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A Novel
by Jess Walter
Book Reviewed by: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).
One
What Happened to Kinnick
A prim girl stood still as a fencepost on Rhys Kinnick's front porch. Next to her, a cowlicked boy shifted his weight from snow boot to snow boot. Both kids wore backpacks. On the stairs below them, a woman held an umbrella against the pattering rain.
It was the little girl who'd knocked. Kinnick cracked the door. He rasped through the dirty screen: "Magazines or chocolate bars?"
The girl, who looked to be about ten, squinted. "What did you say?"
Had he misspoken? How long since Kinnick had talked to anyone? "I said, what are you fine young capitalists selling? Magazines or chocolate bars?"
"We aren't selling anything," said the boy. He appeared to be about six. "We're your grandchildren."
A sound came from Kinnick's throat then—a gasp, he might have written it, back when he wrote for a living. Of course they were his grandchildren. He hadn't really looked at their faces. And this strange woman on the steps had...
Aspen Words Literary Prize 2026
I've read 6 from the list: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible-Alameddine (National Book Award Finalist) King of Ashes-S A Cosby (Barnes & Noble best of 2025) Culpability- Bruce Holsinger Wild Dark Shore-Charlotte McConaghy Endling -Maria Reva (Booker finalist) So Far Gone-Jess Walter I like...
-Anne_Glasgow
What are you reading this week? (7/17/2025)
...cross-country flight next week and that may be just what I need to make the day go quickly (although I wish it was out in paperback!). I just started So Far Gone by Jess Walters. It may be more political than I'm in the mood for but I'm enjoying the characters and humor.
-Vicki_F
What are you reading this week? (7/10/2025)
I am thoroughly enjoying "So Far Gone" by Jess Walter. I have never read this author before, so he is new to me. Rhys Kinnick had just bloody had it. An divorced environmental reporter faced with the global shrinkage of his industry, Trump, his daughter married to an ultra-Christian know-it-all, ...
-Carol_N
What are you reading this week? (7/2/2025)
...ife as a child fleeing war, living in a Kenyan refugee camp, and finally finding safety in the United States. Heart-wrenching, inspiring, and timely. So Far Gone by Jess Walter. My audio book for walking is Tequila Wars:Jose Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Texas. My preferred genre for audio is non-fiction.
-Jolene_Blankley
What are you reading this week? (4/3/2025)?
I am listening to the much hyped Careless People by Sarah Winn-Williams. I am reading an arc of the soon to be released So Far Gone by Jess Walter.
-Anne_Glasgow
For the most part, Walter convincingly steers between a crime caper and a dysfunctional family drama, and there's a wry sense of humor throughout that lightens the novel. And as characters go, Rhys is a lovable curmudgeon... In this convincing depiction of divided America and ailing families, Jess Walter holds out hope that the damage of the past can be dealt with and broken relationships might be restored...continued
Full Review
(709 words)
(Reviewed by Rebecca Foster).
Lauren Groff, New York Times bestselling author of Matrix
Jess Walter is beloved for being a prose wizard with a sparkling, infectious sense of humor and a huge heart. He makes readers love his characters even when they don't find themselves particularly loveable. So Far Gone speaks directly into the profoundly troubled soul of our fractured, embittered country; miraculously, it does so with gentle wryness and angry love. What a rollicking good time. Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author of The Leftovers
So Far Gone is a marvel—a taut literary thriller that is also a moving, deeply humane exploration of the way one family falls apart and puts itself back together in a moment of crisis. Jess Walter is a prodigiously talented novelist, a writer willing to confront some of the most important and divisive issues of our time without losing his nerve or his sense of humor.Jess Walter, the author of So Far Gone, is based in Washington, a state that has produced a number of well-known writers. Below we feature a small selection of Washington State authors and books.
Many of Sherman Alexie's early works are set on the Spokane Reservation, where he grew up. His linked short story collection, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1992), is peopled by lovable rogues and drunks, among them Thomas Builds-the-Fire and James Many Horses. Basketball is popular on the reservation and serves as a link to Alexie's autobiographical young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007), in which 14-year-old Arnold Spirit, Jr. transfers from the rez school to an elite majority-white high ...
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