Review of SIGNAL FIRES
A compelling novel where quantum physics frames human suffering and love.
I am a sucker for the increasingly popular trick of the same story being told from the different points of view of the principal characters. It seems to be the rage and I will defer to time whether this is a positive or negative development. It certainly takes pressure off the omniscient narrator and is a structural way to integrate the “unreliable narrator” into multiple points of view as opposed to a single unbalanced one. This technique is one of two reasons this novel both succeeds and disappoints. The multiple points of view provide dramatic tension in a human-interest story knitted together not by a plot but by the shared losses, choices, and loneliness of its characters. Even though the two dramatic events that bind the characters together begin to lose their credibility as the years go by, the storyline builds thanks to the internal struggles of a host of very different people movingly illuminated by Shapiro. You are drawn into their uniquely human struggles and the interconnectivity that arises, though a bit melodramatic, is moving. We want to believe that life is filled with such connections. What would have taken this intricate narrative to another level is further expansion of several of the characters. I do not say this often – it needed to be longer. I am not taking this book down. It is an excellent read (I read it in three days). I am frustrated that it didn’t go farther. My skeptical self wonders if the lure of book club popularity prevents such promising narratives from making that extra step. Certainly, the multiple point of view plays well into an around the table discussion format.
The second reason for both its strength and weakness as a novel is Shapiro’s writing. She is a beautiful writer. Her ability to get inside her character’s heads is noteworthy – more reason to develop more fully these compelling individuals. She establishes a sense of place with real artistry. Because she can write so well, I wish she had reined in the metaphysical/astrophysics asides that became increasingly pronounced near the end. I wish she had contained these musings within the scientific eloquence of her most beautifully drawn character. It gave a serious novel too soft a landing.
Signal Fires
Dani Shapiro
2022 240 pages