This post may contain affiliate links. Read more here.
Book club questions for Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro explore the themes of family, secrets, interconnectedness, memory, and the passage of time. The questions delve into the relationships between the characters, the impact of shared destinies, and the healing power of understanding one’s roots.
This was an amazing book.
I had to read parts again because it really touched me. I spent time not just reading, but really thinking about it. It was incredible. Even Stephen King, whose books I’ve read multiple times, couldn’t make me feel this way. Well done, Dani! For my full book review for Signal Fires, click here!
What were your impressions of this novel? ✨
Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
In this blog post you will find the discussion questions for Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro.
At the bottom of this post I have prepared a printable PDF with downloadable book club questions so you can use them with your book clubs, and I also have some additional suggestions for novels that share similar themes and narratives.
If you find these book club questions useful, let me know! I’m excited to hear your unique perspectives during your book club discussions!
Book Club Questions | Additional Recommendations | Printable List
About the Story
Signal Fires is a novel that explores the lives of two families, the Wilfs and the Shenkmans, over the course of fifty years.
The story revolves around a mysterious oak tree on Division Street and the encounters between a retired doctor named Ben Wilf and a brilliant young boy named Waldo Shenkman. The families are connected by secrets and shared destinies, and the novel delves into their complex relationships, spanning time and space.
It’s a tale of family, memory, and the healing power of interconnectedness, filled with magical and compassionate storytelling.
About the Author
Dani Shapiro is a well-known author and the host of the popular podcast Family Secrets.
She has written eleven books, including the bestselling novel Signal Fires and the memoir Inheritance, both of which received prestigious awards.
Signal Fires was named a best book of 2022 by Time Magazine, Washington Post, and Amazon. Inheritance was a New York Times Bestseller and earned recognition from Elle, Vanity Fair, Wired, and Real Simple in 2019.
Dani’s writing has been translated into fourteen languages, and she is currently working on adapting Signal Fires for television.
She also teaches writing workshops, co-founded the Sirenland Writers Conference in Italy, and has a book about writing called Still Writing, recently reissued for its tenth anniversary.
Book Club Questions for Signal Fires
Disclaimer: the following discussion questions contain spoilers, so proceed with caution if you haven’t finished the book yet.
- 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?
- 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?
- Ben’s profession puts him at the center of moments of life and death. 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?
- The author writes lovingly of the Wilf house on Division Street. What can we discern about the Wilfs by observing their possessions, particularly when Sarah arrives to find the artifacts in a state of disorder? What is the significance of the fact that Theo spent many years estranged from the concept of home? What do the artifacts in your house indicate about the places you have called home?
- Lost together, what makes Waldo and Mimi ideal companions during those dark hours? How does the experience distill what matters most to them, and to the family members who are searching for them?
- As a young adult, Waldo invokes quantum physics to explain the mystical interconnectedness of all things (including humanity). To what extent is his connection to Ben determined by fate, versus the effort they make 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?
- 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?
- Waldo Shenkman is portrayed as a unique and intellectually gifted child. How does 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?
- 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?
- On page 128, Sarah thinks of lives as books divided into chapters, and she thinks about Peter’s observation that second acts in screenplays should always have two major plot points. What are the major plot points and chapters of your life? Who do you consider to be the author of your life story?
- Sarah lives in perpetual fear that Peter will find out about her infidelity. What is at the root of her masochism—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?
- Theo loves being an uncle to Syd and Livvie. As the girls approach the cusp of adulthood, the same age when he was reeling from tragedy, how is he able to make peace with the fact that it’s impossible to predict what lies ahead?
- In the final portraits of Shenkman and Ben, we see two aging men from the same neighborhood choose two very separate retirement paths. Shenkman lives in isolation in Florida. Ben enjoys the companionship of family on the west coast. What accounts for these different outcomes? How do their pandemic experiences compare to yours?
- 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?
- What are the fundamental reasons for Ben and Mimi’s happiness in marriage, and for 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”?
- How does Waldo’s love for astrophysics and his fascination with the stars serve as a metaphor for his search for connection and understanding in the world?
- Both the Wilf and Shenkman families experience profound tragedies. How does their grief manifest differently, and how do these experiences shape their characters and interactions throughout the story?
- 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, and what does it symbolize in the larger context of the narrative?
- 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?
- Family secrets have played a key role in many of Dani Shapiro’s books. How does Signal Fires further expand upon the theme of unspoken truths and hidden turning points in her other novels and memoirs that you have read?
Additional Recommendations
Hope you enjoyed the book club discussion questions and reading guide for Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro!
Here are some more of my book club recommendations related to this book:
Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon
In “Mother-Daughter Murder Night,” Lana Rubicon, a successful businesswoman, is forced to recover from illness in a quiet coastal town with her daughter Beth and granddaughter Jack.
Their peaceful stay takes a thrilling turn when Jack discovers a dead body while kayaking, turning them into amateur sleuths trying to solve the murder mystery and protect their family.
As they delve deeper into the investigation, they unearth hidden family vendettas and land disputes, ultimately learning to rely on each other in the face of danger.
To read my review of this book, click here.
For my book club questions and printable reading guide for this book, click here.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake.
As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart.
As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.
To read my review of this book, click here.
For my book club questions and printable reading guide for this book, click here.
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
Happiness Falls is a gripping novel that follows the harrowing journey of an Korean American family in Virginia when their father mysteriously disappears after a walk in a nearby park.
As they search for answers, they must confront their own secrets and navigate the challenges of communication, love, and human connection, all while racing against time to find their missing patriarch, with the unique perspective of their non-verbal younger brother adding complexity to their quest.
For my book club questions and printable reading guide for this book, click here.
Printable PDF
Feel free to distribute these discussion questions to your book club members before your meeting. Simply click the link below to download and print the PDF file.
Happy reading! ❤️