I forgot to review this book and thought that I already had, so apologize if my review is brief and lacking details.

I do remember that I loved this book. It is the second installment in Krivak's Darden trilogy, and this installment takes place during the Vietnam War, unlike the first installment that took place during World War 1. This one is about the grandson of the protagonist from the first novel, and it continues the family drama from the first book. War is a central theme as is the immigrant experience and what it means to become American. Both of these themes are continuations of the themes from the first novel. I loved this book and look forward to reading Krivak's final installment in the series. ( )

"The Signal Flame" is Andrew Krivak’s 2017 second entry in the Dardan Trilogy, after a fictional town in Pennsylvania, the stories’ home setting. Signal Flame shares the last events of the multigenerational saga with the third book, "Like the Appearance of Horses" (2023). The overarching story traces the remarkable life of Jozef Vinich, who fought for the Austro-Hungarians in the Great War, and through hard work, guts, and brains, eventually came into ownership of a sawmill in Dardan, one of the town’s main employers. Please note, the events of this family’s lives, while vivid and dramatic, do not in themselves make the story remarkable. It is the character, abilities, honesty, and strength of the main characters, and in particular the men, which do so.

The second book, "The Signal Flame," features Bo Konar, the elder of Jozef Vinich’s two grandsons. After his father dies, Bo spends his childhood at his grandfather’s side and he learns not only the practical lessons of working a farm and tracking game, but also the wisdom and strength of character only available from someone like Jozef. Bo leaves college after only one semester; the shock of the accidental death of a fellow student with whom he was falling in love, moors him to home. At home in Dardan he begins his career at the sawmill, an operation he will eventually own. Events swirl around him and his family: his father is accidentally killed in a hunting accident in 1949 (when Bo is 8 years old); in the 1960s a flood crashes through the town and Bo acts in a superhuman way, jumping from a bridge into a raging, overflowing river, to save the woman who is pregnant with his niece.

Through it all, the stalwart virtues of honesty, level-headedness, receptiveness, fairness, and worldly wisdom carry the main characters, Jozef and Bo particularly, but also the Catholic priest who provides practical help and succor to the family, and Hannah, Bo’s mother, who grieves the loss of her husband. As a follow-up to 2011’s "The Sojourn," "The Signal Flame" fits supremely well, which is a grand recommendation on its own. It continues the clarity and sturdiness of the prose, the gratifying virtuousness of the main characters, and even the non-essential characters have their full human traits, foibles, beliefs, and skills.

This second book in the trilogy is a worthy entry; it stands on its own if you want to immerse yourself in this part of the story, but my recommendation is to start with the memorable and inspiring (and award-winning) "The Sojourn." It’s just a book you should not neglect. And neither is "The Signal Flame." ( )

This is a beautiful book. Having said that, I could probably just stop, except there are so many things I want to say, but fear I lack the eloquence to describe or do justice to what I've just read. But here are some notes that I hope may aid in enjoying this gorgeous book.

I. THE SIGNAL FLAME is a sequel to Krivak's equally beautiful first novel, THE SOJOURN. So if you loved that book, then you'll love this one too.

II. There are deeply religious overtones - undertones? - to be found here. There are characters named Hannah (grace), Sam (name of god/asked by god/heard by god), and Ruth (friend/companion). All are biblical. Look 'em up. And there is Bo, short for Bohumir, Czech/Slovak for "God is great." Bread is broken often, grace is said, food is blessed. The depiction of a traditional Slovak Christmas Eve feast is mouth-wateringly vivid -

"She served sour mushroom soup, potatoes, cabbage rolls stuffed with rice, prune pirohy, and trout broiled whole and stuffed with lemon and sage."

III. War is always in the background. Jozef Vinich, the family patriarch (who was THE SOJOURN's protagonist), is a survivor of WWI. Bo and Sam's father (also with a connection to the first book), was a WWII deserter who served prison time. It is now 1972, and Sam, a Marine, has gone MIA in Vietnam, leaving his girl friend Ruth behind, pregnant. Here is a sample, which seemed especially moving and apt, since I was watching the Ken Burns PBS documentary, THE VIETNAM WAR, while reading this book -

"When Sam shipped out, Bo and Hannah watched the nightly news, the body counts at the bottom of the screen like the score of a football game, ten-second footage of helicopters flattening out elephant grass and artillery firing into jungles, and then the cut to angry faces of American college kids screaming and shouting to get the hell out of Vietnam."

IV. There is a flood, nearly biblical in its destruction of Dardan, the small Pennsylvania town where the story is set. (Krivak based this on a real flood that devastated the Wilkes-Barre Scranton area in 1972). Ruth is left homeless, and like the biblical Ruth, comes to live with Sam's mother.

But maybe that's enough. I could say more about Bo and Ruth and Hannah, but I don't want to spoil anything. I will say that I was moved to tears more than once by their story. I was often reminded of the rich evocative prose of Reynolds Price, specifically his novel, THE SURFACE OF EARTH. Price was a life-long Biblical scholar, and Krivak, as a young man, spent several years with the Jesuits. Maybe that's the connection I feel here. THE SURFACE OF EARTH was the first novel of what would become the Mayfield trilogy (followed by THE SOURCE OF LIGHT and THE PROMISE OF REST). My fervent hope, having read Krivak's first two novels of the Vinich and Konar families, is that there will be a third. I didn't want this book to end. I relished, savored, LOVED this book. Well done, Mr. Krivak. My highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ( )

This book is really a sequel to The Sojourn which tells the story of the formative years of Jozef Vinich. At the beginning of The Signal Flame, Jozef has just died. Left to mourn him are Hannah Konar, his daughter, and Bo, his grandson.

The novel is set in 1972 in northeastern Pennsylvania. Hannah, a widow, waits for the return of her youngest son Sam, a Marine who has been designated as Missing in Action. Bo, the older son, runs the family business, a roughing mill. He also keeps a protective eye on Ruth Younger, Sam’s fiancée, whose family has had a problematic relationship with Jozef’s family.

This is a slow-paced novel, driven by character rather than plot. The characters are round characters who feel like real people. Bo is the best example of the fully-developed characters. He is a quiet, dignified man with a strong sense of duty and a strong work ethic. A steady, responsible person, he always tries to do what is right. He remembers what his grandfather taught him and manages the business so that employees are respected and treated fairly.

One of the themes is the damage that war inflicts on families. Though there are no battle scenes, war is very much a presence in the novel. It could be said that families are the collateral damage. Hannah’s husband fought in World War II and returned “a hollow man”; and Sam enlisted to fight in Vietnam and his family continues to deal with losing him. Reference is made to Jozef’s experiences in World War I and to one of Ruth’s ancestors fighting at Gettysburg. The indictment of war is done indirectly, though a character cites a relevant statement by Thucydides: “When a great confederacy, in order to satisfy private grudges, undertakes a war of which no man can foresee the issue, it is not easy to terminate it with honour.”

The book is really about people trying to come to terms with loss. Hannah, mourning the loss of her husband, father and a son, has concluded that loss is the only certainty in life: “she had come to believe that the only thing one could be certain of was loss. The loss of others as one lived on. Loss as the last thing one left behind.” Virtually everyone in the novel grieves the loss of a loved one. We learn about loss Bo experienced in the past as we see him mourning the loss of his beloved grandfather; Ruth’s fiancé is missing and she loses “in one day what most would mourn in a lifetime”; even the local priest contends with losing a dear friend. The lesson about loss is perhaps best expressed by Jozef in a conversation with Bo: “That’s the nature of loss . . . You are both lessened and left behind. There’s nothing to be done but the work that’s been given, so the part of you that’s lessened doesn’t become lost as well.”

The characters in the novel are ordinary people. There is a realism to them as they lead their ordinary lives. Sometimes, however, there is almost too much of an effort to show this ordinariness by including excessive detail. For instance, Bo goes to check out a used saw he is thinking of buying: “It was a DL 750, built in ’52 by the serial number . . . It would need a new chain, but the lubrication unit was intact and most likely operative. He took off the spindle housing, and the air gap clearance between the rotor and the stator was fine. Then he checked the pressure roll assembly for wear and axial play, and everything looked good. Even the guide rail and the stock rail were in nice shape.” Is all this detail really necessary?

The ending is rather predictable, but, as I’ve already stated, plot is not the most important element. There is a genuineness to the characters and their lives which will remain with the reader who will also contemplate the losses in his/her own life.

Note: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski). ( )

As I finished this wonderful book I realized that it is this type of quiet novel that makes the biggest impression, leaving me with a surfeit of emotions I need to process. There are no big flashy car chases, or hunts for a killer, just a family with all the hidden layers that this entails. Heartaches, deaths, and there are plenty of both, but a great deal of love for each other and for the land. A quiet appreciation of what they have been given. Beautiful descriptions of their environment and many details about what being an owner of a sawmill entails. The story takes place in the seventies and the Vietnam War has wreaked havoc on this small family, leaving one neither dead nor alive.

Just small details of a family living their lives, but so brilliantly and poignantly written. Bittersweet and melancholy, but always hope for a better time, a better day. Wonderful characters that one can't help but take into their hearts. Strong people that have weathered much more than that which should have to ne weathered, an yet they stay strong, pull together and love each other, are their for each other.

If you love the novels of the late Ken Haruf, and Mary Lawson, I believe you will love this story and his first, which is also about this same family.

ARC from publisher.
Releases tomorrow, January 24th. ( )