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The Signal

Ron Carlson

3.41 · Rating details · 791 ratings · 187 reviews

A beautifully written and suspenseful tale of love and peril by an award-winning writer

Backpacking into the Wind River Mountains on their tenth annual trip, Mack and his wife, Vonnie, find the magnificent woods and stunning mountains of Wyoming full of ghosts and danger. Mack comes from a long line of ranchers, and his dedication to keeping the family land has led him int ...more

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Hardcover, 184 pages

Published May 28th 2009 by Viking Penguin

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· 791 ratings · 187 reviews

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Aug 03, 2016 Brian Anderson rated it really liked it

I must confess a soft spot for this book, having backpacked some of the same territory that estranged couple Mack and Vonnie traverse in this short and (somewhat) sweet novel. Carlson does a wonderful job of creating a sense of place and giving the reader enough technical jargon to put them squarely in the Wyoming back country. His style of dialogue is clipped and spare, and this, combined with vivid descriptions of the rugged terrain Mack and Vonnie cross, gives the story a style and voice all ...more

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Jun 05, 2009 Carmen rated it it was ok

Shelves: mystery-thriller, adult

(Disclaimer: I'm writing this having read the ARC about four months ago, so there aren't a lot of details, but I do strongly remember my reaction to the book as a whole.)

I really wanted to like this book. In fact, I really did like parts of it, especially the ones that talk about mundane bits of walking around, etc. But the plot just didn't work for me. It was too obvious, too damsel-in-distress-y, too predictable. Although certain scenes carried a tense weight to them, I never really worried ab ...more

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Jul 30, 2009 Debbie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This one is a one day read, but very engrossing. Not your typical cowboy story by a long shot! The author has done several short story collections, so this is properly a novella. The sparse language makes the plot twists all the more surprising, sort of like finding that hidden canyon on the long hike in!

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Jul 16, 2020 Shawn Remfrey rated it really liked it

Shelves: home-library

What an unusual story! I think I enjoyed it but I'm left with this feeling like everything isn't quite resolved so I'm not actually sure.

It seems to be the story of a man searching for redemption. I'm all for that. Most of the characters are pretty solid and interesting. Vonnie is a different story. Most of the time I was just shaking my head at her and whispering 'What??' She goes from sensible and sturdy to bougie and spiteful at the drop of a hat. I don't like her. I really enjoyed Mack, the ...more

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Feb 09, 2019 Lauren rated it it was ok

Shelves: abandoned

Really wanted to like this...but no. Was not into this. I have a rule that if I roll my eyes at how a female character is written by a male author more than 3 times in the first 50 pages, I bail. So that happened. I’d recommend reading some of the longer reviews on here.

If you’re into landscape of the west, this might have something for you?

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Apr 18, 2020 Jonathan Gruber rated it really liked it

really interesting book. Incredible writing that sometimes got in the way of what was not a super strong plot. But amazing imagery and sense of place made it a great read

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Feb 11, 2011 Mark rated it did not like it

The only thing going for this book was the fact that it's short in length. The back cover sells it as a love story, with intrigue, but the only mystery is why this couple -- who are already divorced, with one in a new relationship -- would agree to go camping together in the first place.

Mack, the annoying male lead in this melodrama, is constantly ragging on his ex, because of what her new beau purchased for her. "Oh, nice camera. Did Kent buy that for you?" "Those are expensive binoculars! Did ...more

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Nov 16, 2011 Katie rated it liked it

This was a short mystery novel set in the great outdoors of Wyoming, involving lots and lots of hiking and wilderness. Strengths: the characters and their banter, and the great outdoors setting. I thought the writing involving the setting was splendid. Made me feel like I was there hiking along with them, breathing the mountain air, feeling the crackling fire, and seeing the fantastic vistas. I really liked the character of Vonnie (the female lead) - she was a spitfire, and lobbed wisecracks rig ...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Larry H added it

A beautifully written, slightly odd and at times frustrating book. Ron Carlson is another writer with an amazing talent for creating beautiful landscapes from words and he has the ability to create amazing tension out of nowhere. (See his last book, Five Skies, for proof.)

This book tells the story of Mack, a rancher struggling to make ends meet, both financially and emotionally, and his now-estranged wife, Vonnie. Despite their estrangement, they meet to hike some trails, fish and spend some tim ...more

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Jun 30, 2009 Larry rated it really liked it

Good summer reading for those who like outdoorsy, adventure stuff. The novel is set in the rugged Wind River range of WY. The main character, Mack, is a really broken guy. He and Vonnie have backpacked the same trail every September for nine years, but this year, the tenth, is different because they are no longer a couple. Vonnie sees the five day trip as closure and a chance to fish high country lakes. Mack wants a second chance with Vonnie and something else. That something else is the princip ...more

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May 28, 2014 Cathy rated it really liked it

Really enjoyed this short novel; whisked me away to the wilderness of Wyoming so that I felt far removed from everyday life(always a good trait for a book). I didn't realize that the novel has been promoted as a mystery or thriller. Although there are some tense moments, the beauty of the book is the descriptions of the mountains of Wyoming. Mack, a down-on-his-luck rancher, invites his ex-wife, Vonnie, to join him on their annual hiking trip. The book covers each day of their hike as they trave ...more

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Sep 06, 2009 Karen rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, contemporary

This is set in the area around Jackson, Wyoming, and it was fun to hear places mentioned that I've been on ski trips. The story was not so much fun, but it was interesting and a bit sad yet not depressing. I think it would have been better without some of the more action-adventurey elements in the plot. ...more

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Sep 21, 2009 Rudy rated it liked it

The Signal has some farfetched plot angles that are annoying. The writing is beautiful. Carlson has attempted to write a thriller. He would have been better off focusing on the characters and their relationships. I have no idea why a girl named Amy has been added to the story. The protagonist is very well developed. The ending is hurried.

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Jun 02, 2017 Luke Johnson rated it really liked it

With most books, I feel like descriptions on the back and dust jacket are prone to exageration. It's got something do with all the adjectives that get thrown around like "gripping", "incredible debut", "the new voice of..." etc etc. However, with Ron Calson's The Signal it's just the opposite. Instead of throwing out praise you get this concise little description:

"Beleaguered rancher Mack has taken to crime in order to preseve his family land, and his fiercely independent wife feels her love ero With most books, I feel like descriptions on the back and dust jacket are prone to exageration. It's got something do with all the adjectives that get thrown around like "gripping", "incredible debut", "the new voice of..." etc etc. However, with Ron Calson's The Signal it's just the opposite. Instead of throwing out praise you get this concise little description:

"Beleaguered rancher Mack has taken to crime in order to preseve his family land, and his fiercely independent wife feels her love eroding. Now, for the 10th year, the couple backpacks into the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. This trip, however, is meant to be their farewell from one another. Yet as they wind their way through familiar mountain trails, the begin to see their marriage in a new light."

Though that is true, it leaves out that The Signal is a thriller. The book has an odd dichotomy as at one moment the two main characters are fly fishing and then in the next they're being hunted by poachers. One moment it's recounting a scene from Mack's youth and the next he's searching for a downed drown prototype. There's a lot more action and suspense than that description implies.

The cons for me was really two things, one minor and one major. The minor is the years between Mack and Vonnie's marriage and the present are somewhat underdeveloped. The drug running and Mack's fall from independant and proud rancher to hollowed out smuggler. It's a short book and you can piece it together easily enough but I would of gladly exchanged a few more chapters for some greater depths. My major complaint is Vonnie. When we first meet Vonnie she's this teenager determined to see a bear, and it's Vonnie in her role as "the bear hunter" that has her returning to Mack's life and his family's ranch each summer. But in the present day she seems rather, for lack of a better word, flighty. Mack is obviously bitter about the failed marriage where Vonnie doesn't seem to have a care in the world and this really comes across in her dialogue.

All in all, an enjoyable and quick read.

...more

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Sep 26, 2018 Pamela rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, mystery-crime, notes, hiking-walking, relationships

This was a short novel, taking place over less than a full week, six days. The two main characters Mack and his recently ex-wife Vonnie are out on one last fishing trip. This fishing trip, is more a backpacking trip that they have done annually for the past ten years. A lot of memories, or as they say in the book, full of ghosts. They do stop and go places where they often have been before.

The language of the book is wonderful to read. The setting of the Wyoming mountains are great. The people, ...more

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Dec 14, 2013 Ron Charles rated it really liked it

Back in olden days, before we started worrying about the survival of novels, we used to worry about the survival of novels for men. But that battle was lost so long ago that we should declare the field a national park and open a visitors' center (Look, kids -- Norman Mailer published right on this spot!). Chuck Palahniuk and his "Pygmy" vibrator gags notwithstanding, polls suggest that only 20 percent of fiction readers are male. Ian McEwan warned in the Guardian that "when women stop reading, t Back in olden days, before we started worrying about the survival of novels, we used to worry about the survival of novels for men. But that battle was lost so long ago that we should declare the field a national park and open a visitors' center (Look, kids -- Norman Mailer published right on this spot!). Chuck Palahniuk and his "Pygmy" vibrator gags notwithstanding, polls suggest that only 20 percent of fiction readers are male. Ian McEwan warned in the Guardian that "when women stop reading, the novel will be dead."

Well, don't blame the authors. Or even those supposedly mercenary, Oprah-chasing publishers. A couple of weeks ago, we ran a roundup of five novels about guys behaving badly -- not psycho-legal thrillers but genuine works of literary fiction. A man's man couldn't go wrong picking from this list: funny, crazy, existential, libidinous -- whatever he's after. And best of all, each one clocks in at around 200 pages, perfect for the commitment-phobic male.

The latest addition to this burgeoning category of high-quality macho novellas comes from Ron Carlson, who writes like Hemingway without the misogyny and self-parody. If there's a smart man in your life who might still be tempted into the pleasures of contemporary literary fiction, "The Signal" could be just the gateway drug you're after. (Father's Day is June 21, and let's face it: Dad's not going to get through Bolaño's "2666" no matter what you tell him.)

Carlson's first love is short stories, and his expertise with that concentrated form shows in this well-toned novel, which covers six days of camping in the Wind River Range of Wyoming. His life-weary hero is a young man named Mack, recently released from a few weeks in jail that gave him time to dry out and reflect on his misery. Out of residual affection and maybe even a little pity, his ex-wife, Vonnie, has agreed to one final fishing trip, an annual September adventure they've maintained for almost a decade. "It's been a hideous year," Vonnie tells Mack, "and you hideous in it, but it's my word." Still, he's surprised when she shows up with her backpack ready, fishing pole and binoculars in hand. This is a woman for men who fantasize over the L.L. Bean catalogue rather than Victoria's Secret. She's tough and steady and doing her best to keep from falling back in love with Mack.

Despite the beauty of these mountains, carved by glaciers and spotted with crystal lakes, their trip is tinged with nostalgia and the worn-out bitterness of a ruined marriage. "You're just full of ghosts," Vonnie tells him. For her, their 10th trek into the woods is a way to finally say goodbye; for Mack, it's a slender last chance, if not for reconciliation then at least for a fresh start in a place so pristine and majestic it just might start to heal him: "He felt like a man washed up on the beach after trying to drown himself." Given the plot and these cleanly cut sentences, it's impossible not to think of Jake Barnes in "The Sun Also Rises," another fractured young man who retreated into the mountains to fish and pare his life down to a few deliberate routines. "Mack was not scared," Carlson writes. "He had been uneasy and worried and scared and empty and sort of ruined, and he knew this, but now he had his ways of doing one thing and then the next and it kept the ruin off him."

There's a tragic kind of romance to Mack and Vonnie's comfortable inside jokes as they return for the last time to favorite haunts along the trail. They both know it'll be tough to go through the motions of their marriage's most cherished moments without scratching old wounds. But Mack "made himself one of his stone-cold promises that he would keep it light and tight and not get riled or ripped up."

The story sometimes drifts back to Mack's childhood, on the ranch where he was raised by a man of few words and impeccable moral standards. His late father appears only in these flashbacks, but they're some of the novel's most moving scenes, a striking demonstration of Carlson's ability to be tough and tender at the same time. Memories of his father only deepen Mack's sense of humiliation for not being able to save the ranch or his marriage or his sobriety. "He'd had a headache or so it seemed for five years, always scraping by, eking out, scratching," Carlson writes in a voice that captures Mack's thoughts with mountain-air clarity. "The disappointment yawned and wore at him, something he never honored by calling it a name. He just let it burrow in and work him."

The electric current that runs through "The Signal" is generated by Mack's ulterior motive for taking this trip. Whenever Vonnie turns her back, he checks his BlackBerry for an update. Clearly, he isn't just looking for cherished memories or even rekindled romance; he's searching for a lost piece of military equipment that some shady operators have paid him to locate in these mountains. The job is fraught with danger, but he imagines it's a chance to escape the debts that have crushed his ranch.

Frightening implications of what this job entails are sprinkled subtly throughout the beginning of the novel, but Carlson's prose is so spare and free of ornament that every fleck of nervousness catches the light. When Vonnie looks up suddenly and asks, "What was that?" you're on high alert, and the tension only rises from there as Mack realizes what deadly trouble he's led them into. Carlson never drops an extra word or a false phrase, even as "The Signal" accelerates like an avalanche, suspicion rolling into fear and then roaring down with a conclusion that shakes the ground. If men can't be brought back to fiction by books as fine as this one, it's their own damn fault.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/20... ...more

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Sep 12, 2018 Kristen rated it really liked it

Ron Carlson's protagonist, Mack, heads out on a camping trip in the Wyoming mountains.

Upon his father's death, Mack inherited his family's Wyoming ranch. Before long, the ranch was in trouble. It threatens to slip right out of his hands unless he can come up with a few thousand dollars. Mack turns to shady dealings hoping to raise the money that will fix his troubles.

In fact, there's more to this camping trip than admiring nature. Mack is up to something suspicious out there in the wilderness. H ...more

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Jul 19, 2017 Bill H. rated it really liked it

I actually like his one more than the acclaimed Five Skies, I guess because the wonderful attention to the outdoors (the Wind River range), hiking forms around very human conflicts--a young man who wants to save the homeplace, hiking with his ex-wife. To that relational drama, add a private possibly dangerous mission and some bad guys poaching, and you have a thriller in which a person's ability to track, orienteer, and poise come into play, against the odds. Nicely done! ...more

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Sep 29, 2019 Micki rated it liked it

Suspenseful...great description of the woods, mountains and valleys...The plot's backstory is alluded to in bits and pieces...in flashbacks and discussions of past mistakes. The crazy thing is that there is always an undercurrent, a tension regarding what's going to happen. We know all the characters have potential to destroy the peaceful nature of an innocent reunion/farewell hike. Who's going to do it, and why? As far as the meaning of "the signal," I'm not sure... ...more

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Sep 17, 2018 Christine Schmidt rated it really liked it

Not quite as powerful as Five Skies, which I so loved, but still carries the terse, intense love of the land. The ending was not as gutwrenching. I will read anything by Ron Carlson.
Was really surprised to find the author lives in Huntington Beach CA, not Wyoming.

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Nov 25, 2019 Kerry Benson added it

His language gives me a very visual experience and the description of nature in the wilderness is extraordinary. The plot turns into a somewhat grisly thriller with an interesting twist to the relationship of a couple who broke up and meet for an intense saga in the woods.

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May 18, 2017 John Bond rated it really liked it

It is great to find a writer you never heard of. Loved the book. What a unique voice he has. Nicely done.

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Sep 24, 2017 Ellen Marcoux rated it liked it

Engaging plot and characters, lovely descriptions of the Wind River Range. I especially enjoyed the portrait of the protagonist's father, an old school rancher. ...more

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Nov 01, 2017 Momruns5 rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017

Tell well, just a little boring. Very straightforward. But I liked the jackson Hole references and the Wind River mountains.

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May 01, 2018 Justin Groot rated it it was amazing

Beautiful descriptions of nature!!

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Jan 15, 2019 Kevin Middaugh rated it liked it

Light read. Lots of western mountain plot.

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Mar 29, 2020 Sadie rated it did not like it

Beautiful imagery, but a slow read nonetheless.

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Feb 10, 2010 Tara rated it liked it

"The Signal:" Ron Carlson Charms a Reluctant Reader

Sometimes a key element in a novel -- the main character, the setting, etc. -- can be so inherently appealing to a particular reader that the book's success is guaranteed before the author earns it page by page. If an author's topic and the reader's interests coalesce, it's not that difficult for the story to capture the reader's approval and simply coast forward on a wave of good will.

This being the case, I must applaud the skill with which Ron "The Signal:" Ron Carlson Charms a Reluctant Reader

Sometimes a key element in a novel -- the main character, the setting, etc. -- can be so inherently appealing to a particular reader that the book's success is guaranteed before the author earns it page by page. If an author's topic and the reader's interests coalesce, it's not that difficult for the story to capture the reader's approval and simply coast forward on a wave of good will.

This being the case, I must applaud the skill with which Ron Carlson drew me in to his most recent novel, The Signal, against my natural inclinations. Before proceeding further, I need to list two of my prejudices: 1. I am not a backwoods camper, and I never will be. I enjoy an afternoon hike in the mountains as much as the next person, but I'll never willingly subject myself to freezing overnight temperatures, dismal hygiene, and the icky prospect of pooping in the woods, no matter how many s'mores are offered in the bargain. 2. I generally do not enjoy books with protagonists who would dislike me if they met me. Life is full of enough challenges. Why should I invite imagined disdain from fictional characters?

Carlson's most recent novel is a "man's man of a book" (not my original phrase -- almost every reviewer makes this observation) that captures the raw power and sweeping beauty of one of the last expanses of Western wilderness -- the remote, mountainous backcountry of Wyoming -- and ties that power and beauty directly to the emotional landscape and interpersonal chemistry of the novel's two main characters, Mack and Vonnie. Vonnie, a high school girl from Chapel Hill, meets Mack during a dude ranch trip to Wyoming. Mack, the ranch owner's son, personifies the Western wilderness mystique that Vonnie craves like a drug, and their mutual love of the wilderness and each other leads to an on-again off-again relationship that eventually culminates in marriage.

Things happen. Mack's parents die, bills mount up, poverty begins to nip at the heels of the young couple, and even their yearly romantic forays into the far backcountry can't save them from the effects of Mack's wounded pride, the grind of failure, and the introduction of methamphetamine to the locals. A jail term ensues for Mack, Vonnie leaves town, and Mack's last hope is based on Vonnie's promise to go on one more backpacking trip with him into the Wyoming wilderness upon his release from jail. The bulk of Carlson's novel is the tale of their ill-fated 6-day camping trip, the beauty and the evil they encounter, and the ways in which broken relationships can and can't be mended.

Carlson's spare and beautiful prose, together with his tight control of the novel's mounting suspense, pulled me in to a book that I had no business liking. I would never be attracted to Mack or Vonnie in real life, and I'm sure the feeling would be mutual. One evening of beers and cheese fries at the local tavern with those two and they'd give me up as a lost cause ("What a stiff little snit. Was she actually wearing makeup base?"). Nevertheless, Carlson's clear, spare language drew me into the purity of their mutual attraction with conviction. He made me experience and understand the basis of their love for each other in spite of the fact that I couldn't be more different that either one of them. Similarly, his sensory descriptions of Mack and Vonnie's camping experience -- the toothsome delight of a day-old doughnut when you're ravished with hunger, the throat-warming jolt of boiled coffee on a frosty morning, the feel of a cool breeze on sweat-drenched denim when a backpack is taken off -- had the ability to tempt a non-naturechild like me to speculate that Mack and Vonnie might indeed be on to something.

If you like stories filled with remote wilderness, survivalist suspense, and characters that radiate self-reliance and a love of rugged simplicity, you'll enjoy this book. If you don't, there's a reasonable chance you'll still enjoy this book, and that says a lot about Ron Carlson's skill as a writer.

Note: Carlson's interjection of a subplot involving a lost transponder (thus, "The Signal") felt a bit forced, but I still consider the book to be one of his best. ...more

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Apr 06, 2011 Keytrice Castro rated it it was amazing

Ron Carlson’s The Signal, published by Viking Penguin in 2009, is a captivating story of a picturesque cowboy, Mack, on his final fishing trip with his ex-wife, Vonnie. The two met while he was just a hand at his father’s ranch; by then he knew everything about the forests around him as if he lived in them—and he practically did. His earthly experience and her deep curiosity drew them together as each summer passed, and soon they were in love, making the best they could with what they had. As Ca Ron Carlson’s The Signal, published by Viking Penguin in 2009, is a captivating story of a picturesque cowboy, Mack, on his final fishing trip with his ex-wife, Vonnie. The two met while he was just a hand at his father’s ranch; by then he knew everything about the forests around him as if he lived in them—and he practically did. His earthly experience and her deep curiosity drew them together as each summer passed, and soon they were in love, making the best they could with what they had. As Carlson wrote, “…they were in love and poor and so fine, but then they wore out poor and they did some damage to love.” This leads Mack to engage in some questionable business arrangements to keep money flowing—only pushing Vonnie away, as he was no longer the honorable, hard-working cowboy his father raised long ago. His life becomes a series of bad decisions from there on, revealed throughout their tale on the last of their yearly camping trips out to Cold Creek, Wyoming.

And with the premise set, there are two aspects of The Signal that fully engages the reader: the level of complexity in the story, and the lingering role of Mack’s father. The Signal could have easily worked as a short (love) story between Mack and Vonnie, complete with the back story of how they met and the present narrative of their final trip together, but Carlson creates a brilliant piece by interlacing layers of trouble that burrows its way from his failing past into the now dangerous present. And those layers linking their naïve past with the complicated present is exactly where Mack’s father is woven in. After his death, Mack failed to realize just how akin he and his father were, a failure that in turn drove him to the troublesome life he subsequently led. Throughout the present part of the story, Mack remembers quotes from his father when he was growing up on the ranch—all of which were words of warning to steer him clear of the impending danger he was certainly aware of. Carlson wrote, “His father taught him not to make two troubles into three by hurrying,” and so whenever Mack’s plans go awry in the story, he reminds himself to slow down—the only advice from his father he decides to heed to.

My favorite aspect of The Signal is easily the dialogue, specifically between Mack and Vonnie. The book lends itself to be a real “man’s” book, complete with majestic imagery of Mack’s rugged lifestyle in the good ol’ outdoors, and the dialogue doesn’t fall short of that relatable manly touch. During “Day Two” of the book, Vonnie inquires about another woman Mack was seeing after they split, and went about it in all the stereotypical (and believable) ways. She begins the conversation at the most inappropriate moment, while he was peacefully cooking for her, and repeatedly calls the other woman “Trixie,” as if to jab at the phantom woman, whose name she knew was actually Trisha. She later takes verbal stabs at Mack by saying “Oh, what happened, big boy? Did you lie to her? …Liar. A lying liaristic lie-maker…Oh, when ten minutes ago? How does a liar stop lying? …Do they remove something?” Mack only musters out “Don’t” and “Vonnie” during her whole rant, but the temperament of the scene, along with the sarcasm, tension, cautiousness, and concern in their words to each other throughout the rest of the story are all too real. Carlson develops a genuine love, and just as authentically uses conflict to tear it apart, but without the pertinent dialogue, the story wouldn’t have felt as real as it did.

Carlson seemed to do everything right with The Signal, but the one point of contention I have with this story is the length—not quite a short story, but barely a novel. His phenomenal layering surely wouldn’t work with the length of a short story, but if he intended to get this involved with the story, I feel it should have, at the very least, surpassed 200 pages. Carlson seems to be a minimalist, but with a narrative so dense, more back story about his troublesome past could have been very useful in appreciating the present predicaments that also felt very rushed. Oh, the irony of rushing a story that very deliberately embedded the “slow, but steady” notion… ...more

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Feb 02, 2011 Jonathan rated it liked it

Published by Viking Adult, May 28 2009.
"The Signal" by Ron Carlson is a constant escapade of one man’s personal issues in relation to his life and the people revolved around him. The book consistently represents different problems, whether past or present, which build upon each other to create a conclusive and suspenseful ending. Carlson’s descriptive writing brings out the setting and provides fruitful explanations of nature and the freedom from civilization while camping in the forests.
The Published by Viking Adult, May 28 2009.
"The Signal" by Ron Carlson is a constant escapade of one man’s personal issues in relation to his life and the people revolved around him. The book consistently represents different problems, whether past or present, which build upon each other to create a conclusive and suspenseful ending. Carlson’s descriptive writing brings out the setting and provides fruitful explanations of nature and the freedom from civilization while camping in the forests.
The story is written as alternating sequences between the main character, Mack, and his various amount of problems in his past, starting with the death of his father. Mack and his ex-wife are camping in the forest for the last time to conclude a decade of once-a-year camping trips. This last camping trip brings out past events and reasons behind why they are divorced and how Mack is slowly but surely regrouping himself. Throughout the story the reader is constantly guessing whether there is still a spark between the former lovers, but Mack’s ex-wife, Vonnie, has a new man and just wants closure with Mack with a last camping trip. Mack’s past problems described in the book aren’t only with Vonnie, but with his failing ranch, drinking problems, complications with the law, and schemes with devious, unlawful human beings. The issues associated with Mack, all come together at the end of the story to create a thrilling result of issues between multitudes of people and resolve his constant problems.
"The Signal" can be confusing at times because the stories associated with Mack’s past are unfamiliar to the reader and they get explained after they’re told further down the novel. The past stories are also unexpected and have no designation as to whether time or setting changed as the novel continues. The author also fails to specify which character is speaking most of the time, which can mix up the reader as to who’s talking. This constant switch and failure to specification sometimes makes the book choppy and it doesn’t help the writing flow continuously.
Although the conversations between characters can be a weak point, The Signal has its strong points related to setting and story. The setting is the most emphasized aspect of Ron Carlson’s writing and it is strongly enforced throughout the whole book. His metaphors used to describe nature bring out a clear picture in the reader’s mind. The Signal is so full of imagery and description that the reader can feel the freedom and space associated with forests and woodlands. This strong sense of description and picture completely separates the reader from Mack’s problems and helps focus entirely on setting alone. It forces the reader to divulge into the thought of nature and freedom from problems or rules associated with life. The story itself is very interesting because it starts with one problem and builds into many problems as Mack gets older. The reader wants to learn how Mack got intertwined with certain people and how he was able to escape the tangles of bad choices.
"The Signal" was an interesting book with excellent factors associated with setting and plot. However, the flow of the story can be misinterpreted at times and can mix up the reader with the constant change and no inclination as to when or why.
...more

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About Ron Carlson

Ron Carlson

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Ron Carlson is an American novelist and writer of short stories.

Carlson was born in Logan, Utah, but grew up in Salt Lake City. He earned a masters degree in English from the University of Utah. He then taught at The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut where he started his first novel.

He became a professor of English at Arizona State University in 1985, teaching creative writing to undergraduates and ...more