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Signals of Distress
November, 1836. A fierce gale beaches an American sail ship off the English coast, injuring an African slave below decks and eventually disgorging 300 head of cattle and rowdy American sailors into a hardscrabble fishing village. The same storm drives into port a steamer, bearing one Aymer Smith, the well-intentioned but foolish prig who will deprive the town of its livelihood, free the African slave, and set into motion a whole series of unforeseeable, tragicomic events.
One of the most seductive and surprising novelists at work today, Jim Crace once again creates a richly strange and believable world; one uncannily familiar to our own.
One of the most seductive and surprising novelists at work today, Jim Crace once again creates a richly strange and believable world; one uncannily familiar to our own.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
10 people are currently reading
359 people want to read
About the author
Jim Crace
23 books415 followersJames "Jim" Crace is an award-winning English writer. His novel Quarantine, won the Whitbread Novel award and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Harvest won the International Impac Dublin Literary Award, James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Crace grew up in Forty Hill, an area at the far northern point of Greater London, close to Enfield where Crace attended Enfield Grammar School. He studied for a degree at the Birmingham College of Commerce (now part of Birmingham City University), where he was enrolled as an external student of the University of London. After securing a BA (Hons) in English Literature in 1968, he travelled overseas with the UK organization Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), working in Sudan. Two years later he returned to the UK, and worked with the BBC, writing educational programmes. From 1976 to 1987 he worked as a freelance journalist for The Daily Telegraph and other newspapers.
In 1986 Crace published Continent. Continent won the Whitbread First Novel of the Year Award, the David Higham Prize for Fiction and the Guardian Fiction Prize. This work was followed by The Gift of Stones, Arcadia, Signals of Distress, Quarantine, Being Dead and Six. His most recent novel, The Pesthouse, was published in the UK in March 2007.
Despite living in Britain, Crace is more successful in the United States, as evidenced by the award of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1999.
Crace grew up in Forty Hill, an area at the far northern point of Greater London, close to Enfield where Crace attended Enfield Grammar School. He studied for a degree at the Birmingham College of Commerce (now part of Birmingham City University), where he was enrolled as an external student of the University of London. After securing a BA (Hons) in English Literature in 1968, he travelled overseas with the UK organization Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), working in Sudan. Two years later he returned to the UK, and worked with the BBC, writing educational programmes. From 1976 to 1987 he worked as a freelance journalist for The Daily Telegraph and other newspapers.
In 1986 Crace published Continent. Continent won the Whitbread First Novel of the Year Award, the David Higham Prize for Fiction and the Guardian Fiction Prize. This work was followed by The Gift of Stones, Arcadia, Signals of Distress, Quarantine, Being Dead and Six. His most recent novel, The Pesthouse, was published in the UK in March 2007.
Despite living in Britain, Crace is more successful in the United States, as evidenced by the award of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1999.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
August 24, 2014
Have you ever heard of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, or the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest? He was an English novelist who was immensely popular during the Victorian period, but is now best remembered for his dramatic, florid language. He coined the famous opening line "It was a dark and stormy night"in his 1830 novel Paul Clifford, and the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest invites its entrants to compose deliberately bad opening sentences to the worst of all possible novels. Be sure to see the winners here - they're all pretty great.
Signals of Distress, Jim Crace's 1995 novel, opens on a literal dark and stormy night - thankfully you won't find any bad and florid writing here, and similarities to such end at weather conditions. It begins in November of 1836, when an early winter storm crashes an American vessel, The Belle of Wilmington, near the shore of Wherrytown - a small and decrepit village on the English coast, with only one inn, which will now have to house an influx of rowdy American sailors, their captain, and an African slave, Otto. The same storm also marks the arrival of a steam ship from London, which carries Aymer Smith - a representative of Smith & Sons Manufacturers of Fine Soap, and who is just about to deprive most Wherrytowners out of their livelihood with news that his company will no longer be needing their help.
Out of all of Jim Crace's novels that I have read, this is by far the funniest - and one where he's channeling his inner Dickens with his picturesque characters with equally picturesque names. Young Smith is a well-intentioned, virginal man, who is very well educated and involved in worthy causes - such as campaigning for a shorter work week and abolishing child labor - but has absolutely no sense of people. His conversations with others quickly become one sided as he either lectures or patronizes his audience, and his actions often achieve the exact opposite result of his intent. When he sees the enslaved Otto he is immediately overtaken with abolitionism and frees him - without a moment of consideration on how an escaped African is going to survive winter in a coastal village, and with no one approving of his choice: all villagers fear that they will be murdered in their beds, and their every misfortune or bad luck is now blamed as a result of Otto's invisible savagery. It gives the title different meanings - from the literal distress signals sent by the Belle, to Aymer hiding his distress and shyness when interacting with the locals behind his pompous lectures, to villagers showing their distress at the thought of an escaped African by putting the blame for everything on him.
Although Aymer is insufferable to everyone and his daydreams of his good deeds being universally recognized paint him as a closet narcissist, it's impossible to not feel sympathy towards him as he tries to do what he thinks is good in a small village impervious to change. Aymer's only real friend is the ship dog, Whip, for whom he develops real affection and attachment. His relationship with other characters is both comical and tragic - he spies on young Kate Norris, wife of Robert, both of whom intend to emigrate to Canada on the next available ship; but since they share a room its next to impossible for him to not see and hear her, and he's overcome by loneliness. In his dreams, he imagines the Norrises as his dear friends with whom he'll connect years later in the Canadian wilderness; He intends to "save" a young country girl from her miserable rural existence by taking her as his wife, even without love between them, but she has her eyes set on a young American sailor. Despite his considerable intelligence and knowledge he's utterly gullible and often guided by pure lust, but the experience in Wherrytown will influence and change him beyond recognition. But will it be for the better?
Signals of Distress is more lightweight than most of other Crace's novels, but is certainly worth reading for anyone in well-written historical fiction from the period.
Signals of Distress, Jim Crace's 1995 novel, opens on a literal dark and stormy night - thankfully you won't find any bad and florid writing here, and similarities to such end at weather conditions. It begins in November of 1836, when an early winter storm crashes an American vessel, The Belle of Wilmington, near the shore of Wherrytown - a small and decrepit village on the English coast, with only one inn, which will now have to house an influx of rowdy American sailors, their captain, and an African slave, Otto. The same storm also marks the arrival of a steam ship from London, which carries Aymer Smith - a representative of Smith & Sons Manufacturers of Fine Soap, and who is just about to deprive most Wherrytowners out of their livelihood with news that his company will no longer be needing their help.
Out of all of Jim Crace's novels that I have read, this is by far the funniest - and one where he's channeling his inner Dickens with his picturesque characters with equally picturesque names. Young Smith is a well-intentioned, virginal man, who is very well educated and involved in worthy causes - such as campaigning for a shorter work week and abolishing child labor - but has absolutely no sense of people. His conversations with others quickly become one sided as he either lectures or patronizes his audience, and his actions often achieve the exact opposite result of his intent. When he sees the enslaved Otto he is immediately overtaken with abolitionism and frees him - without a moment of consideration on how an escaped African is going to survive winter in a coastal village, and with no one approving of his choice: all villagers fear that they will be murdered in their beds, and their every misfortune or bad luck is now blamed as a result of Otto's invisible savagery. It gives the title different meanings - from the literal distress signals sent by the Belle, to Aymer hiding his distress and shyness when interacting with the locals behind his pompous lectures, to villagers showing their distress at the thought of an escaped African by putting the blame for everything on him.
Although Aymer is insufferable to everyone and his daydreams of his good deeds being universally recognized paint him as a closet narcissist, it's impossible to not feel sympathy towards him as he tries to do what he thinks is good in a small village impervious to change. Aymer's only real friend is the ship dog, Whip, for whom he develops real affection and attachment. His relationship with other characters is both comical and tragic - he spies on young Kate Norris, wife of Robert, both of whom intend to emigrate to Canada on the next available ship; but since they share a room its next to impossible for him to not see and hear her, and he's overcome by loneliness. In his dreams, he imagines the Norrises as his dear friends with whom he'll connect years later in the Canadian wilderness; He intends to "save" a young country girl from her miserable rural existence by taking her as his wife, even without love between them, but she has her eyes set on a young American sailor. Despite his considerable intelligence and knowledge he's utterly gullible and often guided by pure lust, but the experience in Wherrytown will influence and change him beyond recognition. But will it be for the better?
Signals of Distress is more lightweight than most of other Crace's novels, but is certainly worth reading for anyone in well-written historical fiction from the period.
April 23, 2008
I've never not loved a book by Jim Crace, but this is my favorite. It's very difficult to synopsize or even categorize, but it is essentially a very dark comedy that, through wonderfully vivid characterization, shows the timelessness of human despair, hope and passion - and the dangers associated with all of these things. It's a thin book, but the content is heavy and thoughtprovoking -- however, it is written so well that you will be finished before you know it, and sorry when it's over. One of my favorite books.
July 2, 2022
I am running out of books by Jim Crace to read.
His language is such a delight! His characters, marvelous outsiders of the present and the past, often seem like dear friends.
His language is such a delight! His characters, marvelous outsiders of the present and the past, often seem like dear friends.
July 3, 2012
: ..: .
on the back of this book it compares the book to Dickens, and I can see this in that JC too has the ability to engage the reader and even get us eventually form some kind of empathy for unlikable characters and indeed,while it could be said that this is a cautionary tale against the dangers of liberalism, it strikes me more akin to Gullivers travels.
on the back of this book it compares the book to Dickens, and I can see this in that JC too has the ability to engage the reader and even get us eventually form some kind of empathy for unlikable characters and indeed,while it could be said that this is a cautionary tale against the dangers of liberalism, it strikes me more akin to Gullivers travels.
March 5, 2022
The Cradle Rock - an eighty ton boulder which sits on a pivot point and can be rocked by merely pushing on it - becomes something of a focus point in the story and an allegory for what happens in Wherrytown when an American ship runs aground.
The American sailors upset the balance of the rock and their presence in the town upsets the lives of the community. In keeping with his theme of communities in transition, Jim Crace deftly portrays the transitions in the lives of the various characters. Central to the story is the priggish Aymer Smith and his family business which is transitioning from kelp ash to French chemicals for their soap business, a sailor transitions to a corpse, a slave becomes a freeman, a kelping daughter becomes a sailor’s wife, sailing vessels give way to steam and more.
One cannot help but feel pity for (and a certain amount of empathy with) Aymer Smith who would like to put all things right in the world and desires to be liked.
The American sailors upset the balance of the rock and their presence in the town upsets the lives of the community. In keeping with his theme of communities in transition, Jim Crace deftly portrays the transitions in the lives of the various characters. Central to the story is the priggish Aymer Smith and his family business which is transitioning from kelp ash to French chemicals for their soap business, a sailor transitions to a corpse, a slave becomes a freeman, a kelping daughter becomes a sailor’s wife, sailing vessels give way to steam and more.
One cannot help but feel pity for (and a certain amount of empathy with) Aymer Smith who would like to put all things right in the world and desires to be liked.
March 28, 2017
Ambivalent
I have been working my way through an audiobook course on writing fiction. Crace was recommended for the quality of his historical fiction. I thought the book well written, but not sure why he wrote it or why one should read it.
Character development was strong. Sense of time and place were strong.
I have been working my way through an audiobook course on writing fiction. Crace was recommended for the quality of his historical fiction. I thought the book well written, but not sure why he wrote it or why one should read it.
Character development was strong. Sense of time and place were strong.
July 26, 2018
Not sure how to rate this one; it started off well and the situation bore great promise. Crace's depiction of a seaside village, its local characters, their attitudes, modes of living and pursuits was masterful. Events such as the salvage of a grounded ship or the landing of a gigantic catch of pilchards (a.k.a. sardines), a task that required frenzied efforts of the entire population, were conveyed with a degree of color, detail and insight that demonstrated a remarkable depth of research. One cannot fail to be impressed at the writer's commitment to his topic.
Surely Crace's main protagonist Aymer Smith was a peculiar choice of characters upon whom to hang his story. He's the least prepossessing of men: a dreamer, constantly out of step with everyone around him. Loquacious, opinionated, impractical, socially inept, he succeeds in annoying natural allies and foes alike. Everywhere he goes he's a fish out of water. Unable to accomplish any of the shakily conceived goals he sets for himself, he resorts to wishful thinking and idle speculation.
The story revolves around a cultural clash when the boisterous American crew of a shipwrecked vessel, accompanied by an African slave are set loose upon a primitive fishing community on the shore of England in 1836. Into this mix is thrust the well-meaning but clumsy Aymer Smith and his humanistic dreams of social betterment. Clearly, this is unlikely to end well and toward the end, the narrative begins to falter, drift and fade into irrelevancy (surely a metaphor for Smith himself).
I was left with a sense that once all the players -- the sailors, the locals, the young lovers and Smith himself -- have gone their separate ways, Crace was left with a dilemma of what to do with them, how to bring the story to a completion.
To sum up: a great concept, a unique setting brilliantly portrayed but in the end, not very satisfying. I was reminded of the final scene in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, the fool's mournful lament at the suffering of the Russian people; after all the sound and fury is over, everyone still living finds himself more or less back where he started.
Surely Crace's main protagonist Aymer Smith was a peculiar choice of characters upon whom to hang his story. He's the least prepossessing of men: a dreamer, constantly out of step with everyone around him. Loquacious, opinionated, impractical, socially inept, he succeeds in annoying natural allies and foes alike. Everywhere he goes he's a fish out of water. Unable to accomplish any of the shakily conceived goals he sets for himself, he resorts to wishful thinking and idle speculation.
The story revolves around a cultural clash when the boisterous American crew of a shipwrecked vessel, accompanied by an African slave are set loose upon a primitive fishing community on the shore of England in 1836. Into this mix is thrust the well-meaning but clumsy Aymer Smith and his humanistic dreams of social betterment. Clearly, this is unlikely to end well and toward the end, the narrative begins to falter, drift and fade into irrelevancy (surely a metaphor for Smith himself).
I was left with a sense that once all the players -- the sailors, the locals, the young lovers and Smith himself -- have gone their separate ways, Crace was left with a dilemma of what to do with them, how to bring the story to a completion.
To sum up: a great concept, a unique setting brilliantly portrayed but in the end, not very satisfying. I was reminded of the final scene in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, the fool's mournful lament at the suffering of the Russian people; after all the sound and fury is over, everyone still living finds himself more or less back where he started.
October 21, 2015
Original, imaginative and quirky, well-written with sharp irony and some striking descriptions – the storm of silvery pilchards making “the sea drenched in fish….as if the water had lost its liquidness and was turning to solder” – Jim Crace transports us to a remote Cornish fishing town in the winter of 1836.
The routine of life in Wherrytown is upset when “The Belle of Wilmington” with its American crew and unfortunate slave Otto shackled to the orlop deck runs aground on a sand bar, with much of its cargo washed ashore, including a herd of cattle which offer the locals the prospect of some illicit beef. This dramatic event coincides with the arrival of Aymer Smith: full of good intentions but pedantic, unworldly, socially inept with a gift only for causing trouble without meaning to and irritating everyone he meets. Aymer’s mission is to apologise in person to those dependent for their livelihoods on the collection of kelp from the beaches, who will suffer from his brother’s decision to switch from the use of kelp ash to sodium carbonate in the soap-making progress. Aymer is determined to compensate them – with bars of soap, coins, perhaps even a rash proposal of marriage.
This is a confined, prejudiced, harsh, every-man-for-himself world, typified by the ruthless local agent, wheeler-dealer Walter Howells. Yet in a varied cast of characters, some show flashes of kindness against the odds, and even Aymer eventually becomes an object of sympathy – a foolish yet essentially decent man.
The story may seem to meander along, at times too absorbed in minor detail, yet the author is forging a chain of cause and effect, working towards an end which, even if you guess it, is quite powerful and haunting. There is a vein of unremitting honesty, even visceral cruelty, a sense of fate, in Jim Crace’s writing which also gives it authenticity, and embeds an unusual tale in one’s memory.
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The routine of life in Wherrytown is upset when “The Belle of Wilmington” with its American crew and unfortunate slave Otto shackled to the orlop deck runs aground on a sand bar, with much of its cargo washed ashore, including a herd of cattle which offer the locals the prospect of some illicit beef. This dramatic event coincides with the arrival of Aymer Smith: full of good intentions but pedantic, unworldly, socially inept with a gift only for causing trouble without meaning to and irritating everyone he meets. Aymer’s mission is to apologise in person to those dependent for their livelihoods on the collection of kelp from the beaches, who will suffer from his brother’s decision to switch from the use of kelp ash to sodium carbonate in the soap-making progress. Aymer is determined to compensate them – with bars of soap, coins, perhaps even a rash proposal of marriage.
This is a confined, prejudiced, harsh, every-man-for-himself world, typified by the ruthless local agent, wheeler-dealer Walter Howells. Yet in a varied cast of characters, some show flashes of kindness against the odds, and even Aymer eventually becomes an object of sympathy – a foolish yet essentially decent man.
The story may seem to meander along, at times too absorbed in minor detail, yet the author is forging a chain of cause and effect, working towards an end which, even if you guess it, is quite powerful and haunting. There is a vein of unremitting honesty, even visceral cruelty, a sense of fate, in Jim Crace’s writing which also gives it authenticity, and embeds an unusual tale in one’s memory.
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October 27, 2015
With the evenings darkening the time has been perfect for revisiting this, one of my favourite English historical novels of the 1990s, alongside the likes of Adam Thorpe's Ulverton, Penelope Fitzgerald's The Blue Flower and A.S. Byatt's Possession. Crace has, of course, also given us one of the finest historical novels of the present decade, the astonishing Impac-winner Harvest. Signals of Distress bizarrely eluded the gazes of prize judges back when it was published, and as a result has now somewhat slipped off the radar, much to the loss of potential new readers as Crace's tale of shipwreck and tragic farce is as magnificent today as it was 20 years ago. Crace's career began blazingly with two short books, Continent and The Gift of Stones, then a firm stepping stone, Arcadia, towards the achievement of Signals. This novel was followed by two more of the best novels of the nineties, Quarantine and Being Dead. Afterwards, Crace seemed to lose direction somewhat with a series of inferior books, before navigating a fascinating writing life towards harbour with Harvest, the novel with which he announced his retirement. I think of Crace in the same light as Thorpe or Hilary Mantel; writers who seem to perfectly balance brain and brawn. Readers who loved Harvest would do well to seek out this earlier work, which bears close comparison. And the seaside community where most of the action is set surely is one of the finest named in all fiction: Wherrytown.
May 24, 2020
This is my fifth novel by Jim Crace. I admire him as one of those writers who writes a very different novel each time; Quarantine is one of my all-time favorites, and only The Melody left me feeling somewhat let down. Different as it is, this one is a little reminiscent of Harvest. In both cases, the constricted world of a small English village sometime in the past is invaded by outsiders. Here, in 1836 an American ship runs aground near Wherrytown, near the southern tip of England. This novel details the consequences of that event over the next 10 days for a broad range of characters, especially an odd, meddling but well-intentioned representative of a soap factory seeking to make amends for withdrawing a source of support for the impoverished coastal families near the village. The pace of the narrative is leisurely (some might say slow) but rewarding.
February 18, 2020
Jim Crace has ponderous descriptive style, but it gives such vivid pictures of the story it keeps you reading. Aymer Smith is a reasonably well off single man in the year 1836. On a self appointed business assignment he sails to England. The ship, the Belle of Wilmington, is blown aground on a sandy reef just off shore. He and his brother have inherited a soap manufacturing business from their father. Aymer is well educated, but remains unworldly wise. Now in the small impoverished village of Wherrytown he has much to learn.
This a fascinating story of the few weeks in which he ‘grows up’.
This a fascinating story of the few weeks in which he ‘grows up’.
July 5, 2024
I’m a big fan of the author, and this one has its brilliance. It is full of, yea overstuffed with, Crace’s theme of transitions. It is a tragicomedy, emphasis on the tragi. It beautifully renders its scene with a plethora, perhaps an overabundance, of historical detail. My peeve is that the research and the author’s hand played too large of a role here. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by so many of his other books where an unspecified place and time felt subtly portrayed. Still, an excellent read.
Aymer has to be one of the most pathetic protagonists I’ve encountered, and I shudder at how much we have in common (not too much! but enough to cause that shudder).
Aymer has to be one of the most pathetic protagonists I’ve encountered, and I shudder at how much we have in common (not too much! but enough to cause that shudder).
June 13, 2022
4 and 1/2 stars.
I can't think of a single writer , who 'does' the past as well as Jim Crace. Unlike other books of his, 'Signals of Distress' is set in a very definity time and place, both of which he conjures up superbly. His characters are prime expamples of human folley with a good numer of shades between the good and the bad that brings them alive in your head as you're reading his books. The story is off-beat which might explain why he isn't 'bigger'. 'Harvest' received some well-earned acclaim, but this is probably just as good. The tension is palatable. Highly recommended.
I can't think of a single writer , who 'does' the past as well as Jim Crace. Unlike other books of his, 'Signals of Distress' is set in a very definity time and place, both of which he conjures up superbly. His characters are prime expamples of human folley with a good numer of shades between the good and the bad that brings them alive in your head as you're reading his books. The story is off-beat which might explain why he isn't 'bigger'. 'Harvest' received some well-earned acclaim, but this is probably just as good. The tension is palatable. Highly recommended.
August 28, 2023
The main character, Aymer Smith, is a remarkable creation. He is irritating, pompous, lustful - but sympathetic. Smith places a strong emphasis on seeking to do the right thing. The setting of the novel places a number of characters in an unfamiliar position. Aymer Smith is a misfit wherever he goes.
There is a contrast between the societies of people (the inhabitants of Wherrytown, and the sailors) and some of the isolated individuals. The inhabitants act with all the collective force or inertia of a collective/mob - whilst the individuals must navigate their own way.
There is a contrast between the societies of people (the inhabitants of Wherrytown, and the sailors) and some of the isolated individuals. The inhabitants act with all the collective force or inertia of a collective/mob - whilst the individuals must navigate their own way.
November 17, 2016
another wonderfully simple tale from Jim Crace... so much to enjoy about this book, the characters being the best of the pickings... quite the array of human beings to sample... this book has the barest glimpses of the style that would come to greater flower in his later novels...
June 10, 2017
I started this one and quickly realized, hey I read this. A long time ago. I really don't remember too much about it, but there are too many unread books out there. I probably wouldn't remember it at all if I hadn't really like it. I'll say 4 stars. Just guessing at the dates.
April 1, 2018
I enjoyed this slow-moving and somewhat sad book, which explores themes of belonging, passion, hopes. The book is really well-written and I loved the characters, even if many of them were not very likeable.
March 11, 2023
going back to early works
3.5 really. I love Jim Crace and the fact that I just spent hundreds of pages with the most pathetic protagonist is testimony to his outstanding writing that kept me engaged nonetheless.
3.5 really. I love Jim Crace and the fact that I just spent hundreds of pages with the most pathetic protagonist is testimony to his outstanding writing that kept me engaged nonetheless.
November 26, 2017
Most wittiest of Jim Crace I've read. Yet carefully kept within the boundaries not to loose the serious, sensitive story beneath.
March 27, 2018
An unusual story with an equally unusual cast of characters. Enjoyed it.
November 10, 2019
Beautiful prose, marvelous characters, scenes of constant surprise. But an ending that feels slightly uninspired. Still, a great work by one of out finest living authors.
February 9, 2020
A depressingly bad offering from one of my favorite authors.
January 24, 2024
The ripple effect of consequences.
January 18, 2025
***3.5 stars***
February 14, 2016
This was another odd story by Jim Crace. Not as good as Harvest, but the character of Aymer Smith as an irritating person is so well developed that I was annoyed with him, too, but also felt sorry for him as though he were a real person. This story starts off with a bang as a ship in the 1800s is caught in a storm, cattle on the ship are tossed around so badly that two had heart attacks, a slave chained by his ankle gets thrown around in a room and battered to unconsciousness, then the ship is grounded and many of the cattle make it to shore. None of the sailors will volunteer to swim to shore for help, so they throw the ship's dog overboard with the ship's distress signal flag tied to his collar and make him swim to shore and hope someone from the small town sees him and will help them. This sets up the stage for the rest of the story.
A lot of the dialog is humorous and it is not a heavy read.
A lot of the dialog is humorous and it is not a heavy read.
April 22, 2008
Crace is one of my favorite authors and I’m almost done reading his entire oeuvre. This 1995 novel has a surfeit of signals of distress and a singularly irritating protagonist. It’s hard not to agree with the good people of Wherrytown about Aymer Smith: he is a naïve, self-centered and pompous prig. It is Crace’s skill that we know what Smith is thinking and we learn what others are thinking of him. His adventures in this small fishing village exacerbate a difficult situation when a ship runs aground, a local industry is closed and an African slave escapes. The only problem Aymer is not responsible for is the storm on the sea. Yet, by the end of the book, we’re ready to give him a benefit of the doubt. We also come to know the hard-scrabble life of the townspeople; as he did in The Gift of Stones, a bygone lifestyle and historic industry is recaptured and made real.
June 5, 2010
Terrific, compelling opening -- a storm at sea. The story is about the passengers and crew aboard two sailing ships off the coast of England around 1830 and the small town they land in. Despite being greatly annoyed by one of the leading characters, the story was fascinating and much larger than its plot. How come I've never heard of this author before and two bookstores here in NYC didn't have any of his books?
June 8, 2012
Crave is definitely a creative and witty writer, but this book was not what I was expecting. I was hoping for a little bit more about British slavery history and didn't get it, except for the few glimpses of racism after Otto the slave is set free. However, I will say I can't think of a plot quite like or similar too this. I also appreciated the title Signals of Distress as a way to express breakdowns in communication when economic and racial prejudices occur.
October 17, 2008
This was a poignant and thoughtful book. Aymer Smith reminded me a little of Eugene Henderson in Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King. Both characters try so hard to do the right thing, and often their efforts make things worse. I liked the interactions between Aymer Smith and the townspeople of Wherrytown and the American sailors.
June 27, 2012
Starting with a shipwreck and the meeting of the surviving sailors and the local townspeople in 1836, another person arrives in town at the same time with bad news for the locals. With a cast of characters perfectly drawn, and set in a period brought vividly to life, the story is told through Aymer Smith, a strange, ill-at-ease character. Highly recommended.
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