Rhys Kinnick feels out of place. He has been laid off from his newspaper reporting job, no one seems to care about the environment like he does, and his daughter’s husband is a right-wing religious zealot with increasingly intense opinions. After a tense Thanksgiving culminating in a fistfight, Rhys decides to go completely off grid. When his grandchildren show up on his doorstep a few years later, he is devastated to find that he no longer recognizes them. From a compound of gun-toting evangelists to a psychedelic festival in the woods, Rhys is pushed wildly out of his comfort zone as he helps the kids search for their missing mother.

At first, this book did a bit too much telling. Rhys (and the author) do not like the way society is headed, and while I agree completely with his points I don’t know that I needed to be hit over the head with it. But once the story started picking up speed I was hooked! The characters are endearing, the plot is zany and fun, and I enjoyed that the story was written from multiple points of view. While Rhys’ emotional development could have been more fully fleshed out (he seems to just all-of-a-sudden realize that it has been a mistake to avoid his family for years), it did not detract from my enjoyment. The New York Times described this novel as “a witty caper” and that summed it all up quite nicely until the book took an unexpected turn at the end. I won’t spoil anything here, but it did change my perception of this novel and has given me quite a bit to think about. If you read this I would love to hear your thoughts!

Read this if: you enjoyed The Road to Tender Hearts or Run For the Hills.

Skip this if: you aren’t interested in literature that tackles current events.

This was a fun read, lots of action, humor, and good pacing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the eARC of this book.

After several years living off the grid, estranged from his family, Rhys Kinnick's grandchildren show up on his front doorstep. His daughter has gone missing, and Rhys seeks the unlikely help of an ex-girlfriend, a retired detective, and two old friends to help him reckon with his past and track her down. SO FAR GONE is an absolute delight, and a reminder that humor, humility, and empathy are necessary to survive in an increasingly divided America.

After several years of estrangement, Rhys finds his grandchildren on his doorstep.

3.5 rounded up to 4. The story unfolds beautifully, giving the reader the background for each character along the way. Humorous and touching.

Rhys, a retired journalist from Spokane, went off the grid early in Trump's first presidency. When a stranger shows up several years later with his grandchildren, he has to re-enter the world in hopes of finding his daughter. This is a wild ride with interesting supporting characters that help him in his quest.

I received a copy for review. All opinions are my own. This is a very relatable novel that takes into account the political climate of the last decade as well as the social climate (conspiracy theorists) and even the pandemic. Those made it much more relatable and enjoyable to read. I found Rhys’ character to be likeable for me and the flow of the book was very easy to follow. I was chuckling as I read this book because there is great humor in it. This was definitely an entertaining book for me.

From the first couple of pages I was hooked. These characters are so realistic and weird and flawed. I loved all of them. The action rolls along, it's suspenseful, it's funny, it's sweet. I loved it.

DNF @ ~40%

I was really intrigued by the premise, and the beginning had me hooked. Unfortunately, the perspectives veered to too many characters that the focus got muddled for me. I also think the plot centered around the far-right hit a little too close to home for me to enjoy the “craziness” of it all. I was hoping to get more escapism from this thriller, so I think it wasn’t for me at this time.

3.5 stars, rounded up. I read & loved the author’s “Beautiful Ruins” some 12 or so years ago but had not seen anything else intriguing from Walter since, until this new title “So Far Gone” showed up on my book-radar. Have to say that I really enjoyed it, but it was a bit over-the-top also. Still, I really got into the story of MC Rhys, now living off the grid in the aftermath of both COVID & the rise of MAGA. He’s persona-non-grata with his daughter & her family after a holiday dinner altercation until his grandkids are sent to him & then subsequently abducted. What follows is quite a journey & he's accompanied by a strange & rag-tag crew, as he sets out to save them - and perhaps himself. Overall, I liked it & also appreciated what Walter had to say about our current time-line. My thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for my advance reader’s copy - greatly appreciate the opportunity to read/review it!

I was hesitant in reading this book at first with the political climate we are currently in but glad the author didn't go to far into the far right world, It made your reflect and laugh at the same time. I enjoyed the ride you are taken on especial when you are with Rhys character. It is never to late to be a hero to your children.

Thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this E-Arc! I enjoyed this more than I anticipated given the mention of the political climate of 2016, and due to my own personal need to keep a boundary from the ideological political wars that are everywhere. Needless to say, I thought this novel tackled worthwhile aspects of being a part of these trying times, while also sharing insightful, humorous, and engaging characters and storylines. I appreciated many insights shared by the main character Rhys, who was endearing despite his "fall from grace." in his personal life and wider society. I resonated with a lot of his feelings and shared thoughts, and found the relationship dynamics relatable while also being interesting and entertaining enough to get you to the pretty satisfying end of this novel. Have already and will continue to recommend!

This is a snack of a novel. Specifically? That snack is jerky. Walter, whose polyphonic sensibility first charmed me in Beautiful Ruins, has here made something salty, sinewy, and satisfying from fairly tough material. So Far Gone follows Rhys, a retired newspaperman turned off-the-grid Thoreau acolyte, as he falls into a madcap quest to save his estranged daughter and grandchildren from the clutches of an evangelical militia/cult. In lesser hands, the family’s unfortunately topical adversaries could be but straw bogeymen or non pareil Darth Vaders. But Walter’s interested in the fear that draws people toward cruel and senseless ideologies. Full of insightful arias, shimmeringly weird little details, and a characteristic hometown love for the Pacific Northwest, this book reminded me of Cassavetes’ hard-boiled anti-heroes, and the best kinds of caper flicks.

I read this primarily based on the glowing review from Ann Patchett ("A warm, funny, loving novel. . . . It's an American original.")

Yes, it's an original. Loving? I can see that. But warm and funny? Umm, no.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not finding anything involving "Christian Nationalists" funny these days. Maybe 20 years ago, when they were the lunatic fringe. But living through a second (!) Trump term, none of this is funny, it's scary. I don't need realistic novels featuring misogynistic guys with guns to scare me, because I can just turn on the news.

This book, while well-written and plotted, made me sad and anxious. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're just really immune to current goings-on in America.

This was my first Jess Walter book and I enjoyed it! Humor found in strange and not necessarily funny circumstances. Well done.

Smart and funny and touching. A propulsive novel for our current times.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

A blowup at Thanksgiving between Rhys Kinnock, an environmental journalist, and his right-wing Christian son-in-law leads to a rupture in the family and Kinnock's retreat to a remote piece of land outside Spokane that he inherited from his father. He can no longer bear the country that he feels has gone stark raving mad. There he lives like a hermit among piles of books until one day a woman shows up at his door with two children who he doesn't recognize - his grandchildren. His daughter asked a neighbor to take them there after she left her husband, who has become deeply involved in an armed religious group that is preparing for the End Times.

When he takes the kids to a chess tournament at a church that the boy wants to compete in, though it turns out they have the wrong day, a couple of toughs take the children to be with their father, leaving Rhys with a broken cheekbone (tended to by the priest, who turns out to have a background in boxing). A former girlfriend and journalist introduces him to an ex-cop private investigator who has bipolar disorder, and he leads the charge to the compound where the kids and their father are staying. With the rescued kids in tow, Kinnock sets out to find their mother.

I loved this novel. It starts out appearing to be about the breakdown of normal society, overtaken by irrational conspiracy theories and religious fundamentalism, but it's really about the relationship between Kinnock and his daughter, as well as with the children who have grown up in a family that's much more complicated than the simple depiction of fundamentalist crazies. There's a kind of tender acknowledgement by the end that Kinnock's dismissal of his son-in-law's views overlooked his fundamental foolish innocuousness. The kids, too, are wonderfully portrayed in a way that refuses to divide the world into religious tomfoolery and rational liberalism. It's strangely generous and hopeful though there's no papering over the complexity of Kinnock's relationship with his daughter. It's also very funny, and while there's a dramatic and violent climax, the ending is much less reductionist about our present moment than it might seem to readers at the start.

In this darkly humorous and suspenseful novel, a recluse is reluctantly drawn back into the world when his two grandchildren show up on his door and he finds out his daughter is missing.

Walter creates a number of interesting, well-rounded characters and a situation that is both personal and all-too-common in the US. However, I wasn't completely sold on where the novel went. The beginning seemed to dwell in a moral gray zone, but the colors became quite differentiated by the end. Maybe the humor at the beginning seemed misplaced by the end. I still enjoyed the book and will likely recommend it to most readers.

The main character Rhys Kinnick has been living off-grid for the last seven years. Just before making the decision to move to his grandfather's cabin in the woods, he had punched his son-in-law Shane in the face at a Thanksgiving family gathering. He had agreed with his daughterBethany not to talk religion or politics, but Shane was talking both and goading him and with the recent 2016 election, he just snapped.
While Rhys loves Bethany, he has never liked her taste in men. Doug, the father of her daughter Leah, was a musician who did drugs and was only too happy to sign away his rights as a father. Shane, a man she met at rehab, seemed a little too serious about religion, and in the years since he's spent time with the family, has gone even more right-wing, now belonging to a Christian church with a militia, with a headquarters in the mountains named The Rampart.
When Rhys opens his door to a woman and two kids, he doesn't even recognize his grandchildren at first. The woman, Anna, is a neighbour of Bethany and Shane's and Leah has come to her with a note explaining that Bethany has gone away for a while and Leah was told to take the note to Anna if Shane decided to go look for her. Rhys takes the kids in, and his grandson Asher explains that he has a chess tournament he really wants to go to.
When Rhys left the Thanksgiving get-together years ago, he threw away his phone, realizing that its constant stream of news had a lot to do with his anger. He had also recently lost his job as environmental reporter at the newspaper, and his girlfriend Lucy, who told him she never wanted to see him again.
At the location of the tournament, friends of Shane show up and forcibly take Leah and Asher with them, telling Rhys Shane told them to get them. As Rhys deals with his injuries from this encounter and vows to get his grandchildren, he resorts to asking Lucy for help and finds himself with another ex-boyfriend of hers, a retired cop with a bipolar condition that leads them both into a dangerous situation.
As Rhys deals with his grandchildren, he also follows the trail to Bethany and finds that the distance between him and his daughter dates back much earlier, and he has to mend fences and rejoin the world to even start at making things right again.
This is a story that is timely in the American landscape, and deals with technology's reach, the huge rift in America in terms of politics and radical evangelical Christianity, as well as family relations. Shane is a gentle man that has been led through misinformation into a radical environment that he's not as ready for as he thought. Bethany loves her husband, but also remembers her earlier life with fondness. She's also not a fan of this church which seems to hold women as lesser people. This is a story that will leave you thinking.

Jess Walter's So Far Gone is a touching, propulsive read about our place in society and our most meaningful relationships.

Rhys finds himself adrift. He's confused about the way of the world. He's been laid off from his newspaper job. He's divorced, separated from the girlfriend he loves, and is at the edge of his sanity when on Thanksgiving afternoon, his right-wing nutjob of a son-in-law gets him riled up. One (sucker)punch later and Rhys is now estranged from his family, living on a small plot of land outside of Spokane, getting by in a Thoreau-esque manner, penning his (hopefully) next book. Several years later, his grandchildren arrive at his door and need his help. Can Rhys rise to the occasion?

While So Far Gone felt worryingly topical based on the premise, I think Walter manages exceptionally well to thread the needle on being relevant without feeling too 2025. Rhys is a complicated character, as are the rest of the cast in this story, several of whom we get a POV from towards the end of the story. The plot never lets up, driving you towards the ending, and making you sympathize with even the worst of the characters you'll encounter.

Much smaller in scale than his most recent two works, some readers may be disappointed in the lack of plot compared to The Cold Millions and Beautiful Ruins, but if they stick around, they will find a story that really gets to the heart of what it is to be human.