the appearance of a collection of short stories, and the majority of them, while post-apocalyptic, appear to deal with apocalypses of different varieties and root causes. The narrator is never named. Each apocalypse is presented without much in the way of context, and it does not need it. But, if you really are allergic to short stories, you may feel free to treat Things We Didn’t See Coming as a novel with large time gaps between chapters.
Beginning on the eve of something that may well be Y2K, Things We Didn’t See Coming follows its nameless protagonist across a series of post-apocalyptic landscapes at different stages of life. In one story, the rain is without end; in another, a deadly epidemic leads to an ethical dilemma; later still, society waits for the rains to return; a recurring theme in many is that most dystopian element of a post-apocalypse: bureaucracy and the corruption thereof. The truest villain after the world is over always is and forever shall be red tape.
Even if you’re incapable of making the connection between stories - and it really does come down to the prism through which you have been presented Things We Didn’t See Coming - it is hard to deny that Amsterdam is a world builder, in an almost literal sense. While the first chapter, before anything fantastical happens, is a practically boilerplate literary short story - we certainly don’t need the Y2K to contextualise anything - the rest show a gift for invention and reinvention that speaks to a man who, for the most part, knows what he’s doing.
From a nostalgia-eroding family road trip to a wine scavenger hunt, Amsterdam thrusts his protagonist into a variety of likely enough situations and shows how he copes, or doesn’t, with them. Because they’re so episodic rather than a cohesive novel, some of them are stronger than others. Of the Margo triptych, the middle piece is the strongest even as it deals with the darkest and most depressing of the narrator’s emotions.
As an interconnected piece, Things We Didn’t See Coming doesn’t always mesh, and despite all of the upheavals experienced by society in the decades that it spans, and despite his nomadic lifestyle in the undefined geography of the post-apocalyptic landscape, the narrator manages to maintain several anchor points, including his father; society broke down, but it got back together again as an uglier version of itself with bizarre sexual morés. Things We Didn’t See Coming is imperfect if you approach it as a complete work of fiction, but as a broader sampling of post-apocalyptica it’s exemplary.
Beginning on the eve of something that may well be Y2K, Things We Didn’t See Coming follows its nameless protagonist across a series of post-apocalyptic landscapes at different stages of life. In one story, the rain is without end; in another, a deadly epidemic leads to an ethical dilemma; later still, society waits for the rains to return; a recurring theme in many is that most dystopian element of a post-apocalypse: bureaucracy and the corruption thereof. The truest villain after the world is over always is and forever shall be red tape.
Even if you’re incapable of making the connection between stories - and it really does come down to the prism through which you have been presented Things We Didn’t See Coming - it is hard to deny that Amsterdam is a world builder, in an almost literal sense. While the first chapter, before anything fantastical happens, is a practically boilerplate literary short story - we certainly don’t need the Y2K to contextualise anything - the rest show a gift for invention and reinvention that speaks to a man who, for the most part, knows what he’s doing.
From a nostalgia-eroding family road trip to a wine scavenger hunt, Amsterdam thrusts his protagonist into a variety of likely enough situations and shows how he copes, or doesn’t, with them. Because they’re so episodic rather than a cohesive novel, some of them are stronger than others. Of the Margo triptych, the middle piece is the strongest even as it deals with the darkest and most depressing of the narrator’s emotions.
As an interconnected piece, Things We Didn’t See Coming doesn’t always mesh, and despite all of the upheavals experienced by society in the decades that it spans, and despite his nomadic lifestyle in the undefined geography of the post-apocalyptic landscape, the narrator manages to maintain several anchor points, including his father; society broke down, but it got back together again as an uglier version of itself with bizarre sexual morés. Things We Didn’t See Coming is imperfect if you approach it as a complete work of fiction, but as a broader sampling of post-apocalyptica it’s exemplary.
August 18, 2022
Another one from the ACARA 2022 Lit or English list (English I think?) Starting from the turn of the Millennium, we follow the same boy over a series of chapters/short stories. Events begin when he is maybe 11? And in the last chapter he is in his 40s. In each chapter he faces a moral choice (generally, I guess) and in the background climate disaster, pandemics, and societal breakdown mean that by the end of the book the world is basically unrecognisable. I liked this structure very much. I didn't like the narrator, or any of the characters, or the plotline, or the writing. I found it all kind of dull and tropey (as opposed to fun and tropey) and I felt like there was an element of wish fulfillment in some chapters, which I always find very immature in things in an apocalyptic setting. The chapter where he is being hit on by the drunk mother and the beautiful teen daughter is there being an ingenue and they're wearing ballgowns or whatever was ....not good. Creepy wish fulfillment. There's a few scenes in there that I thought were meant to titillate but I found them kind of distasteful -- the stuff with the senator for example. I also found some of the stylistic choices which I assume were put in to be cool and hip and modern just made the action hard to follow. I can't imagine it's easy reading if you're not much into reading.
As I mentioned previously, this is an ACARA text - so students in their final year of Australian high school study it. For a significant portion of students, this would be one of the last books they read. The booklist attempts to get students to engage with a variety of different texts, such as poetry, playscripts, memoirs etc as well as just novels. This is kind of short stories, kind of a novel, but for ACARA's purposes I guess it's short stories. And in some ways you're getting the benefit of both there. There is also an emphasis on local content. Amsterdam moved to Australia in 2003, but I would say this is pretty clearly set entirely in England, and doesn't really have any Australian content at all. Thematically, certainly clifi is very relevant for young people, and the chapters deal with people just cracking on with their lives in a very pragmatic way, rather than a disaster movie kind of vibe. I have read thematically similar things which I enjoyed more -- The Heavens dealt with similar content in a richer and more complex way. I didn't particularly enjoy any of the chapters, and watching the narrator screw over everyone every few years wasn't really shocking after a certain point. It was mainly unpleasant. The lack of character progression was a miss for me. I'm not sure what ACARA wants students to take from this? The future is a nightmare! Enjoy!
As I mentioned previously, this is an ACARA text - so students in their final year of Australian high school study it. For a significant portion of students, this would be one of the last books they read. The booklist attempts to get students to engage with a variety of different texts, such as poetry, playscripts, memoirs etc as well as just novels. This is kind of short stories, kind of a novel, but for ACARA's purposes I guess it's short stories. And in some ways you're getting the benefit of both there. There is also an emphasis on local content. Amsterdam moved to Australia in 2003, but I would say this is pretty clearly set entirely in England, and doesn't really have any Australian content at all. Thematically, certainly clifi is very relevant for young people, and the chapters deal with people just cracking on with their lives in a very pragmatic way, rather than a disaster movie kind of vibe. I have read thematically similar things which I enjoyed more -- The Heavens dealt with similar content in a richer and more complex way. I didn't particularly enjoy any of the chapters, and watching the narrator screw over everyone every few years wasn't really shocking after a certain point. It was mainly unpleasant. The lack of character progression was a miss for me. I'm not sure what ACARA wants students to take from this? The future is a nightmare! Enjoy!
December 18, 2010
In an attempt to take a break from my normal reading fare (i.e., more paranormal stuff), I decided to run through my I-want-to-read-this-someday-down-the-road list and see if anything looked good. This seemed to fit the bill - definitely not supernatural, and short to boot. I placed my reserve and when it came, I checked it out thinking I might eventually get around to it.
It didn't take long to start reading it, and once I started, I found I couldn't stop. There's something about this book, something that compelled me to keep reading. It's an odd format - nine "stories" that are more like snapshots of the narrator's life at different times over 30 years. Luckily, the stories appear sequentially, so there's no jumping around in time. But it's still strange to read about someones life like this; I found myself wondering how he got to where he was in each story. It's stories without background, if you will. And you never do learn the name of the narrator, so he could be just about anyone.
The scenes follow the narrator after the world takes a complete nose-dive on New Year's Eve, 1999. Remember the whole Y2K fiasco? Well, in this book, the fearful were absolutely right to worry - the planet evidently cannot survive the transition to the year 2000. The narrator is taken to his grandparents house by his parents, his mother being a naysayer and his father being a true believer. Obviously, this will cause problems down the road for his parents, and indeed, when he visits them in later stories, they are no longer together. His grandparents make an appearance again in one of the stories (one of the more touching entries), along with crazy weather, the flu-like plague (which reminded me quite of bit of Stephen King's Captain Trips illness from "The Stand"), and other challenges the narrator faces.
It's a strange work, but the point is, it works. I thought the character development was quite good considering that it's not done in the typical fashion; I wanted to find out if the narrator was going to survive. I also thought some of the peripheral characters were interesting and well-done, too, no small feat when they make such short appearances. It's a good little book, and I truly believed that some of this gloom-and-doom world could happen. I'm curious to see what Amsterdam does next.
It didn't take long to start reading it, and once I started, I found I couldn't stop. There's something about this book, something that compelled me to keep reading. It's an odd format - nine "stories" that are more like snapshots of the narrator's life at different times over 30 years. Luckily, the stories appear sequentially, so there's no jumping around in time. But it's still strange to read about someones life like this; I found myself wondering how he got to where he was in each story. It's stories without background, if you will. And you never do learn the name of the narrator, so he could be just about anyone.
The scenes follow the narrator after the world takes a complete nose-dive on New Year's Eve, 1999. Remember the whole Y2K fiasco? Well, in this book, the fearful were absolutely right to worry - the planet evidently cannot survive the transition to the year 2000. The narrator is taken to his grandparents house by his parents, his mother being a naysayer and his father being a true believer. Obviously, this will cause problems down the road for his parents, and indeed, when he visits them in later stories, they are no longer together. His grandparents make an appearance again in one of the stories (one of the more touching entries), along with crazy weather, the flu-like plague (which reminded me quite of bit of Stephen King's Captain Trips illness from "The Stand"), and other challenges the narrator faces.
It's a strange work, but the point is, it works. I thought the character development was quite good considering that it's not done in the typical fashion; I wanted to find out if the narrator was going to survive. I also thought some of the peripheral characters were interesting and well-done, too, no small feat when they make such short appearances. It's a good little book, and I truly believed that some of this gloom-and-doom world could happen. I'm curious to see what Amsterdam does next.
April 19, 2010
Three and a half stars.
This is a first novel, but I would not have guessed that if I hadn't read the book jacket. The writing is polished with a nice flow.
The book is really snapshots of the main character's life as the world goes to hell (and maybe rebuilds?). The first chapter takes place when the main character is 10 years old and his father is convinced that Y2K will destroy civilization as we know it so he bundles up his family and drives them to his wife's parents' farm in the country on New Year's Eve. I actually thought that was a terrific start and I would love to see that premise made into a book on its own, or at least a longer short story.
The book then jumps ahead about 5 years and the landscape of the world has changed dramatically. Why? We don't know. We just know that it has. That's the frustration I had with much of the book. There are all these changes in civilization, government, environment, infrastructure, etc. and we're never really given an explanation for why that is. Did Y2K really happen? If so that sort of explains this next story with the character at 15, but why would it cause monsoon like weather which happens in a later chapter. And how are they making all these pills/medicines by the end of the book?
Anyway. The chapter where the main character is 15 is a beautifully told story that actually focuses more on the relationship between the grandparents he stayed with on New Year's Eve. That by itself would have made a wonderful short story.
The chapter with all the rain would also have made a wonderful short story.
The problem is that many of the chapters aren't quite long enough to be a short story and various characters appear and disappear without cause or explanation. The only way you know they're gone is that the narrator no longer mentions them in subsequent chapters.
I can't help feeling that Amsterdam took this disjointed approach so he wouldn't really have to explain how the world went to hell, the reader is just supposed to accept that it has. Nor does he really have to explore relationships if characters don't really stick around.
Still, it was an enjoyable read and aside from the fact that the chapters felt disjointed, the writing, pacing, and dialog were all very well done.
This is a first novel, but I would not have guessed that if I hadn't read the book jacket. The writing is polished with a nice flow.
The book is really snapshots of the main character's life as the world goes to hell (and maybe rebuilds?). The first chapter takes place when the main character is 10 years old and his father is convinced that Y2K will destroy civilization as we know it so he bundles up his family and drives them to his wife's parents' farm in the country on New Year's Eve. I actually thought that was a terrific start and I would love to see that premise made into a book on its own, or at least a longer short story.
The book then jumps ahead about 5 years and the landscape of the world has changed dramatically. Why? We don't know. We just know that it has. That's the frustration I had with much of the book. There are all these changes in civilization, government, environment, infrastructure, etc. and we're never really given an explanation for why that is. Did Y2K really happen? If so that sort of explains this next story with the character at 15, but why would it cause monsoon like weather which happens in a later chapter. And how are they making all these pills/medicines by the end of the book?
Anyway. The chapter where the main character is 15 is a beautifully told story that actually focuses more on the relationship between the grandparents he stayed with on New Year's Eve. That by itself would have made a wonderful short story.
The chapter with all the rain would also have made a wonderful short story.
The problem is that many of the chapters aren't quite long enough to be a short story and various characters appear and disappear without cause or explanation. The only way you know they're gone is that the narrator no longer mentions them in subsequent chapters.
I can't help feeling that Amsterdam took this disjointed approach so he wouldn't really have to explain how the world went to hell, the reader is just supposed to accept that it has. Nor does he really have to explore relationships if characters don't really stick around.
Still, it was an enjoyable read and aside from the fact that the chapters felt disjointed, the writing, pacing, and dialog were all very well done.
May 7, 2012
Inspired to read Steven Amsterdam’s prize winning novel again after hearing him at a recent reading. A master of succinct images which suddenly propel the action in new directions, that evening Steven transformed the energy of the room in an instant.
Things We Didn’t See Coming was originally a series of short stories. The publishers were ready to try something different, and liking Steven’s writing suggested that he bring the pieces together a little more to make a single narrative through what could still be read as separate stories if one chose. It makes it a very interesting narrative for this fluidity of interpretation to provide layers of place and time as well as perception by the reader through the various characters.
There is an economy in his style which makes a single sentence have the impact of lectures, libraries or eons of relationship. One example: “It hits me that I’ve never seen them both walk away from me.”
The altered relationship brought on by environmental changes and gradual maturity suddenly hits and ricochets into the audience. The energy reverberates through the following explanatory paragraph.
Youth does not see age approaching. Despite a father’s warnings, the holocaust which comes is not what anyone planned for. Every relationship has its own twists and turns of holding on and pushing away.
Even the officials are testing the degree to which adjustments are made to circumstances rather than keeping hard and fast rules of obedience. Nothing is certain when unspoken values arise above behaviours.
A compelling writer well worth reading a few times for the rhythm of the writing itself.
Things We Didn’t See Coming was originally a series of short stories. The publishers were ready to try something different, and liking Steven’s writing suggested that he bring the pieces together a little more to make a single narrative through what could still be read as separate stories if one chose. It makes it a very interesting narrative for this fluidity of interpretation to provide layers of place and time as well as perception by the reader through the various characters.
There is an economy in his style which makes a single sentence have the impact of lectures, libraries or eons of relationship. One example: “It hits me that I’ve never seen them both walk away from me.”
The altered relationship brought on by environmental changes and gradual maturity suddenly hits and ricochets into the audience. The energy reverberates through the following explanatory paragraph.
Youth does not see age approaching. Despite a father’s warnings, the holocaust which comes is not what anyone planned for. Every relationship has its own twists and turns of holding on and pushing away.
Even the officials are testing the degree to which adjustments are made to circumstances rather than keeping hard and fast rules of obedience. Nothing is certain when unspoken values arise above behaviours.
A compelling writer well worth reading a few times for the rhythm of the writing itself.
October 3, 2016
I've always been fascinated by dystopian books. What would happen if our societal agreements fell away and we each had to fight for our survival.
"Things we didn't see coming" chronicles episodes from the life of a young man coping with "a new climate" and the break down of society as we know it. Beginning with his father's fear of the Millennium Bug, our narrator continues with tales of how developments impact on his relationships. He helps his grandparents take an illicit drive to the countryside, he clears homes on the new flood plains of their owners, he works within and outside the law carving out his own moral code as he goes.
The prose are stark and purposeful, honest and brutal. Almost all of the book is narrated and so we rely on our protagonist to illustrate the unfamiliar environment. The tiniest flaw, for me, is that the protagonist in Dry Land appears slightly at odds with his character in the other tales - maybe an age-related bravado or maybe a glitch that doesnt really matter at all. I read this book in less than two days and would readily read more if I could.
"Things we didn't see coming" chronicles episodes from the life of a young man coping with "a new climate" and the break down of society as we know it. Beginning with his father's fear of the Millennium Bug, our narrator continues with tales of how developments impact on his relationships. He helps his grandparents take an illicit drive to the countryside, he clears homes on the new flood plains of their owners, he works within and outside the law carving out his own moral code as he goes.
The prose are stark and purposeful, honest and brutal. Almost all of the book is narrated and so we rely on our protagonist to illustrate the unfamiliar environment. The tiniest flaw, for me, is that the protagonist in Dry Land appears slightly at odds with his character in the other tales - maybe an age-related bravado or maybe a glitch that doesnt really matter at all. I read this book in less than two days and would readily read more if I could.
January 14, 2010
Upon initial inspection, this seems like an collection of short speculative fiction, exploring possible future societies (or the collapse thereof). However, as one reads this book, one becomes intensely aware of a distinct progression - a progression of the human consciousness, through various stages of one's life, regardless of the circumstances that one lives with. The dilemmas faced by the protagonist echo those present in our everyday (i.e. non-apocalyptic) lives. And also a progression of society - the consequential ends-of-days that society may face if we continue down our current path.
November 7, 2021
Probs the worst book i've ever read, despite the fact that it was an English book as well. (I usually love studying English but this made me despise the subject, if not for Gattaca carrying the unit).
I didn't even read this on my own accord I basically read it chapter by chapter with the class.. Horrible I shouldn't even be wasting my time on this review. Didn't make sense and the plot line was so weak and all over the place. Not to mention the internalised misogyny (although that was probs the character) The environment was also not
I didn't even read this on my own accord I basically read it chapter by chapter with the class.. Horrible I shouldn't even be wasting my time on this review. Didn't make sense and the plot line was so weak and all over the place. Not to mention the internalised misogyny (although that was probs the character) The environment was also not
November 9, 2013
I would say Steven Amsterdam is one of my favourite Australian writers, but he was born and raised in America and I’m not sure which country he prefers to align himself with. Nevertheless, he shot up my list of favourite contemporary authors on the strength of his – in my opinion, criminally underrated – second novel, What the Family Needed, (my review of which can be found here).
Things We Didn’t See Coming, Amsterdam’s debut, caused a minor stir when it was published in 2009 by the then-fledgling independent publisher, Sleepers. The novel – and I use the term loosely; more on this later – received wide critical acclaim, and marked both Amsterdam and Sleepers as ones to watch.
Like its follow-up, Things We Didn’t See Coming is presented as a series of quests or episodes. Instead of chapters we have interconnected (though also self-contained) stories, some of which reference and build upon earlier instalments. It’s an unconventional way to write a novel – if this is, in fact, a novel (Junot Diaz’s seminal This is How You Lose Her follows a similar structure, though identifies itself as a short story collection). Whether Things We Didn’t See Coming is a novel or short story collection is largely a matter of semantics, and I didn’t dwell on it.
The story follows an unnamed protagonist from one hood to another (child to adult, that is) while looking at the way civilisation transitions after an unspecified (possibly Y2K-related?) apocalyptic event. Unlike in your typical apocalypse story, civilisation in this story endures, rather than collapses. There’s poverty, sickness and a return to living off the land, but this is not the scorched, uninhabitable landscape of King’s The Stand or McCarthy’s The Road. Though survival and desperation play their parts, I would say this book is more about the protagonist’s desire to find purpose, and to live a rich, spiritually (though not religiously) fulfilling life. It’s neither depressing, nor sentimental, but it is life-affirming. While civilisation hasn’t collapsed, it has regressed back to basics and, without the encumbrance of old fixed societal hierarchies, our protagonist – and humanity at large – is forced to redefine the reasons for carrying on.
Of course, these issues aren’t handled heavy-handedly; in fact, for an apocalypse story, Things We Didn’t See Coming is a surprisingly fun read. Despite unmentionable hardships, the characters never become bogged down in their own melancholia. Even in the protagonist’s pettiest moments, he displays an underlying grace and strength, which made him worth rooting for.
It also helps that Amsterdam’s prose sparkles with assurance. It helps keep things buoyant, as does the lively cast of secondary characters (Juliet, Jeph and the ever-spirited Margo). Amsterdam seamlessly combines the sensibilities of both popular and literary fiction. He presents classic literary tropes, such as the exploration of the human condition, in a light and entertaining manner. He’s not necessarily a comic writer, but his stories are expertly paced and free of filler.
Having said all that, I have a major grievance to share. The episodic structure, which worked so well in What the Family Needed, felt horribly disjointed here. I give credit for the unconventional presentation, but such experiments should enhance the narrative to justify existing. The only purpose this episodic structure served was to provide Amsterdam easy outs whenever he wrote himself into a corner. I try to assess books on their own merits and with an open mind; I’m not opposed to this episodic structure on principle – as I said, it worked wonders in What the Family Needed. My issue here is that Amsterdam resolutely refused to elucidate the nature of the apocalypse or the parameters of the world. Again, not a problem in and of itself; The Road follows a similar tact, whereby McCarthy deliberately withholds details about why the world has changed. In that book, and in this one, the reader is expected to take things as they are, despite the lack of explanations. It works a treat in The Road because, really, the history of the world doesn’t matter; it’s not the heart of that story.
The narrative in Things We Didn’t See Coming shifts at every interval. It’s not just that the world and main character develop in secret during the gaps between stories; it’s that whole plotlines are disregarded as quickly as they’re introduced. Every event in this book is rendered irrelevant by the proceeding story. Now, I’m not a finicky reader; I don’t need closure to enjoy a story. My favourite form, the short story, is often famously open-ended, but I do have my limits. Though enjoyable to read about, the world in Things We Didn’t See Coming felt thin and ill-defined. Instead of one comprehendible apocalyptic event, the world goes through many changes: floods, droughts, viral outbreaks, war of the classes, spikes in theft, oppressive governments, and more. It’s like Amsterdam wasn’t sure what tact to take, so he took them all. Individually, each thread is compelling, but none are given any follow-through. It’s difficult to invest in a situation when everything will inevitably be thrown to the wind come the next story. To make matters worse, the stories are only ever twenty-odd pages long, yet it takes up to six for the reader to find their bearings (‘The Forest for the Trees’ and ‘The Profit Motive’ were particularly obtuse).
All up, the lack of concrete answers proved too much for me. In What the Family Needed, chapters shifted to accommodate different characters’ perspectives. Sometimes the previous character’s arc was left open or unresolved, but characters recurred – or made cameos – in subsequent stories, so I was never left frustrated. In Things We Didn’t See Coming, the protagonist’s relationships with Margo and his father were about the only arcs with any sort of resolution – and neither was particularly satisfying. I really think this book would’ve worked better had it been a series of contrasting apocalypse stories featuring different characters and situations, though set in the same world. I would’ve found it more palatable had I not been positioned to expect cohesiveness and traceable character development.
I don’t mean for this to sound overly negative: there was a lot to enjoy about Things We Didn’t See Coming. I suppose my own expectations are ultimately what let me down. Still, this is only Amsterdam’s debut; it’s unfair that I should hold it to the standard of his later work. This book is certainly worth checking out if you want a unique take on apocalypse stories.
Things We Didn’t See Coming, Amsterdam’s debut, caused a minor stir when it was published in 2009 by the then-fledgling independent publisher, Sleepers. The novel – and I use the term loosely; more on this later – received wide critical acclaim, and marked both Amsterdam and Sleepers as ones to watch.
Like its follow-up, Things We Didn’t See Coming is presented as a series of quests or episodes. Instead of chapters we have interconnected (though also self-contained) stories, some of which reference and build upon earlier instalments. It’s an unconventional way to write a novel – if this is, in fact, a novel (Junot Diaz’s seminal This is How You Lose Her follows a similar structure, though identifies itself as a short story collection). Whether Things We Didn’t See Coming is a novel or short story collection is largely a matter of semantics, and I didn’t dwell on it.
The story follows an unnamed protagonist from one hood to another (child to adult, that is) while looking at the way civilisation transitions after an unspecified (possibly Y2K-related?) apocalyptic event. Unlike in your typical apocalypse story, civilisation in this story endures, rather than collapses. There’s poverty, sickness and a return to living off the land, but this is not the scorched, uninhabitable landscape of King’s The Stand or McCarthy’s The Road. Though survival and desperation play their parts, I would say this book is more about the protagonist’s desire to find purpose, and to live a rich, spiritually (though not religiously) fulfilling life. It’s neither depressing, nor sentimental, but it is life-affirming. While civilisation hasn’t collapsed, it has regressed back to basics and, without the encumbrance of old fixed societal hierarchies, our protagonist – and humanity at large – is forced to redefine the reasons for carrying on.
Of course, these issues aren’t handled heavy-handedly; in fact, for an apocalypse story, Things We Didn’t See Coming is a surprisingly fun read. Despite unmentionable hardships, the characters never become bogged down in their own melancholia. Even in the protagonist’s pettiest moments, he displays an underlying grace and strength, which made him worth rooting for.
It also helps that Amsterdam’s prose sparkles with assurance. It helps keep things buoyant, as does the lively cast of secondary characters (Juliet, Jeph and the ever-spirited Margo). Amsterdam seamlessly combines the sensibilities of both popular and literary fiction. He presents classic literary tropes, such as the exploration of the human condition, in a light and entertaining manner. He’s not necessarily a comic writer, but his stories are expertly paced and free of filler.
Having said all that, I have a major grievance to share. The episodic structure, which worked so well in What the Family Needed, felt horribly disjointed here. I give credit for the unconventional presentation, but such experiments should enhance the narrative to justify existing. The only purpose this episodic structure served was to provide Amsterdam easy outs whenever he wrote himself into a corner. I try to assess books on their own merits and with an open mind; I’m not opposed to this episodic structure on principle – as I said, it worked wonders in What the Family Needed. My issue here is that Amsterdam resolutely refused to elucidate the nature of the apocalypse or the parameters of the world. Again, not a problem in and of itself; The Road follows a similar tact, whereby McCarthy deliberately withholds details about why the world has changed. In that book, and in this one, the reader is expected to take things as they are, despite the lack of explanations. It works a treat in The Road because, really, the history of the world doesn’t matter; it’s not the heart of that story.
The narrative in Things We Didn’t See Coming shifts at every interval. It’s not just that the world and main character develop in secret during the gaps between stories; it’s that whole plotlines are disregarded as quickly as they’re introduced. Every event in this book is rendered irrelevant by the proceeding story. Now, I’m not a finicky reader; I don’t need closure to enjoy a story. My favourite form, the short story, is often famously open-ended, but I do have my limits. Though enjoyable to read about, the world in Things We Didn’t See Coming felt thin and ill-defined. Instead of one comprehendible apocalyptic event, the world goes through many changes: floods, droughts, viral outbreaks, war of the classes, spikes in theft, oppressive governments, and more. It’s like Amsterdam wasn’t sure what tact to take, so he took them all. Individually, each thread is compelling, but none are given any follow-through. It’s difficult to invest in a situation when everything will inevitably be thrown to the wind come the next story. To make matters worse, the stories are only ever twenty-odd pages long, yet it takes up to six for the reader to find their bearings (‘The Forest for the Trees’ and ‘The Profit Motive’ were particularly obtuse).
All up, the lack of concrete answers proved too much for me. In What the Family Needed, chapters shifted to accommodate different characters’ perspectives. Sometimes the previous character’s arc was left open or unresolved, but characters recurred – or made cameos – in subsequent stories, so I was never left frustrated. In Things We Didn’t See Coming, the protagonist’s relationships with Margo and his father were about the only arcs with any sort of resolution – and neither was particularly satisfying. I really think this book would’ve worked better had it been a series of contrasting apocalypse stories featuring different characters and situations, though set in the same world. I would’ve found it more palatable had I not been positioned to expect cohesiveness and traceable character development.
I don’t mean for this to sound overly negative: there was a lot to enjoy about Things We Didn’t See Coming. I suppose my own expectations are ultimately what let me down. Still, this is only Amsterdam’s debut; it’s unfair that I should hold it to the standard of his later work. This book is certainly worth checking out if you want a unique take on apocalypse stories.
June 3, 2018
Things We Didn’t See Coming by Steven Amsterdam
As a post-apocalyptic novel, it definitely stands out from the rest. The setting, the storyline and especially the structure of the novel is what I believe to be unique among its kind. The book itself is set in an apocalyptic future where a disaster has struck our planet. Society itself has fallen and is being rebuilt, the landscapes have completely changed and there is no such thing as an authority anymore. The main themes that can be observed throughout the book are themes of melancholy due to the chaotic world, survival and at the same time, joy from the small things that the characters and even us have never realised before.
Steven Amsterdam made the structure itself is made up of nine parts, or chapters. Each one is dedicated to a specific time period in the protagonist’s life from when he was a teen until his forties. But what makes it peculiar, is that everything, from the apocalyptic atmosphere, the setting and the characters to the protagonist’s age and attitudes is up to the reader to determine from the subtle descriptions. Despite all of this, I would only give this novel a 6.5/10 because the storyline did not intrigue me as much as it could’ve, but it is simply due to my taste in genres. I would 100% recommend this to you if letting your imagination run wild is to your liking. In addition to this, if you are not a fan of gaps in a story, then proceed with caution since the book does not contain events on a fluid timeline, but instead skips around in the character’s life.
As a post-apocalyptic novel, it definitely stands out from the rest. The setting, the storyline and especially the structure of the novel is what I believe to be unique among its kind. The book itself is set in an apocalyptic future where a disaster has struck our planet. Society itself has fallen and is being rebuilt, the landscapes have completely changed and there is no such thing as an authority anymore. The main themes that can be observed throughout the book are themes of melancholy due to the chaotic world, survival and at the same time, joy from the small things that the characters and even us have never realised before.
Steven Amsterdam made the structure itself is made up of nine parts, or chapters. Each one is dedicated to a specific time period in the protagonist’s life from when he was a teen until his forties. But what makes it peculiar, is that everything, from the apocalyptic atmosphere, the setting and the characters to the protagonist’s age and attitudes is up to the reader to determine from the subtle descriptions. Despite all of this, I would only give this novel a 6.5/10 because the storyline did not intrigue me as much as it could’ve, but it is simply due to my taste in genres. I would 100% recommend this to you if letting your imagination run wild is to your liking. In addition to this, if you are not a fan of gaps in a story, then proceed with caution since the book does not contain events on a fluid timeline, but instead skips around in the character’s life.
September 20, 2022
i finally read it…not quite as bad as everyone hyped it up to be but still shit
April 7, 2010
Ten years later, the fears surrounding Y2K have faded mercifully into the recesses of our collective subconscious. The millennium bug never bit — computers didn’t fail, economies didn’t crumble, governments didn’t fall. But Steven Amsterdam’s imaginative first novel, Things We Didn’t See Coming, posits a reality in which the worst predictions came to pass. Told through a sequence of short stories chronicling the life of an unnamed narrator, the book opens on New Year’s Eve, 1999. At midnight of that momentous night, the electrical grid shuts down. Amsterdam’s child protagonist and his father stand in the cold.
Chaos and decay have infiltrated civilization. The structure of the government in Amsterdam’s unnamed country changes from story to story; physical, psychological, and moral breakdowns infest all aspects of society; starvation, plague, and corruption run rampant. To survive, the narrator ekes out an existence as a thief and government worker and, not surprisingly, sometimes both. Companionship and love comes fraught with danger:
The story moves into some surprising social and moral gray areas. Amsterdam tackles such weighty topics as polyamory, euthanasia, suicide, drugs, aging, and anarchy with insight and sensitivity. Employing a breezy, conversational style, Amsterdam blazes through his bleak tale of hope — the true heart of any good dystopia — but culminates in a too-abrupt ending that leaves the reader confused and unsatisfied. Even with this misstep, Things We Didn’t See Coming offers thought-provoking entertainment, and successfully introduces an important new writer.
This review originally appeared in the San Antonio Current, April 7, 2010.
This whole thing is symbolic, symbolic of a system that’s hopelessly shortsighted, a system that twenty, thirty years ago couldn’t imagine a time when we might be starting a new century. That’s how limited an animal we are. Do you get it? A whole species that didn’t think to set its clocks the right way. We are arrogant, stupid, we lack humility in the face of centuries and centuries of time before us. What we call knowledge, what you learn in school about fossils and dinosaurs, it’s all hunches. What we know now is that we didn’t think enough. We know we aren’t careful enough and that’s about all we know. That’s what I’m trying to protect us from.”
I say, “OK,” because he’s getting more upset as he talks.
“What else haven’t we been paying attention to? I worry about your life, what’s going to happen to you. We can’t think our way out of every problem. We’re not smart enough.”
“Don’t worry so much.”
This only makes him mad. “What’s the right amount of worry? In our time, in your time, there’ll be breakdowns that can’t be fixed. There will be more diseases that can’t be fixed. Water will be as valuable as oil. And you’ll be stuck taking care of a fat generation of useless parents.
Chaos and decay have infiltrated civilization. The structure of the government in Amsterdam’s unnamed country changes from story to story; physical, psychological, and moral breakdowns infest all aspects of society; starvation, plague, and corruption run rampant. To survive, the narrator ekes out an existence as a thief and government worker and, not surprisingly, sometimes both. Companionship and love comes fraught with danger:
If it were just me, I could run off now with whatever I could carry. But it’s not, and how would she find me? Besides, he’d notice if I started packing up and, even if I was able to keep him back, he’d stay and claim whatever I left behind and be here when Margo comes back and infect her in a second. So I’m guarding our spot until she decides to wander home.
Staying awake up here is not what’s tough, but staying quietly balanced is. I’ve managed to hook my legs around one branch and my arms around another and it lets me stay reasonably still while being vigilant — watching, breathing softly through my face mask, waiting for him to die.
The story moves into some surprising social and moral gray areas. Amsterdam tackles such weighty topics as polyamory, euthanasia, suicide, drugs, aging, and anarchy with insight and sensitivity. Employing a breezy, conversational style, Amsterdam blazes through his bleak tale of hope — the true heart of any good dystopia — but culminates in a too-abrupt ending that leaves the reader confused and unsatisfied. Even with this misstep, Things We Didn’t See Coming offers thought-provoking entertainment, and successfully introduces an important new writer.
This review originally appeared in the San Antonio Current, April 7, 2010.
August 21, 2021
This book was short but took me so long to read. Why is the guy with no name so bland? It put me in the biggest reading slump. Ew, I think I’ve said enough.
November 14, 2014
This is one of the books I picked up from the lovely people at Vintage when I was doing work experience there. It appealed to me first of all because of the title. Fucking awesome title. It’s potentially a good title for my life. I have several books with titles that appear as though they could be heading up a list, so I guess it’s a device that I dig right now. Others of mine include: True Things About Me by Deborah Kay Davies and And This Is True by Emily Mackie. It’s also post-apocalyptic, which earns massive points for me, too.
This tale is set in an alternate future where the Y2K bug really did take hold and led to the collapse of society. Told through a series of vignettes, rather than a cohesive narrative, the narrator goes from a young boy to a middle-aged man, with gaps of several years between each chapter, and the reader is offered a brief snapshot of what course his life is taking. Throughout the vignettes, we are introduced to different people he encounters such as his parents, his girlfriend Margo and a mysterious hyper-sexual employer, Juliet.
The narrator, who remains un-named (unless I missed it) muddles and scrambles his way through life from day to day, year to year, with no real plan. Sometimes he talks his way into situations or ends up stealing in order to survive. Lots of thriftiness in this novel. His life seems to be a series of near-misses with both dangerous situations and with potential relationships. There is also an underlying exploration into the blurry lines between right and wrong. Our protagonist is fairly amoral as a person, and does what he needs to in order to survive, but he is not without mercy or kindness sometimes. Everyone he encounters also seems to operate in this way, and maybe there is no place for right or wrong in this new world.
Steven Amsterdam is sparse with his words and descriptions, which I enjoyed. I like to imagine what has occurred to cause this apocalypse, and the few details he does give away are enough to tell you that things are bad. Natural disasters and cancers blaze their way across the country, and stability as we know it appears to be a thing of the past. I usually prefer more detail with my post-apocalyptic scenarios, but this was executed very well.
At one point the narrator sits down to watch Robocop and laughs heartily at all the wrong predictions for the future, which is interesting. Amsterdam’s predictions for his potential future are much more realistic and pretty chilling. His world is one where people find it difficult or impossible to put down roots, as they’ll simply have to move on again. Relationships, too, are an outmoded form of cohesion – the narrator and his girlfriend can only sign an affirmation of their relationship once every eighteen months; no more lifetime marriage contracts.
His vision of the future is unsettling and bleak. It is a world that I wouldn’t want to inhabit, and maybe that’s the reason I came away from this feeling a little unsatisfied. His final chapter includes a reunion with his father, which at first seemed hopeful, but now I’m not so sure. That's all I have to say about this one for now. Maybe shouldn't have read the last fifty pages with sleeping pills in my system, but it seemed appropriate, somehow.
This tale is set in an alternate future where the Y2K bug really did take hold and led to the collapse of society. Told through a series of vignettes, rather than a cohesive narrative, the narrator goes from a young boy to a middle-aged man, with gaps of several years between each chapter, and the reader is offered a brief snapshot of what course his life is taking. Throughout the vignettes, we are introduced to different people he encounters such as his parents, his girlfriend Margo and a mysterious hyper-sexual employer, Juliet.
The narrator, who remains un-named (unless I missed it) muddles and scrambles his way through life from day to day, year to year, with no real plan. Sometimes he talks his way into situations or ends up stealing in order to survive. Lots of thriftiness in this novel. His life seems to be a series of near-misses with both dangerous situations and with potential relationships. There is also an underlying exploration into the blurry lines between right and wrong. Our protagonist is fairly amoral as a person, and does what he needs to in order to survive, but he is not without mercy or kindness sometimes. Everyone he encounters also seems to operate in this way, and maybe there is no place for right or wrong in this new world.
Steven Amsterdam is sparse with his words and descriptions, which I enjoyed. I like to imagine what has occurred to cause this apocalypse, and the few details he does give away are enough to tell you that things are bad. Natural disasters and cancers blaze their way across the country, and stability as we know it appears to be a thing of the past. I usually prefer more detail with my post-apocalyptic scenarios, but this was executed very well.
At one point the narrator sits down to watch Robocop and laughs heartily at all the wrong predictions for the future, which is interesting. Amsterdam’s predictions for his potential future are much more realistic and pretty chilling. His world is one where people find it difficult or impossible to put down roots, as they’ll simply have to move on again. Relationships, too, are an outmoded form of cohesion – the narrator and his girlfriend can only sign an affirmation of their relationship once every eighteen months; no more lifetime marriage contracts.
His vision of the future is unsettling and bleak. It is a world that I wouldn’t want to inhabit, and maybe that’s the reason I came away from this feeling a little unsatisfied. His final chapter includes a reunion with his father, which at first seemed hopeful, but now I’m not so sure. That's all I have to say about this one for now. Maybe shouldn't have read the last fifty pages with sleeping pills in my system, but it seemed appropriate, somehow.
January 1, 2022
I've had this book for ages, and I decided to read it now as part of a slow effort to clear the TBR at Library Thing. (I (haphazardly) post reviews there, but my TBR is at Goodreads, so the 213 books at LT have been there for a very long time). I've read and liked two further novels by Steven Amsterdam, What the Family Needed and
The Easy Way Out,
but Things We Didn't See Coming is his first novel, and it won The Age Book of the Year in 2009 and was longlisted for the Guardian's Best First Book Award in 2010.
What I was not expecting, because the cover blurb tells very little about the book, was to discover just how prescient it is, in this era of the pandemic. (I was going to write 'Year of the Pandemic', but alas, it's been more than a year). Things We Didn't See Coming is a series of nine interlinked short stories, set in an alternative future that loomed when Y2K was on the horizon. The Offspring (a computer nerd) told me not to worry, but he was at the time doing consultancy for major banks and the prison system, to protect their computer systems from doing anything untoward when the clock rolled over from 1999 to 2000. Although some people dismissed the Millennium Bug as hype, it caused considerable concern and there was a flurry of survivalists who thought that the disruption was going to be much more serious than it turned out to be.
Steven Amsterdam has imagined a world of things we didn't see coming. The first story, called 'What We Know Now' is set on New Year's Eve 1999 when many of the digital clocks in the world's computers were expected to roll back to 1900 instead of 2000 and no one knew what might happen. The unnamed narrator is a teenager with attitude. He doesn't believe all the Y2K hype:
Indeed he doesn't. The family are packing up the car to go to the countryside, and the narrator humours his father over his fears. This is the first hint that there are ethical and social dilemmas to be tested in what turns out to be an horrific future.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/03/04/t...
What I was not expecting, because the cover blurb tells very little about the book, was to discover just how prescient it is, in this era of the pandemic. (I was going to write 'Year of the Pandemic', but alas, it's been more than a year). Things We Didn't See Coming is a series of nine interlinked short stories, set in an alternative future that loomed when Y2K was on the horizon. The Offspring (a computer nerd) told me not to worry, but he was at the time doing consultancy for major banks and the prison system, to protect their computer systems from doing anything untoward when the clock rolled over from 1999 to 2000. Although some people dismissed the Millennium Bug as hype, it caused considerable concern and there was a flurry of survivalists who thought that the disruption was going to be much more serious than it turned out to be.
Steven Amsterdam has imagined a world of things we didn't see coming. The first story, called 'What We Know Now' is set on New Year's Eve 1999 when many of the digital clocks in the world's computers were expected to roll back to 1900 instead of 2000 and no one knew what might happen. The unnamed narrator is a teenager with attitude. He doesn't believe all the Y2K hype:
I'd like to be in a plane over everything. We'd be flying west, going through all the New Year's Eves, looking down just as they happen. I'd have to stay awake for twenty-four hours of night time, but I'd be looking out the little window and watching ripples of fireworks below, each wave going off under us as we fly over it. I start to talk about this idea, but decide to save it for Grandma. Dad doesn't think planes are safe today either. (p.9-10)
Indeed he doesn't. The family are packing up the car to go to the countryside, and the narrator humours his father over his fears. This is the first hint that there are ethical and social dilemmas to be tested in what turns out to be an horrific future.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/03/04/t...
July 14, 2022
its a short book but took me so fucking long to read. the first section was probably the worst part - the dad was trying to say a lot about “society”, then it got a little better in the middle section, and then came back to the dad at the end. what an awful way to end the book. after reading this i wanted to burn it
July 14, 2022
how does vce english always find the most boring post apocalypse stories, also the time skips were so weird why did they need to be every chapter + none of the plots were ever properly fleshed out nor explained?????
February 2, 2010
Steven Amsterdam's "Things we didn't see coming" is a series of scenes from a future where an event (only vaguely hinted at) has caused societal collapse.
We never find out the name of the central character who is the storyteller - beginning from the eve of the event, where he is a child - age unclear.
Each chapter is a new point in time, describing life in a chaotic world, with challenges ranging from lack of water, to ceaseless rain, to disease, to pestilence. There are times of luxury too, as the storyteller finds protection with the powerful people of the age.
The bleakest part of the story is the nature of the relationships the character has with the people around him - all characterised by a lack of trust.
The book is well described, the world, the characters, the dialogue all appear clearly in this reader's mind. Even though I found the central character hard to like, I still felt on his side through knowing him as an innocent child and witnessing the moral struggle each scene puts before him.
I read it because it was on the State Library of Victoria's "Summer Read" list this year and the title sounded interesting.
While this wasn't a pleasant story, it was a compelling one, and would be a great discussion starter for a book group, particularly for people interested in what the future may hold and how we might choose to respond in incredible adversity. I was also reminded that while the societal collapse described in the novel is fiction, there are places in our world today where it is a lived experience.
We never find out the name of the central character who is the storyteller - beginning from the eve of the event, where he is a child - age unclear.
Each chapter is a new point in time, describing life in a chaotic world, with challenges ranging from lack of water, to ceaseless rain, to disease, to pestilence. There are times of luxury too, as the storyteller finds protection with the powerful people of the age.
The bleakest part of the story is the nature of the relationships the character has with the people around him - all characterised by a lack of trust.
The book is well described, the world, the characters, the dialogue all appear clearly in this reader's mind. Even though I found the central character hard to like, I still felt on his side through knowing him as an innocent child and witnessing the moral struggle each scene puts before him.
I read it because it was on the State Library of Victoria's "Summer Read" list this year and the title sounded interesting.
While this wasn't a pleasant story, it was a compelling one, and would be a great discussion starter for a book group, particularly for people interested in what the future may hold and how we might choose to respond in incredible adversity. I was also reminded that while the societal collapse described in the novel is fiction, there are places in our world today where it is a lived experience.
October 11, 2009
I received a review copy of this book from the publisher, Pantheon Books.
Steven Amsterdam is a native New Yorker working in Melbourne, Australia. Things we didn't see coming is this ex-pat's collection of linked short stories in an alternate history where things after Y2k went a little...wrong. A
The protagonist is never named either, and we follow him and the world for years after Y2k's troubles (and more troubles in the course of the stories) have led to a post-apocalyptic environment, with central authority alternatively inept and overly restrictive. The protagonist tries to make his way in a world far more mixed up than ours. Internal evidence suggests that about 25 years passes during the course of the stories.
Amsterdam's stories are a good example of mundane science fiction. The only real speculative element is the fact that this is an alternate history and future, where Y2k went far worse than in our world. Other than that, this fiction is purely literary in nature, style and tone.
I didn't quite find the style to my taste. It felt too minimalist, too narrow for my reading pleasure. Not enough speculation in the science fiction. From a dispassionate point of view, the stories are very well written and fit together well. Mundane SF fans as well as those who normally hate SF but want a small element of the speculative in their reading will highly enjoy Steven Amsterdam's collection.
Steven Amsterdam is a native New Yorker working in Melbourne, Australia. Things we didn't see coming is this ex-pat's collection of linked short stories in an alternate history where things after Y2k went a little...wrong. A
The protagonist is never named either, and we follow him and the world for years after Y2k's troubles (and more troubles in the course of the stories) have led to a post-apocalyptic environment, with central authority alternatively inept and overly restrictive. The protagonist tries to make his way in a world far more mixed up than ours. Internal evidence suggests that about 25 years passes during the course of the stories.
Amsterdam's stories are a good example of mundane science fiction. The only real speculative element is the fact that this is an alternate history and future, where Y2k went far worse than in our world. Other than that, this fiction is purely literary in nature, style and tone.
I didn't quite find the style to my taste. It felt too minimalist, too narrow for my reading pleasure. Not enough speculation in the science fiction. From a dispassionate point of view, the stories are very well written and fit together well. Mundane SF fans as well as those who normally hate SF but want a small element of the speculative in their reading will highly enjoy Steven Amsterdam's collection.
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