Signal Fires

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of death and substance use.

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. What did you find most captivating about Shapiro’s exploration of nonlinear time in Signal Fires? Does this approach remind you of other works that play with time, such as Shapiro’s memoir Inheritance or novels like Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth?

2. Which character’s journey in Signal Fires resonated with you most deeply, and why?

3. Did the structure of Signal Fires, given its shifting perspectives and timeframes, enhance or challenge your reading experience?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. The Wilf family keeps Misty’s death and the circumstances surrounding it a secret for years. In what ways have you experienced or observed how unspoken truths affect family dynamics?

2. Waldo finds comfort in stargazing and understanding his place in the vastness of the universe. What activities or perspectives help you contextualize life’s challenges or find peace during difficult times?

3. Does Ben’s theory that time is more of a loop than a linear progression resonate with your understanding of how past experiences shape your present?

4. Sarah and Theo each cope with their shared trauma in different ways—Sarah through achievement and then substance abuse, Theo through emotional withdrawal. Which coping mechanism felt most familiar or understandable to you?

5. Shenkman struggles to connect with his son Waldo because of their differences. How might parents and children bridge such gaps in understanding?

6. What place in your life holds emotional significance across time similar to the Wilf family home in Avalon?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Signal Fires portrays suburban Avalon as having an idyllic appearance that masks the chaos within families. How does this depiction reflect or challenge cultural mythology about suburban life?

2. Portions of the novel are set during the COVID-19 pandemic. What insights does Shapiro offer about how families adapt to collective human crises?

3. What does the Jewish concept of lashon hara (speaking negatively about others) that Sarah references suggest about the tension between privacy and accountability in contemporary society?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. What transformations of meaning do you see in the novel’s central symbols, such as the oak tree that becomes the “magic tree” with wildflowers growing at its base?

2. Shapiro divides the novel into 11 parts across seven different time periods. How did this structural choice affect your understanding of the characters and their interconnected lives?

3. In what ways do Sarah and Theo develop differently as characters throughout the novel despite sharing the same formative trauma?

4. What might Shapiro be suggesting about human connection through the recurring motif of stars as both literal celestial bodies and metaphorical signals?

5. In what ways does each physical space—the Wilf house, Theo’s restaurants, Sarah’s Los Angeles home—function as more than just a setting in the novel?

6. What narrative purpose does the final chapter serve by returning to 1970 when the Wilfs first move to Avalon?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. If you designed a Star Walk app like Waldo’s that revealed something beyond constellations, what would it show, and why?

2. Imagine a conversation between Waldo and Misty if they somehow met during their lifetime. What might they discuss about their shared connection to the Wilf family and the magic tree?

3. The novel ends at its chronological beginning. What developments would you envision for the surviving characters if you were to write an additional chapter set five years after the events of 2020?

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