SUBDIVISION
“IF SUBDIVISION IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF STEPHEN AMIDON’S OUTPUT, WE MAY BE IN FOR SOME FIREWORKS.”
JOSEPH O’NEILL, THE LITERARY REVIEW.
JOSEPH O’NEILL, THE LITERARY REVIEW.
About Subdivision
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In the ranch-style homes of the subdivision live middle-ranking executives, their bored wives, and their aimless children. It's a self-contained world, and when reality impinges it does so with stunning often tragic force. In "Lighter than Air" a son's triumph in the Indian Hills Presbyterian Church balloon race forms an ironic counterpoint to his father's catastrophic business dealings; in "Alchemy" a media liaison man's professional lies at a 'damage control' press conference incur his family's contempt; in "The Simulators" a mother and her two children move into a subdivision house only to find that her husband will not be joining them; in "Cherokee" a demented radio ham scours the airwaves for evidence of his wife's infidelity.
Stephen Amidon's first collection of stories follows his highly acclaimed first novel; out of apparently unpromising lives of quiet desperation and occasional small triumphs he has created a moving and disturbing work of art. |
In March 2001, This House Will Burn, a ballet choreographed by Ashley Page with music by Orlando Gough premiered at The Royal Ballet in Covent Garden, London. An excerpt from "The Simulators," a story from Subdivision was used for the program notes, along with two Nan Golden photographs.
Praise for Subdivision
“This slim volume is easily the very finest collection of short stories to appear this year. Stephen Amidon presents us with a written art form which is truly amazing.” New England Review of Books
"Imagine Lake Wobegon without its teacosy of beguiling complacency and you have something like Stephen Amidon’s middle-America... [His] subdivision defies cosy notions of community life and is distinctly short on American apple pie, but it is rich in humanity. It may be a hard place to love, but it is an easy one to believe in.” Candice Rodd, Independent on Sunday
“Stephen Amidon’s memorable first collection of stories conjures up images of Winnesburg, Ohio--but updated for the brave new world of suburban purgatory and numbed by a soundtrack that ranges from Muzak to punk rock...All the citizens of this unnamed Subdivision are weary and it is to the author's credit that he examines their situations with interest and compassion, never an apathetic shrug." Mason Buck, New York Times Book Review
"Stephen Amidon's suburban satellites coin a new metaphor, a new language of suburban dereliction that has more soul than the speed rides of the city slickers, more less schmaltz than the nostalgia trips of the country cousins." Joanna Briscoe, Elle
"Heavy on anomie, these 11 stories focus on a well-tended company town, allied to a huge American electronics firm, where tragedy and bizarre behavior keep erupting in aimless but outwardly orderly lives....In his U.S. debut, [Amidon] takes the fitful pulse of those living the American Dream, incisively exploring empty nests, noncommunication between spouses,... alienated youth and a pervasive corporate mentality." Publishers Weekly
"Imagine Lake Wobegon without its teacosy of beguiling complacency and you have something like Stephen Amidon’s middle-America... [His] subdivision defies cosy notions of community life and is distinctly short on American apple pie, but it is rich in humanity. It may be a hard place to love, but it is an easy one to believe in.” Candice Rodd, Independent on Sunday
“Stephen Amidon’s memorable first collection of stories conjures up images of Winnesburg, Ohio--but updated for the brave new world of suburban purgatory and numbed by a soundtrack that ranges from Muzak to punk rock...All the citizens of this unnamed Subdivision are weary and it is to the author's credit that he examines their situations with interest and compassion, never an apathetic shrug." Mason Buck, New York Times Book Review
"Stephen Amidon's suburban satellites coin a new metaphor, a new language of suburban dereliction that has more soul than the speed rides of the city slickers, more less schmaltz than the nostalgia trips of the country cousins." Joanna Briscoe, Elle
"Heavy on anomie, these 11 stories focus on a well-tended company town, allied to a huge American electronics firm, where tragedy and bizarre behavior keep erupting in aimless but outwardly orderly lives....In his U.S. debut, [Amidon] takes the fitful pulse of those living the American Dream, incisively exploring empty nests, noncommunication between spouses,... alienated youth and a pervasive corporate mentality." Publishers Weekly