Things We Didn’t See Coming by Steven Amsterdam is a masterfully insightful book that depicts the plight of a real person in a dystopian future. Or, should I say, a dystopian present. Over the past couple of weeks I have had to read this book for school (we will be studying it in the upcoming months) and I really liked it. It is rare that I actually enjoy a school book enough to want to review it on the blog, in fact this is the first time. I thought I would review it before I actually study it so that the review does not become bogged down with the themes and character breakdowns we have to pour over in English class.
When my teacher told us to read only a chapter of this book per day as to not get confused, I really did not understand what she meant. Upon picking up the book, I began to understand that each chapter is a vignette of a boy (and eventually man)’s life and though they connect chronologically and there are some recurring characters, they are largely unlinked. This lead to confusion as to whether TWDSC was to be considered a novel or a collection of short stories when entered for prizes, it was eventually decided that it is a novel. I agree with this because, though the stories are seemingly disconnected, they follow the same character and an overall thematic arch. Though my teacher said to read them separately, I found myself too gripped by this book to stop reading after simply one chapter. If you are able to separate the stories in your mind and understand that much time has passed between each chapter you shouldn’t get confused.
We never actually find out the main characters name as the whole book is written from his perspective, this adds to the mystery surrounding the character and what happens to him between the chapters. The story picks up when the boy is around ten, his father is freaking out about Y2K and packing his family up to take them to his in-laws farm for safety. Though it initially seems as though the father is overreacting, his actions begin to seem more reasonable as the story progresses. The next chapter skips to when the boy is 17 and has a very different outlook on life than previously. Over the following seven chapters, the boy grows into a man, takes up a nomadic lifestyle, finds love and fights against the elements in some apocalyptic situations.
Though the extreme droughts, floods, plagues and other apocalyptic events could come across as outlandish, Amsterdam manages to keep a very personal outlook on it all. The story is contained to the man and his thoughts about the world in which he lives. There are secondary characters that are seen in multiple chapters but the readers never gain a full understanding of how those characters feel. We simply see what the man sees, which is a beautiful way to prove that we never really know what the people around us are thinking or feeling.
The story continues until the man is around forty, coming full circle to a poignant end.
Writing these reviews is always hard because my first instinct is to spoil everything but I know that I can’t do that. For you to fully understand the depth and creativity of this book you must read it yourself. I could go on, tell you the basic breakdown of what happens in each chapter and the different twists and turns it takes but that would ruin it! The most interesting part of the story is that you never know what is going to happen next, where the man will be or how far into the future it will jump.
Instead, I highly recommend you pick up a copy (or at least read the shortened version you can find on google) and check it out yourself. If you do, please tell me what you think in the comments below!
Lots of Love,
Shannon
