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katy_chessum_rice 's review for:
Signal Fires
by Dani Shapiro
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Sarah and Theo had never talked about it, not once since that August night less than a decade earlier. Now, Sarah sometimes wonders whether talking would have been better. Silence didn't make it go away but instead drove the events of that night more deeply into each of them. Neither of them had ever been able to unsee what they saw, unhear what they heard."
Oh, I absolutely loved this book! The storytelling was brilliantly done, weaving past and present to demonstrate how two very different families can become intertwined. One summer night in 1985, Theo, his elder sister Sarah and her friend Misty go for a drive. There's an accident and Misty dies. The Wilf family never talk about it again but that night and the decisions they all made haunt them for decades afterwards. In 2010, young Waldo Shenkman is trying to find his place among the stars and constellations and avoid his father's disappointment. He and Ben Wilf, now an old man, strike up an unlikely friendship that will comfort them both in years to come.
A family drama, Signal Fires is in turns moving, nostalgic, insightful and reflective. The scene involving young Waldo and Mimi Wilf in the playhouse was just devastating and had me sobbing! I really felt for Waldo's father who struggles to connect with a son he has no idea how to be a parent to - so the frustration with himself comes out as anger towards his son. It's hard to make someone like that appear human, not monstrous, and I think Shapiro has handled it well. Shapiro describes very well what it's like to be born to the wrong parents, in the wrong time, and having to negotiate your way through the world trying to find another person to give you the love you need.
I just couldn't get enough of this story and wanted more and more - but felt very satisfied with ending.
I would recommend Signal Fires to fans of Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane, We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman, and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.
Thanks to Netgalley for sending me an ARC of the paperback version.
Oh, I absolutely loved this book! The storytelling was brilliantly done, weaving past and present to demonstrate how two very different families can become intertwined. One summer night in 1985, Theo, his elder sister Sarah and her friend Misty go for a drive. There's an accident and Misty dies. The Wilf family never talk about it again but that night and the decisions they all made haunt them for decades afterwards. In 2010, young Waldo Shenkman is trying to find his place among the stars and constellations and avoid his father's disappointment. He and Ben Wilf, now an old man, strike up an unlikely friendship that will comfort them both in years to come.
A family drama, Signal Fires is in turns moving, nostalgic, insightful and reflective. The scene involving young Waldo and Mimi Wilf in the playhouse was just devastating and had me sobbing! I really felt for Waldo's father who struggles to connect with a son he has no idea how to be a parent to - so the frustration with himself comes out as anger towards his son. It's hard to make someone like that appear human, not monstrous, and I think Shapiro has handled it well. Shapiro describes very well what it's like to be born to the wrong parents, in the wrong time, and having to negotiate your way through the world trying to find another person to give you the love you need.
I just couldn't get enough of this story and wanted more and more - but felt very satisfied with ending.
I would recommend Signal Fires to fans of Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane, We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman, and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.
Thanks to Netgalley for sending me an ARC of the paperback version.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent
Moderate: Dementia