Below is a summation of the members' reactions to this work.
The Signature of All Things is a sweeping saga that opens in 1800 with the birth of Alma Whitaker in Philadelphia, Penn., But, immediately upon meeting the infant Alma and various members of her household, we are taken back to England where Alma's father, Henry Whitaker, began his rise from a life of subservience to a life of adventure, property and wealth. How Henry's life impacts Alma's underpins much of her fascinating tale. Brilliant and homely, Alma lives the life of a scientist and scholar. Her family's wealth allows her to pursue her quest to learn everything about the world of mosses--how they grow, how they differ, why some moss colonies advance and others wither and retreat. Only when Alma approaches her fifties, after her father's death, does she leave her little world to travel across the oceans to Tahiti and then on to Holland, making her way among rough sailors and even rougher seas to meet her mother's family whom she has never met. Signature is an amazing tale that may not appeal to everyone.
Most members enjoyed the book but two members said they found it too slow-paced and overpacked with details. One member said she kept wanting the author to "just get on with it." One member said she did not feel there was a single likable character in the story except for a few minor characters that were never developed in any depth.
Other members, however, very much enjoyed the research and historical detail. They found Alma admirable and the lives of the characters interesting. They enjoyed the discussions on the scientific vs. the spiritual that permeated the era in which the story is set. Several enjoyed learning about the plant life that informs so much of the narrative.
The discussion also touched upon how the way the nature of the characters could be looked at in pairs that are in opposition to each other and thus reflect the discussion of evolution that strikes at the heart of the narrative. First and foremost there is tall, homely, redheaded Alma posed opposite the startling beauty of her adopted sister, Prudence. Raised side by side for much of their childhoods, how do they evolve into the women they become? Members soon found several such pairings among the characters. We ran out of time to explore the various pairs and the character traits that may have influenced their fortunes in life.
