Signal & Noise

by John Griesemer

Book Overview

Signal & Noise is the epic page-turning story of the laying of the trans-Atlantic cable, and the men and women who are caught in its monumental tide. It is also a novel about the collision of worlds... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312300824
• ISBN13: 9780312300821
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Picador USA
• Length: 640 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A Remarkable Epic

I couldn't b elieve I could be so captivated by what is considedred to be an "epic" novel. I just want to say that the characters were fully drawn, I cared so much about them, the adventures were awesome, and the writing was exceptional. I f you want a book to savor over a period of time, just go ahead and enjoy Signals & Noise....truly terrific.

a tale well spun

As a fan of historical fiction, I felt this book effectively told the history of the laying of the transAtlantic cable (an amazing technological feat) while integrating a fictional tale that held my interest. It took a number of pages to pull me in but isn't that what the best books do? I worry that in this MTV age everything has to grab you fast and let you go just as quickly. One of the reasons I read is to get transported to another time and place and this book does that effectively. Take a look at his first novel as well. Completely different and fascinating in its own way.

But wait, it gets better!

Note to Terence: Sure you can drop a book after 75 pages...but can you really condemn it? I wrote my review when not quite halfway through the book and now that I'm three quarters of the way through all I can say is that I really am not looking forward to its ending and to my then having to locate a book to replace it. This author is keeping the plates spinning with grace and style and wit...and verve. They will only fall when he wants them to fall. A great read

Drop what you're reading and pick up this book

If this book doesn't manage to get out there reach the many many many MANY lovers of inventive, vividly written fiction...well, it's yet another crime of the marketplace. The writing is superb - both beautiful and direct - and the story itself is wonderfully transporting, like curling up with Dickens, or with a great film of a great Dickens book. I also think 'Ragtime', only with a larger canvas. There are all sorts of thematic things going on here that are fun to ponder as you read...but to spell them out in a quicky review like this would likely make them seem ponderous. Ponderous this book is not. It's a great escape. While I'm here, let me plug the author's first book as well - No One Thinks of Greenland - wholly different in style and feel from S & N, but equally rewarding in originality. No...even more rewarding in originialty. Talk this guy up. We want writers like this to thrive.

Brilliant

There is so much packed in this gripping novel: the laying of the transatlanitc cable, the failed launch of the Great Eastern (the world's largest ship at the time); The Civil War, Karl Marx!, the story of a crumbling family in the wake of a child's sudden death, the dawn of the Technological Age, and great, powerful (Dickensian even) writing. I bought this for Memorial Day weekend and finished this morning. Couldn't put it down. Best book I've read since The Corrections.