We’re holding our monthly book club on Monday, February 12.

We’ll discuss Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro. Sign up on Team Snap to attend.

Discussion questions

1. How would Sarah and Theo’s lives have been different if she had told the truth about the circumstances of the car wreck? What personality traits were revealed in Sarah and Theo
   during the novel’s opening scene? How did these traits shape the outcomes of their lives?
2. How does the novel’s oscillating timeline reflect the human experience of looking back on the past and making hopeful predictions about the future? What was it like to learn about the characters through moments that weren’t linear? What cultural shifts were captured in those five decades? What remained the same throughout the years?
3. Ben’s profession puts him at the center of life and death moments. Sarah’s career is anchored in storytelling, while Theo masters the art of preparing “comfort food with staying power” (207). How do these professions reflect essential aspects of Ben and his children? What is the significance of the fact that Theo spent many years estranged from the concept of home?
4. Lost together, what makes Waldo and Mimi ideal companions during those dark hours? How does the experience distill what matters most to them and the family members searching for them?
5. As a young adult, Waldo invokes quantum physics to explain the mystical interconnectedness of all things (including humanity). To what extent does fate determine his connection to Ben versus their effort to sustain a bond over the years? Why is Waldo’s interest in the heavens so difficult for Shenkman to appreciate? What is Alice’s most enduring legacy for her son?
6. How does the silence surrounding the car accident involving Sara, Theo, and their friend affect each character’s life? How does this silence shape their relationships with one another and themselves?
7. Waldo Shenkman is portrayed as a unique and intellectually gifted child. How do his passion for the stars and his deep understanding of the universe help him cope with the challenges he faces within his family and society?
8. The novel explores the impact of silence and unspoken truths. How does the silence surrounding the car accident involving Sara, Theo, and their friend affect each character’s life? How does this silence shape their relationships with one another and themselves?
9. The title, “Signal Fires,” implies a sense of guidance or a call for help. How do the characters in the story act as signal fires for one another, providing support, solace, or direction in times of darkness or confusion?
10. Sarah lives in perpetual fear that Peter will find out about her infidelity. What is at the root of her masochism — the experience in which she is abused and shamed? Why isn’t she able to feel satisfied with Peter, “a simple guy, a nice guy who hasn’t been able to catch a break”? (page 131) How do the characters in Signal Fires contend with guilt, even if the guilt is unwarranted?
11. Theo loves being an uncle to Syd and Livvie. As the girls approach the cusp of adulthood, the same age he was reeling from tragedy, how can he make peace with the fact that it’s impossible to predict what lies ahead?
12. The novel’s epigraph, from Carolyn Forché’s poem “Mourning,” calls for lighting signal fires “wherever you find yourselves.” Who lights the signal fires in the novel? Who heeds them and takes action?
13. What are the fundamental reasons for Ben and Mimi’s happiness in marriage? The sadness and frustration in the Shenkmans’ marriage? What is the effect of the novel’s closing line regarding the Wilfs, “You would hope that they know how lucky they are, how blessed”?
14. Discuss the portraits of parenting that are offered in the novel. What aspects of motherhood and fatherhood resonated with you? Do the children do a good job of becoming caregivers to their own parents later in life?
15. One of the characters, Sara Wilf, becomes a star, quite literally, in her career. How does her rise to fame impact her relationships with her family, especially her brother Theo?

Summary