So Far Gone

A Novel

By: Jess Walter

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

National Bestseller Finalist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize

"A warm, funny, loving novel. . . . It's an American original."—Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Tom Lake

"Searing and sublime … Walter is a slyly adept social critic, and has clearly invested his protagonist with all of the outrage and heartbreak he himself feels about the dark course our world has taken ... What gets us all through … are novels like this one.” Leigh Haber, Los Angeles Times.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins—and in the propulsive spirit of Charles Portis’ True Grit—comes a hilarious, empathetic, and brilliantly provocative adventure through life in modern America, about a reclusive journalist forced back into the world to rescue his kidnapped grandchildren.

Rhys Kinnick has gone off the grid. At Thanksgiving a few years back, a fed-up Rhys punched his conspiracy-theorist son-in-law in the mouth, chucked his smartphone out a car window and fled for a cabin in the woods, with no one around except a pack of hungry raccoons.

Now Kinnick’s old life is about to land right back on his crumbling doorstep. Can this failed husband and father, a man with no internet and a car that barely runs, reemerge into a broken world to track down his missing daughter and save his sweet, precocious grandchildren from the members of a dangerous militia?

With the help of his caustic ex-girlfriend, a bipolar retired detective, and his only friend (who happens to be furious with him), Kinnick heads off on a wild journey through cultural lunacy and the rubble of a life he thought he’d left behind. So Far Gone is a rollicking, razor-sharp, and moving road trip through a fractured nation, from a writer who has been called “a genius of the modern American moment” (Philadelphia Inquirer).

So Far Gone, So Good!

As usual, Walter does a delightful job of developing his characters, particularly Ryse. The reader is provided with frequent opportunities to reflect on his/her own thoughts and experiences during "troubled times" as his character escapes from all that he abhors to a simpler way of life...until "life" comes to him and calls him back. So Far Gone is filled with glorious descriptions, humorous quips, crazy characters of the moment, and sad truths. The last chapter, in my opinion, is Walter writing at its best.

Timely story- couldn’t put it down

I wish it had been twice as long! I empathized with each of the characters in turn (well, most of them).

Story and different narratives

Story and perspective of different perspectives
Locale and times being
contemporary events
Spokane and local color

Great writing. Fast moving. Funny

The entertaining quips and observations come hard and fast. Never a dull moment. Frequently laugh out loud.
Some plot points are a bit of a stretch and it gets a little action movieish but never dull and always witty. Great quick interesting and original read.
Narration is good too.

Loved going on a journey with these flawed characters!

Unique cast of characters…even the “side characters” were well-developed…by book’s end you felt like you knew them all. Plot moved along at a nice pace. Highly recommend the audio book…narrator is PERFECTION!

This book takes a few hard swings at the state of where we are in our country so I would not recommend it to anyone who is sensitive about the conservative right wing or Christian national militia type groups. I will miss the flawed characters…loved going on a journey with them!