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Singer Distance
For fans of Station Eleven and Light from Other Stars, Ethan Chatagnier’s propulsive, genre-bending debut novel asks: What happens when we discover intelligent life just next door? And what does it really mean to know we’re not alone in the universe?
The odds of the planet next door hosting intelligent life are―that’s not luck. That’s a miracle. It means something.
In December 1960, Crystal Singer, her boyfriend Rick, and three other MIT grad students take a cross-country road trip from Boston to Arizona to paint a message in the desert. Mars has been silent for thirty years, since the last time Earth solved one of the mathematical proofs the Martian civilization carved onto its surface. The latest proof, which seems to assert contradictory truths about distance, has resisted human understanding for decades. Crystal thinks she’s solved it, and Rick is intent on putting her answer to the test―if he can keep her from cracking under the pressure on the way. But Crystal’s disappearance after the experiment will set him on a different path than he expected, forever changing the distance between them.
Filled with mystery and wonder, Ethan Chatagnier’s Singer Distance is a novel about ambition, loneliness, exploration, and love―about how far we’re willing to go to communicate with a distant civilization, and the great lengths we’ll travel to connect with each other here on Earth.
The odds of the planet next door hosting intelligent life are―that’s not luck. That’s a miracle. It means something.
In December 1960, Crystal Singer, her boyfriend Rick, and three other MIT grad students take a cross-country road trip from Boston to Arizona to paint a message in the desert. Mars has been silent for thirty years, since the last time Earth solved one of the mathematical proofs the Martian civilization carved onto its surface. The latest proof, which seems to assert contradictory truths about distance, has resisted human understanding for decades. Crystal thinks she’s solved it, and Rick is intent on putting her answer to the test―if he can keep her from cracking under the pressure on the way. But Crystal’s disappearance after the experiment will set him on a different path than he expected, forever changing the distance between them.
Filled with mystery and wonder, Ethan Chatagnier’s Singer Distance is a novel about ambition, loneliness, exploration, and love―about how far we’re willing to go to communicate with a distant civilization, and the great lengths we’ll travel to connect with each other here on Earth.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 2022
63 people are currently reading
3446 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 291 reviews
November 2, 2022
In lieu of my usual review style, here's the crazed list of notes I wrote on a white board while reading this book:
- what a WRITER. Plot progresses forward as he comments on certain aspects of the human condition. He multitasks in a way I have never seen done so efficiently before
- emotion of curiosity in a book
- anecdotal. I feel like he writes a bunch of short stories (in the sense that he gives them all much attention to communicating in metaphor) & somehow melds them together (pg. 102 proved me right)
- like reading the script of someone's dream
- he writes little lines that each deserve their own beginning of "Keep calm and..."
- still a cohesive story though
- fluid. Reading this feels like being carried down the stream's current
- some of the characters lack the same depth as the others have
- very academic. Treats them as regular people rather than scholars (the foil to The Secret History)
- feels like all the best parts of university
- I love the way he writes love
- science is written with the same respect & dignity as poetry
- NO WAYYYYY
- I'm crying
- if this book were a song I think it'd be "Satellite" by Harry Styles
- what a WRITER. Plot progresses forward as he comments on certain aspects of the human condition. He multitasks in a way I have never seen done so efficiently before
- emotion of curiosity in a book
- anecdotal. I feel like he writes a bunch of short stories (in the sense that he gives them all much attention to communicating in metaphor) & somehow melds them together (pg. 102 proved me right)
- like reading the script of someone's dream
- he writes little lines that each deserve their own beginning of "Keep calm and..."
- still a cohesive story though
- fluid. Reading this feels like being carried down the stream's current
- some of the characters lack the same depth as the others have
- very academic. Treats them as regular people rather than scholars (the foil to The Secret History)
- feels like all the best parts of university
- I love the way he writes love
- science is written with the same respect & dignity as poetry
- NO WAYYYYY
- I'm crying
- if this book were a song I think it'd be "Satellite" by Harry Styles
December 31, 2022
Stand out read for the year. Smart and intriguing with a thread of mystery, Mars, math, music, mania and love 💛
“The idea is that we—we, us—don’t see what’s true because we’re looking at a three-dimensional object in two dimensions. Our whole species has the bad habit of looking at one aspect of a thing and thinking that’s all the thing is. It’s not that there’s anything we can’t know. We just don’t know anything, unless we look more carefully. We’re not content to see things fully.”
“The idea is that we—we, us—don’t see what’s true because we’re looking at a three-dimensional object in two dimensions. Our whole species has the bad habit of looking at one aspect of a thing and thinking that’s all the thing is. It’s not that there’s anything we can’t know. We just don’t know anything, unless we look more carefully. We’re not content to see things fully.”
August 17, 2022
In many ways, this novel was not what I expected. Set in an alternative history where Martians and Earth communicate through the universal language of math, I expected something more fantastical and sci-fish. No, the novel revealed itself to be even better, delving into the mysteries of the human heart and brain, a story of love and its persistence across time and space.
For centuries scientists had been baffled about lines on Mars, theorizing a lost civilization who had left irrigation canals etched on the surface of the planet. In 1894, an astronomer carved three parallel lines into the desert. And the next time Mars was opposite the Earth, astronomers were stunned to see four parallel lines etched on the surface of Mars. Communication between Mars and Earth posed mathematical problems, until Earth’s scientists were unable to formulate an answer to one and Mars went silent.
Crystal Singer is an expert on the Curious Language and believes she has found the answer to Mars’ last communication. In 1960, Crystal and her boyfriend Rick and three other MIT Phd students drive across the country to the desert to set up an answer.
Success has it’s negative side. Crystal progressively retreats into her obsession to answer the latest communication from Mars that suggests distance was a construct. Her equation for calculating “true distance” between objects was called Singer Distance. Her letters to Rick become more sporadic and she never leaves a trace of how to find her. Finally, she just disappeared.
Rick never moves on. Thirteen years later, Rick learns that Crystal has a daughter—his daughter—and Crystal’s sister can no longer care for her. As scientists prepare another answer for Mars, Rick and his daughter travel cross-country searching for people who might know how to find Crystal. Then, Rick realizes that Crystal may have already given him the answers they sought.
Singer Distance is a beautiful story of how love negates distance. It is a story of loss and of of hope, of being alone and seeking to bridge the gaps between us. It’s a beautiful, wondrous read.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
For centuries scientists had been baffled about lines on Mars, theorizing a lost civilization who had left irrigation canals etched on the surface of the planet. In 1894, an astronomer carved three parallel lines into the desert. And the next time Mars was opposite the Earth, astronomers were stunned to see four parallel lines etched on the surface of Mars. Communication between Mars and Earth posed mathematical problems, until Earth’s scientists were unable to formulate an answer to one and Mars went silent.
Crystal Singer is an expert on the Curious Language and believes she has found the answer to Mars’ last communication. In 1960, Crystal and her boyfriend Rick and three other MIT Phd students drive across the country to the desert to set up an answer.
Success has it’s negative side. Crystal progressively retreats into her obsession to answer the latest communication from Mars that suggests distance was a construct. Her equation for calculating “true distance” between objects was called Singer Distance. Her letters to Rick become more sporadic and she never leaves a trace of how to find her. Finally, she just disappeared.
Rick never moves on. Thirteen years later, Rick learns that Crystal has a daughter—his daughter—and Crystal’s sister can no longer care for her. As scientists prepare another answer for Mars, Rick and his daughter travel cross-country searching for people who might know how to find Crystal. Then, Rick realizes that Crystal may have already given him the answers they sought.
Singer Distance is a beautiful story of how love negates distance. It is a story of loss and of of hope, of being alone and seeking to bridge the gaps between us. It’s a beautiful, wondrous read.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
December 10, 2022
Singer Distance is a quirky little book set in an alternate history in which humans communicate with Martians via math equations mapped out in deserts and farmlands for the other planet to see. Other than this premise, I'd call the book contemporary/historical fiction rather than sci fi.
I have mixed thoughts on this one.
🔭Great concept, and I liked how it didn't try to fit in a box of a specific genre
🔭The prose was lovely
🔭This is a character driven book, and I found the main characters (Rick and Crystal) to be wildly unlikable. I think you were at least supposed to sympathize with them, but they mainly drove me bananas.
🔭Yes they're "flawed" or whatever but there's no growth or character arc: they both bumble through life, refusing to change or improve upon themselves or become accountable for their actions (I'm Team Angie in this book)
🔭 The 12 year old in the book speaks and acts like an adult. No "mature" 12 year old acts like this! Or maybe I don't spend enough time with kids to make this assessment but it still felt like some odd choices were made here
Overall, I didn't dislike it, but it wasn't quite there for me either, but it was nice to read something different, and while this didn't hit the mark, I'd still try this author again, sometime. 3⭐️⭐️⭐️
I have mixed thoughts on this one.
🔭Great concept, and I liked how it didn't try to fit in a box of a specific genre
🔭The prose was lovely
🔭This is a character driven book, and I found the main characters (Rick and Crystal) to be wildly unlikable. I think you were at least supposed to sympathize with them, but they mainly drove me bananas.
🔭Yes they're "flawed" or whatever but there's no growth or character arc: they both bumble through life, refusing to change or improve upon themselves or become accountable for their actions (I'm Team Angie in this book)
🔭 The 12 year old in the book speaks and acts like an adult. No "mature" 12 year old acts like this! Or maybe I don't spend enough time with kids to make this assessment but it still felt like some odd choices were made here
Overall, I didn't dislike it, but it wasn't quite there for me either, but it was nice to read something different, and while this didn't hit the mark, I'd still try this author again, sometime. 3⭐️⭐️⭐️
August 8, 2022
A strange and wonderful speculative fiction story about the world if we had already communicated with Martians.
In 1960, a group of MIT grad students, including Crystal Singer, her boyfriend Rick take a cross country road trip to communicate with Mars. By this time, it's well known that the martians communicate through math formulas, and only reciprocate when a formula is solved. Sometimes it is many years before the math of humans catches up to Mars. In this case, Crystal thinks she has solved the 30 year old unanswered proof and the group is on their way to paint in the desert. When Crystal turns up missing however, Rick finds himself caught in a long journey of love and loneliness.
This is a beautiful and wondrous novel and will captivate anyone looking for a speculative fiction story depicting the connection of love. #SingerDistance #TinHouse #EthanCHatagnier
In 1960, a group of MIT grad students, including Crystal Singer, her boyfriend Rick take a cross country road trip to communicate with Mars. By this time, it's well known that the martians communicate through math formulas, and only reciprocate when a formula is solved. Sometimes it is many years before the math of humans catches up to Mars. In this case, Crystal thinks she has solved the 30 year old unanswered proof and the group is on their way to paint in the desert. When Crystal turns up missing however, Rick finds himself caught in a long journey of love and loneliness.
This is a beautiful and wondrous novel and will captivate anyone looking for a speculative fiction story depicting the connection of love. #SingerDistance #TinHouse #EthanCHatagnier
December 6, 2022
Not quite for me—the plot didn’t grab me—but the prose is pretty damn good. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy.
January 1, 2023
Ruined my life, so 5/5
I will admit right off the bat that there's much about this novel that's messy, including but not limited to some inconsistent pacing and the fact that your satisfaction in where it all leads depends heavily on what threads you had invested yourself in. But messiness to me is essentially a vital component of great sci-fi, and great writing in general. And this does something else that I consider a delightful quality for sci-fi to have: On the surface it's about something concrete, surrounded by math and science and what can be explained, but in reality this is a novel about something more abstract and emotional, something so deeply human that it's painful to think that another civilization elsewhere in the universe is struggling with the same fundamental constructs of interaction. Perhaps we wish that these things could be explained through the concrete, through mathematical formulas - the distances between us are infinite yet infinitesimal. It's almost a spiritual notion, yet it's the kind of thing that even the most secular among us would find themselves pondering.
I immediately noted that this novel begins with a quote by Yiyun Li: "What a long way it is from one life another, yet why write if not for that distance" (from Li's highly resonant book of memoirs Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life). Quoting Yiyun Li is an effective way to get on my good side, making it almost unfair to invoke her name in the first pages of the book, but it also leads to certain expectations as far as the emotional contents of the novel, so upon reading this quote I was unsure of whether her name was being invoked simply to create an illusion of what was to come, or whether it was a promise. And honestly I think that quote was ultimately lived up to by the novel itself, and strikingly in tune with the novel's own themes.
I don't cry very often at books (or movies, or at all) but this one really hurt me. I read it in a few sittings, and the further I got into it the more urgency I felt to get to the end because I knew that the novel would be hanging over me like a cloud in my daily life, a bubble of emotion waiting to burst and rain over me. I needed it to pop sooner rather than later, but I also didn't want to rush it, as I knew that this would end up being a novel from which the emotionality sticks with me for a long time to come, including the disconnected emotions of my life surrounding it. So much of what this novel emotionally considers is what I find occupying my mind often, or perhaps those are just the things I picked up on because I'm always thinking about them. Some things are very clear, though, such as how someone who is gone but not dead can feel like a ghost nonetheless, how a house can feel haunted by memories, how landmarks of the past can feel very much like graves even if all those involved are still alive (there's a moment in the novel where Rick imagines Crystal's father leaving flowers at a site that reminds him of her. She's not dead, and yet it feels proper to pay remembrance to someone who has fallen out of view). These are ideas that embed themselves in so much of my own writing.
In any event, I clearly have a soft spot for sci-fi and I won't try too hard to justify that. But this resonated with me quite a bit. So much sadness builds up, and in a way that manifests as desperation to the degree that if these events were happening in real life it wouldn't really feel right. But as far as sentimental and romantic (which I mean in the idealistic side of the definition, not the love side, although I guess neither is actually a perfect fit for what I mean. Look, I get to make up what words mean now. Good luck figuring out what I mean) sci-fi goes, it's all absolutely worth it.
Also, very fitting that the blurb on the front cover is attributed to Erika Swyler, author of Light from Other Stars, as this novel very much exists in the same realm of sci-fi as hers. It's a good realm to be in.
Thank you to W. W. Norton & Company and Netgalley for the eARC
I will admit right off the bat that there's much about this novel that's messy, including but not limited to some inconsistent pacing and the fact that your satisfaction in where it all leads depends heavily on what threads you had invested yourself in. But messiness to me is essentially a vital component of great sci-fi, and great writing in general. And this does something else that I consider a delightful quality for sci-fi to have: On the surface it's about something concrete, surrounded by math and science and what can be explained, but in reality this is a novel about something more abstract and emotional, something so deeply human that it's painful to think that another civilization elsewhere in the universe is struggling with the same fundamental constructs of interaction. Perhaps we wish that these things could be explained through the concrete, through mathematical formulas - the distances between us are infinite yet infinitesimal. It's almost a spiritual notion, yet it's the kind of thing that even the most secular among us would find themselves pondering.
I immediately noted that this novel begins with a quote by Yiyun Li: "What a long way it is from one life another, yet why write if not for that distance" (from Li's highly resonant book of memoirs Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life). Quoting Yiyun Li is an effective way to get on my good side, making it almost unfair to invoke her name in the first pages of the book, but it also leads to certain expectations as far as the emotional contents of the novel, so upon reading this quote I was unsure of whether her name was being invoked simply to create an illusion of what was to come, or whether it was a promise. And honestly I think that quote was ultimately lived up to by the novel itself, and strikingly in tune with the novel's own themes.
I don't cry very often at books (or movies, or at all) but this one really hurt me. I read it in a few sittings, and the further I got into it the more urgency I felt to get to the end because I knew that the novel would be hanging over me like a cloud in my daily life, a bubble of emotion waiting to burst and rain over me. I needed it to pop sooner rather than later, but I also didn't want to rush it, as I knew that this would end up being a novel from which the emotionality sticks with me for a long time to come, including the disconnected emotions of my life surrounding it. So much of what this novel emotionally considers is what I find occupying my mind often, or perhaps those are just the things I picked up on because I'm always thinking about them. Some things are very clear, though, such as how someone who is gone but not dead can feel like a ghost nonetheless, how a house can feel haunted by memories, how landmarks of the past can feel very much like graves even if all those involved are still alive (there's a moment in the novel where Rick imagines Crystal's father leaving flowers at a site that reminds him of her. She's not dead, and yet it feels proper to pay remembrance to someone who has fallen out of view). These are ideas that embed themselves in so much of my own writing.
In any event, I clearly have a soft spot for sci-fi and I won't try too hard to justify that. But this resonated with me quite a bit. So much sadness builds up, and in a way that manifests as desperation to the degree that if these events were happening in real life it wouldn't really feel right. But as far as sentimental and romantic (which I mean in the idealistic side of the definition, not the love side, although I guess neither is actually a perfect fit for what I mean. Look, I get to make up what words mean now. Good luck figuring out what I mean) sci-fi goes, it's all absolutely worth it.
Also, very fitting that the blurb on the front cover is attributed to Erika Swyler, author of Light from Other Stars, as this novel very much exists in the same realm of sci-fi as hers. It's a good realm to be in.
Thank you to W. W. Norton & Company and Netgalley for the eARC
November 16, 2025
This is not a book about communicating with Mars. It is a book about an asshole.
December 8, 2024
4.5 stars
Set in an alternate history where Martians have been part of Earth's history since the late 19th century, Singer Distance opens in December 1960. Rick Hayworth, an MIT grad student, embarks on a cross-country road trip with his fellow students, headed to the Arizona desert and a potential legacy. This world has seen decades of mathematical communication between Earth and Mars, but Mars has fallen silent for 30 years, after stumping humans with its most recent mathematical quiz. Crystal Singer, Rick's girlfriend, believes she may have the answer to the Martians' latest puzzles.
Ethan Chatagnier's Singer Distance is a wonderfully immersive mixture of literary prose and speculative fiction wonderment.
However, Singer Distance was a tad slow to engage at the start, laden with choppy little sentences. This seems to be a trend lately with shorter novels, as though they aren't beholden to the correct pacing standards, almost sneering at convention and willing to sacrifice some readers for it. It's probably a trend the literary world is due, as it reminds me of the movement away from convention that came in middle of the previous century. Chatagnier's narrative is bossy at first, asking very little from the reader other than to be a passive, avid listener.
But as the story continues, the narrative calms down and opens up. The sentences grow and do a lot of heavy lifting for the characters, the story arc, and the overall themes — of which there are many. With flashbacks, Chatagnier plays with moments in Rick's childhood, his relationships with his father, mother, and the admiration he had for a once-famous philosophizing mathematician Lucas Holladay who thought he had determined the correct answer for that seemingly unsolvable Martian proof. With a tenderness that charms through Rick, Chatagnier shows the reader all the little moments in Rick's life that shaped who he became and how he was able to apply these experiences to his life later on.
The book reads like a journey of its own. With its slow start, meandering a bit around curves, dimming some with night driving, but brilliantly lighting up with a sunrise, lingering on sunsets, and patiently waiting in the distance between. Interestingly, much of this book is a road trip story. As if the book itself is Mars patiently waiting on us to catch up, and we in turn are staring to the sky, waiting for a celestial event.
So close and yet so far away, Singer Distance explores the infinite distance between people and the sacrifice of knowledge and understanding alongside the cost of genius.
"We had nothing but an idea that might be crazy, and it was a delicious feeling, being unsure if our own greatness was a secret or a myth."
Set in an alternate history where Martians have been part of Earth's history since the late 19th century, Singer Distance opens in December 1960. Rick Hayworth, an MIT grad student, embarks on a cross-country road trip with his fellow students, headed to the Arizona desert and a potential legacy. This world has seen decades of mathematical communication between Earth and Mars, but Mars has fallen silent for 30 years, after stumping humans with its most recent mathematical quiz. Crystal Singer, Rick's girlfriend, believes she may have the answer to the Martians' latest puzzles.
Ethan Chatagnier's Singer Distance is a wonderfully immersive mixture of literary prose and speculative fiction wonderment.
However, Singer Distance was a tad slow to engage at the start, laden with choppy little sentences. This seems to be a trend lately with shorter novels, as though they aren't beholden to the correct pacing standards, almost sneering at convention and willing to sacrifice some readers for it. It's probably a trend the literary world is due, as it reminds me of the movement away from convention that came in middle of the previous century. Chatagnier's narrative is bossy at first, asking very little from the reader other than to be a passive, avid listener.
But as the story continues, the narrative calms down and opens up. The sentences grow and do a lot of heavy lifting for the characters, the story arc, and the overall themes — of which there are many. With flashbacks, Chatagnier plays with moments in Rick's childhood, his relationships with his father, mother, and the admiration he had for a once-famous philosophizing mathematician Lucas Holladay who thought he had determined the correct answer for that seemingly unsolvable Martian proof. With a tenderness that charms through Rick, Chatagnier shows the reader all the little moments in Rick's life that shaped who he became and how he was able to apply these experiences to his life later on.
The book reads like a journey of its own. With its slow start, meandering a bit around curves, dimming some with night driving, but brilliantly lighting up with a sunrise, lingering on sunsets, and patiently waiting in the distance between. Interestingly, much of this book is a road trip story. As if the book itself is Mars patiently waiting on us to catch up, and we in turn are staring to the sky, waiting for a celestial event.
So close and yet so far away, Singer Distance explores the infinite distance between people and the sacrifice of knowledge and understanding alongside the cost of genius.
October 31, 2022
An excellent quick read, and a unique take on a scifi story. I've been frustrated a lot lately because while I obviously haven't read EVERY book, I've read enough of most genres that I get bored by a lot of books. "Oh, this is Genre A, subsection B, and the story is just going to be fill-in-the-blanks." Not this one. The closest comparison I could get is the movie Arrival. Not your typical first contact novel (just the fact it starts in the 1950s and creates an alternate universe where "Yeah, we talk to Mars sometimes...." is unique enough to set it apart). And like all good scifi, it all boils down to the humans dealing with it all.
Really enjoyable, and I look forward to re-reading it again at some point.
Really enjoyable, and I look forward to re-reading it again at some point.
October 25, 2022
Hay matemáticas, hay física, hay comunicación y falta de ella, unos personajes que se salen, amor, abandono, nostalgia, obsesión y misterio. Es ciencia ficción de la mejor, road movie, love story y está muy bien escrita. Un novelón.
June 12, 2022
Wow! With Singer Distance, author Ethan Chatagnier transported me right back to the first time I read Carl Sagan’s Contact as a teenager, hitting me with the one-two punch of immersive science fiction and earthly drama. Just like my teenage days, I also stayed up well into the night to finish this book in one sitting.
This is a mashup of literary fiction and science fiction, equal parts communicating with another species and with our own friends and family. There are jumps in genre, but the balance is just enough that I would urge those who enjoy either genre to give this staggering, heartbreaking worth a chance.
Singer Distance deserves a place on your shelf: it’s got a beautiful cover, it’s a standalone, and it’s something you could reread and lend almost without hesitation (few minor content warnings below). I can’t wait to see what Chatagnier writes next.
My thanks to Ethan Chatagnier, Tin House, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content warnings:
This is a mashup of literary fiction and science fiction, equal parts communicating with another species and with our own friends and family. There are jumps in genre, but the balance is just enough that I would urge those who enjoy either genre to give this staggering, heartbreaking worth a chance.
Singer Distance deserves a place on your shelf: it’s got a beautiful cover, it’s a standalone, and it’s something you could reread and lend almost without hesitation (few minor content warnings below). I can’t wait to see what Chatagnier writes next.
My thanks to Ethan Chatagnier, Tin House, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content warnings:
October 28, 2023
Carl Sagan, Contact, Spin, "Gödel, Escher, Bach"...
Beaucoup d'influences qui me parlent énormément, et qui pourtant ne sont rien face à l'histoire humaine de ce texte qui écrase tout le reste. J'ai fini dévasté.
Dommage de ne pas avoir gardé le titre original qui était infiniment plus parlant.
Beaucoup d'influences qui me parlent énormément, et qui pourtant ne sont rien face à l'histoire humaine de ce texte qui écrase tout le reste. J'ai fini dévasté.
Dommage de ne pas avoir gardé le titre original qui était infiniment plus parlant.
March 6, 2024
Une très belle histoire qui parle de l'amour, de la distance, des mathématiques, de la famille et de l'astronomie, et mélange tous ces thèmes avec brio. L'écriture est sublime et la fin touchante. Une agréable lecture qui fait changement.
February 11, 2023
Everything about this book annoyed me. The writing was so clunky. The idea of an alternate reality where Mars communicates with us is pretty interesting of course, but this books comes up with the most boring possible outcome. It really bothered me that NOTHING else in history was changed by the fact that aliens on mars talked to us in the 1800s or whenever. We still had the exact same space race…….. to the moon!! THE APPOLO 1 DISASTER EVEN HAPPENED EXACTLY THE SAME!! Really?? Wow what a fascinating alternate universe.
If Mars is talking to us and complicated, mind boggling ideas and theories are being passed around and worked on by the entire human race, you know what I really want to hear about? Some asshole’s daddy issues.
I can’t even list all the things that bothered me. Characters, descriptions, a 12 year old girl unlike any human preteen I’ve ever met, the worst romance ever, tedious road trips and logistical planning… NONE OF IT WAS GOOD. IT WAS BAD. ALL BAD!!!! I have so many questions… so many Whys. Not that I care what the answers are anyway. I should be asking myself why I continued to read the entire book until the end!!??
If Mars is talking to us and complicated, mind boggling ideas and theories are being passed around and worked on by the entire human race, you know what I really want to hear about? Some asshole’s daddy issues.
I can’t even list all the things that bothered me. Characters, descriptions, a 12 year old girl unlike any human preteen I’ve ever met, the worst romance ever, tedious road trips and logistical planning… NONE OF IT WAS GOOD. IT WAS BAD. ALL BAD!!!! I have so many questions… so many Whys. Not that I care what the answers are anyway. I should be asking myself why I continued to read the entire book until the end!!??
December 16, 2022
I read 80% of this book before finally accepting that there was no ‘there’ there and skimmed to the end. There were elements of the book I did like, mainly the narrator/protagonist, Rick. His modesty, kindness and melancholy felt authentic to me, and his voice made the slow pacing bearable. Crystal was also ‘real’ to me, although less than Rick.
March 2, 2023
justice for angie
December 19, 2022
Stolen library books get 5 stars and hopefully another purchase from SPPL. Either way, was enjoying this outing from a fellow Fresnan/SFHC alumni.
February 21, 2023
I said in a status update while reading Singer Distance that it was giving me Contact vibes, and that's true. The homespun science and grungy academic feel of the book, along with a group of characters working towards contacting aliens does give me the same feelings I get watching that movie (I have the book and I really need to finally read it!), but Singer Distance also has its own unique feel.
This is an alternate history where back in the late 1800s, scientists spotted a message in Mars and began communicating back, with Mars setting mathematical problems for humans to solve, presumably as tests of intelligence, and the scientific community makes it all the way to the 1930s until they are completely stumped.
Set in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, our main character is Rick, one of the group of graduate students who reached out to the Martians and solved their latest challenge, one that had been puzzling the top mathematical minds for over three decades. His girlfriend, Crystal Singer (a mathematics prodigy and genius) is the one that did the actual solving, and their success catapults all of them to instant global fame, something Crystal doesn't handle well. Since this is literary science fiction, it's harder to put into words the tone of the book and the themes its tackling, but the emphasis here isn't one your usual science fiction book would take. Though the aliens are a motivating presence in the book, most of the science and math that's present feels very grounded and real, even when it starts taking a turn to the speculative.
This was a short read in terms of page length, and in reading time. I found it really compelling and hard to put down. I would absolutely love to see it as a movie, and I hope more people read it, as right now the number of ratings on Goodreads is pretty low.
This is an alternate history where back in the late 1800s, scientists spotted a message in Mars and began communicating back, with Mars setting mathematical problems for humans to solve, presumably as tests of intelligence, and the scientific community makes it all the way to the 1930s until they are completely stumped.
Set in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, our main character is Rick, one of the group of graduate students who reached out to the Martians and solved their latest challenge, one that had been puzzling the top mathematical minds for over three decades. His girlfriend, Crystal Singer (a mathematics prodigy and genius) is the one that did the actual solving, and their success catapults all of them to instant global fame, something Crystal doesn't handle well. Since this is literary science fiction, it's harder to put into words the tone of the book and the themes its tackling, but the emphasis here isn't one your usual science fiction book would take. Though the aliens are a motivating presence in the book, most of the science and math that's present feels very grounded and real, even when it starts taking a turn to the speculative.
This was a short read in terms of page length, and in reading time. I found it really compelling and hard to put down. I would absolutely love to see it as a movie, and I hope more people read it, as right now the number of ratings on Goodreads is pretty low.
November 7, 2022
A strange, melancholic dissertation on loneliness, obsession, and the unknown. Five friends, mathematics graduate students, solve the biggest mystery the Earth has known and then go their separate ways. The book follows the next 13 years of the life of Rick, and his longing for Crystal Singer, the true visionary and his girlfriend at the time of their initial desert excursion.
Crystal is heart of the book, even though we see her quest and obsessiveness only in flashes. The reasons she has beguiled Rick are apparent and even though her journey leads her to be, frankly, awful to those she loves, the stakes feel large enough that is feels earned if not entirely forgivable.
The book marries elements of Equilateral and Story of Your Life into a book that is as beautiful and tragic as those.
Crystal is heart of the book, even though we see her quest and obsessiveness only in flashes. The reasons she has beguiled Rick are apparent and even though her journey leads her to be, frankly, awful to those she loves, the stakes feel large enough that is feels earned if not entirely forgivable.
The book marries elements of Equilateral and Story of Your Life into a book that is as beautiful and tragic as those.
August 24, 2023
Ethan Chatagnier has given us a smart, interesting literary sci-fi debut novel, Singer Distance. There are two distinct story lines and readers will likely be more invested in one or the other but both are compelling. First we have a story about finding out that there is intelligent life on Mars and the resulting quest to develop and implement a method of communication. This is where the title comes from. For hard core sci-fi fans be aware that there are no alien space ships or little martians running around. The second story line is the tale as old as time: boy falls in love with a girl unable to reciprocate and eventually she is gone. As is usually the case, distance and time do nothing to diminish his love. I thoroughly enjoyed taking the journey that the author so intelligently and lovingly laid out. I expect good things from Ethan Chatagnier in the future.
I received a drc from the publisher via Netgalley.
I received a drc from the publisher via Netgalley.
August 30, 2022
Absolutely gorgeous! I was beyond giddy to receive an advance copy of this book, because I've been wanting to read it since I heard about it. A gorgeous novel of ideas that is also character driven, it uses alternate history, interplanetary communications, math, and physics to think about what holds people together and drives them away from each other, all in finely honed prose. For fans of Sequoia Nagamatsu and Emily St. John Mandel.
February 13, 2023
"Do you ever feel alone in the universe?"
Ethan Chatagnier's Singer Distance is a sci-fi odyssey about connection, hope and faith, which somehow manages to reach the stars while remaining beautifully grounded.
Rick is deeply in love with the brilliant, passionate Crystal; both are headed across the country with their fellow MIT students to attempt communication with Mars by carving messages into the Earth's surface. The pressure is getting to Crystal, and after the team's successful completion of their mission, she disappears with minimal, sporadic communication. Rick suddenly loses the sun around which his orbit depends, and though lost, he never gives up hope he will find Crystal again. That's all I'll say as not to spoil anything else 😁
Truthfully I have not read much science fiction but as I mentioned what I appreciated about Singer Distance, was that not only was it beautifully written, but Chatagnier expertly managed to make the world of the characters seem both vast and intimate; impossible yet completely real.
Chatagnier takes an idea most of us are familiar and fascinated with (the possibility of life on other planets), and makes it the backdrop for a story of the complicated connections we have with one another here on Earth. Through a bit of revisionist history, he uses small changes in our interplanetary history to tell this story.
The work in Singer Distance is based on science/reality, which is hard for even some of the characters to fully comprehend. At times, I found the science and theories to really slow the reading for me; I appreciated the details but I found myself having to reread the portions that detailed these theories. This slows the book a bit at times but also gives the book ground to stand on.
But what I took away was that maybe it's less about a complete understanding, and more about faith in those you love, in connection, in a united cause, in something bigger than ourselves. While we may not always fully understand the science or the reasoning, it's our faith that keeps us going.
Ethan Chatagnier's Singer Distance is a sci-fi odyssey about connection, hope and faith, which somehow manages to reach the stars while remaining beautifully grounded.
Rick is deeply in love with the brilliant, passionate Crystal; both are headed across the country with their fellow MIT students to attempt communication with Mars by carving messages into the Earth's surface. The pressure is getting to Crystal, and after the team's successful completion of their mission, she disappears with minimal, sporadic communication. Rick suddenly loses the sun around which his orbit depends, and though lost, he never gives up hope he will find Crystal again. That's all I'll say as not to spoil anything else 😁
Truthfully I have not read much science fiction but as I mentioned what I appreciated about Singer Distance, was that not only was it beautifully written, but Chatagnier expertly managed to make the world of the characters seem both vast and intimate; impossible yet completely real.
Chatagnier takes an idea most of us are familiar and fascinated with (the possibility of life on other planets), and makes it the backdrop for a story of the complicated connections we have with one another here on Earth. Through a bit of revisionist history, he uses small changes in our interplanetary history to tell this story.
The work in Singer Distance is based on science/reality, which is hard for even some of the characters to fully comprehend. At times, I found the science and theories to really slow the reading for me; I appreciated the details but I found myself having to reread the portions that detailed these theories. This slows the book a bit at times but also gives the book ground to stand on.
But what I took away was that maybe it's less about a complete understanding, and more about faith in those you love, in connection, in a united cause, in something bigger than ourselves. While we may not always fully understand the science or the reasoning, it's our faith that keeps us going.
March 18, 2023
A great read. I loved the idea of Mars communication - sending us math problems and our replies. I loved the realistic frenzy they described but then also the frustration at the escalation and the inability to answer quickly. But really, I loved getting to know the characters. I loved wondering about how this would play out and discussing it with my husband and kid while I read. It was a great way to imagine how it would all play out. I loved the twist and the reality of getting to know each other so late in the game. I loved the car trip and the journey to try to understand how a father and son relationship went so wrong. There were so many good things about this story - about love, relationships, faith in each someone and the drive to hold on. It was all so well done, I will definitely look for more from this author! I loved this one.
November 1, 2022
Meh. I thought this would deal more with inter-planetary communication. But lacking that, it really didn't even do well at interpersonal communication.
June 21, 2023
I wanted Martians and cool space mysteries, not daddy issues and 288 pages of whining.
January 19, 2024
It’s hard to write down everything I liked and disliked about this book. A longing for love fueled the plot of the story while we ached for more answers from Mars. A story of obsession, anger, frustration, and hopeless optimism attempts to satisfy us with an ending that leaves too many questions unanswered. While I enjoyed reading through this book, I closed the pages with confusion. While the ending was not everything I was expecting, it seemed lack luster compared to the story building throughout part 1 and part 2. Overall rating is a 3. A well written piece with a few too many holes leaving me with too much freedom to speculate.
January 12, 2024
Absolutely love the premise of this book and I wish I could read it again for the first time! There's so much to think about and I know it's one I'm gonna re-read!
July 10, 2023
Made me miss my train station
January 1, 2024
Un roman pour vous réconcilier avec les maths !
Un homme part à la recherche de Crystal, sa fiancée disparue. Celle-ci a fait une découverte mathématique incroyable peu avant de disparaitre.
Un excellent premier roman de Science-Fiction, entre reflexion mathématique et poétique.
Un homme part à la recherche de Crystal, sa fiancée disparue. Celle-ci a fait une découverte mathématique incroyable peu avant de disparaitre.
Un excellent premier roman de Science-Fiction, entre reflexion mathématique et poétique.
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