Rating: 
Summary: a tale well spun
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: A good novel -- but I wonder how much history.
Review: Few things satisfy like a well-written, engrossing, factually dense historical novel. As a lover of both history and fiction, I find such books scratch two itches simultaneously, making the history far more memorable by being told through clever story, and assuaging one's guilt for reading novels (as opposed to, say, mowing the lawn) with the self-explanation (or is it delusion) that one is really learning something.
John Griesemer's Signal and Noise, a novel about the laying of the trans-Atlantic cable in the 1850's and 1860's fits the bill nicely. Greieser nicely sets forth both the technology and finances (much of the plot follows a sort of circus side-show put together to impress prospective investors), while doing so in the context of mesmerism, illicit loves, the American Civil War, and derring-do. Gresemer manages a large, but not overwhelming, cast of characters and an extended scope of both time (twenty years) and distance (both England and North America) in a way that both moves the story briskly and explicates his history. Where Griesemer falls down - and this is not a small frustration - is his failure to provide any sort of "Forward" or "Author's Note" explaining for the reader which characters and events were real, and which were made up for purposes of story and drama. Such omission in a historical novel is close to unforgivable; I do not know whether only his dates are to be trusted (if even those) , whether the cable failed as many times and for the reasons Greisemer's characters suggest, and whether any (or all) of his characters were "real" or based on historical personages. Taken on its face, and without taking into account its "historical" nature, I give Signal and Noise high marks for plot, character and writing. As a purportedly "historical" novel, however, Griesemer's book frustratingly leaves more questions than answers.
Rating:
Summary: A good novel -- but I wonder how much history.
Review: Few things satisfy like a well-written, engrossing, factually dense historical novel. As a lover of both history and fiction, I find such books scratch two itches simultaneously, making the history far more memorable by being told through clever story, and assuaging one's guilt for reading novels (as opposed to, say, mowing the lawn) with the self-explanation (or is it delusion) that one is really learning something.
John Griesemer's Signal and Noise, a novel about the laying of the trans-Atlantic cable in the 1850's and 1860's fits the bill nicely. Greieser nicely sets forth both the technology and finances (much of the plot follows a sort of circus side-show put together to impress prospective investors), while doing so in the context of mesmerism, illicit loves, the American Civil War, and derring-do. Gresemer manages a large, but not overwhelming, cast of characters and an extended scope of both time (twenty years) and distance (both England and North America) in a way that both moves the story briskly and explicates his history. Where Griesemer falls down - and this is not a small frustration - is his failure to provide any sort of "Forward" or "Author's Note" explaining for the reader which characters and events were real, and which were made up for purposes of story and drama. Such omission in a historical novel is close to unforgivable; I do not know whether only his dates are to be trusted (if even those) , whether the cable failed as many times and for the reasons Greisemer's characters suggest, and whether any (or all) of his characters were "real" or based on historical personages. Taken on its face, and without taking into account its "historical" nature, I give Signal and Noise high marks for plot, character and writing. As a purportedly "historical" novel, however, Griesemer's book frustratingly leaves more questions than answers.
Rating:
Summary: A Remarkable Epic
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A Remarkable Epic
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A Remarkable Epic
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Kind of disappointed..
Review: I just couldn't get into this book, and I'm having trouble figuring out why. I think it has something to do with Griesemer's style; it's as though he's trying too hard to be both an historical novel and a "romance." I think this novel fails on all levels. Too much time is wasted on banal "soap opera" like encounters with the different characters, and there is something very odd about the way he uses metaphor and structures his sentences. The idea of constructing a fictional novel around the first laying of the transatlantic telephone cable, and of the men and women caught in its monumental tide, is a good one. But I just felt that the characters that Griesemer creates are just stock "19th century" stereotypes - none of them really come alive as people. I think this kind of writing might me beyond this writer. If you really wish to read an epic 19th century sweeping saga interweaving real life events with fictional and real characters read Lauren Belfer's "City of Light" on the pan-American exposition in the city of Buffalo, New York - now that's an achievement! Michael
Rating: 
Summary: Glad I'm finished
Review: I like others here, tired of this book early. But after reading some of the glowing reviews I persevered and plodded my way through, much like the Great Eastern did. I am relieved that monumental task is behind me now. I wanted to like this book, I really did, but I really don't feel like I know the true motivations of any of the characters in the book, except maybe Spude. What happened to Whitehouse? Why even, was Marx ever mentioned? What drew Trace to love a whore he met in a tunnel?Don't know, don't know, don't know. With all the detail of the cable, I would like to know how much money they made on it. Not a book I would reccommend
Rating:
Summary: Glad I'm finished
Review: I like others here, tired of this book early. But after reading some of the glowing reviews I persevered and plodded my way through, much like the Great Eastern did. I am relieved that monumental task is behind me now. I wanted to like this book, I really did, but I really don't feel like I know the true motivations of any of the characters in the book, except maybe Spude. What happened to Whitehouse? Why even, was Marx ever mentioned? What drew Trace to love a whore he met in a tunnel?Don't know, don't know, don't know. With all the detail of the cable, I would like to know how much money they made on it. Not a book I would reccommend
Rating:
Summary: Drop what you're reading and pick up this book
Review: 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.
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