In a small town in Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains Hannah and her son Bo mourn the loss of the family patriarch, Jozef Vinich. They were three generations under one roof. Three generations, but only one branch of a scraggy tree; they are a war-haunted family in a war-torn century. Having survived the trenches of World War I as an Austro-Hungarian conscript, Vinich journeyed to America and built a life for his family. His daughter married the Hungarian-born Bexhet Konar, who enlisted to fight with the Americans in the Second World War but brought disgrace on the family when he was imprisoned for desertion. He returned home to Pennsylvania a hollow man, only to be killed in a hunting accident on the family’s land. Finally, in 1971, Hannah’s prodigal younger son, Sam, was reported MIA in Vietnam.
And so there is only Bo, a quiet man full of conviction, a proud work ethic, and a firstborn’s sense of duty. He is left to grieve but also to hope for reunion, to create a new life, to embrace the land and work its soil through the seasons. The Signal Flame is a stirring novel about generations of men and women and the events that define them, brothers who take different paths, the old European values yielding to new world ways, and the convalescence of memory and war.
This book is the one that put me in a reading slump for two and a half weeks, but it is also the one that dragged me out of it. (Reading slumps are awful.)
I think I would have enjoyed this book a bit more if I had read Krivak's first novel The Sojourn before reading this one, as it tells the story of Jozef, the family patriarch, in fuller detail. It would have filled in a few gaps, which I had to read in between the lines to figure out whilst reading this novel. Regardless of that, I did enjoy this novel quite a bit. It's a quiet, almost understated book. It doesn't make boastful claims, and it has very little fanfare or pomp. The quietness that this book adopts works well for the story it is telling.
Although I didn't get all of the stakes that were involved in this book, it was very easy to fall into rhythm with this book. While it would have been nice to have read the first book before this one, it's not super necessary in order to get what is going on in this one. This is a very calming, soothing book, even when tragic, horrible things are happening to the characters. I did a few double takes and had to go back to re-read some passages to make sure I really was reading what I was reading and I wasn't imagining it. Because it is so understated, it does cause some, "Wait, what?" moments, at least for me.
This book said a lot about grief that I connected with and agreed with on one level or another. Since this is primarily a novel about how to move on after tragedy and the loss of loved ones, there was quite a bit of grief-talk involved. But not in a pretentious way. It was done simply and with very little pomp and circumstance. It is what it is. Which is what Krivak says in few words. The novel doesn't make a little or big deal out of grief. It's a part of life that becomes part of us. The writing style is excellent, and it was an easy-to-follow narrative.
I felt at ease while reading this book. I connected and related to virtually every character, which is rare. This book is about character, tone, and atmosphere rather than about plot. It was a slow-moving book, but I still continued reading (once my slump had been cured) because I wanted to see how the characters evolved and developed, and to see how the story would resolve for each of the main characters. In addition to the theme of grief, themes of family, war, and peace all make appearances in this novel. It's an almost private novel, and we, the readers, are sneaking in on these peoples' lives.
This is quite a novel. The one that dragged me out of a reading slump that went on for nearly three weeks. It's quiet and understated, tender and solemn. It is the reading equivalent of curling up in bed, warmed by blankets. It's calming and truthful. I'd fully believe that these events really did happen with these characters. The Signal Flame is an incredible novel, written by an outstanding writer, who created an atmospheric, character-driven novel, filled with messages of home, family, and grief. I'm definitely giving The Signal Flame 5/5, and highly recommend it.
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