So Far Gone - by Jess Walter (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

National Bestseller

Longlisted 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).

Review Quotes

A Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Boston.com "Best Book of the Year" * A New York Times "New Book We Recommend" * A NY Post "Best New Book" * An Oprah's Book Club, Good Morning America, LA Times, New York Times, CBS Sunday, Elle, Esquire, Lit Hub, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, and Minnesota Star Tribune "Must Read Book for Summer" * An Alta Magazine "Book of the Month" * A Lit Hub "Best Reviewed Book" * Starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Library Journal * A Publishers Weekly and Washington Post "Most Anticipated" * An NPR "Book We Love" * A Chicago Public Library "Favorite Book of the Year"
"I loved this book, and marveled how Jess Walter managed to build such a warm, funny, loving novel out of so many horrible parts. It's an American original." - Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Tom Lake
"Who better to give us the latest version of a recluse with a heart of gold than Walter? . . . It's a gleeful, kooky and tender homage to Charles Portis' True Grit with echoes of Tom Robbins and yes, Elinor Lipman too." - Los Angeles Times
"A tumultuous road trip through a tumultuous America."
- Washington Post, Books to Watch for in 2025
"A wistful elegy -- some might say a eulogy -- to a kinder, gentler time ... Among the many melancholy pleasures of this novel is that Walter synthesizes that desire many of us feel -- and mostly resist -- to crawl under the covers... 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....If there's hope to be found within this harsh landscape, it's in our connection with one another.... Or for that matter, novels like this one." - Los Angeles Times
"A tremendous achievement. . . . Like Station Eleven and The Handmaid's Tale, this novel by Walter feels both prescient and timely yet with a backward glance . . . with an urgency that may make it one of the strongest realist but dystopian novels of the present era." - Library Journal (starred review)
"Great art... draws you in and doesn't really let up for the next 256 pages. Told with an omniscient third-person sense of humor, the book's themes are nonetheless serious... Most readers won't need more than a day or two to reach the final page." - Associated Press
"The characters are created with loving care, the plot with reckless glee; Walter seems as fed up with various aspects of modern life as the smartphone-hating Rhys, and gives his version of the modern Northwest a distinctly Old West vibrational overlay....Walter is a beacon of wit, decency, and style." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"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. " - Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author of The Leftovers
"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." - Lauren Groff, New York Times bestselling author of Matrix
"Like Station Eleven and The Handmaid's Tale, this novel by Walter (The Angels of Rome and Other Stories) feels both prescient and timely yet with a backward glance....Gritty survivalist stories, from bunkers to bar rooms, converge in this propulsive novel that glances backward to 2016 while signaling what dangers come to fruition when people relinquish human bonds in favor of ideological fervor....This work is a tremendous achievement... with an urgency that may make it one of the strongest realist but dystopian novels of the present era." - Library Journal (starred review)
"Propulsive...Walter serves up a rollicking and heartrending adventure about a broken man determined to set things right in an increasingly divided America....Walter offers an honest and even touching look at the [characters'] need for purpose while finding deadpan humor in their failings....This captivates." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Propulsive. . . . Walter serves up a rollicking and heartrending adventure about a broken man determined to set things right in an increasingly divided America. . . . This captivates." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A buoyant, witty caper." - New York Times
"Rhythmically snarky and surprisingly tender, So Far Gone will claim a spot near the Edgar Allan Poe Award-winning Citizen Vince in Walter's impressive canon." - Seattle Times
"Against this backdrop Jess Walter's buoyant, witty caper So Far Gone . . . Walter's affinity for his quirky cast shines through in their banter. Amid a spike in white nationalism, as our country reels from threats within, Walter seeks deeper bonds of affection, a holistic vision of We the People, even if it's a mirage." - The New York Times
"Walter is not one for settling too long in a single style. The Washington state native has dabbled in mysteries, thrillers, domestic dramas and historical epics, often working in a variety of modes and genres at any given time. Still, for all these protean leaps, his sense of humor -- a knack for finding the absurd clad in mundane clothing - tends to give him away." - NPR
"A quick read--the kind you can definitely finish in a couple summer afternoons--Jess Walter's latest crackles with the author's wit, even whilst immersing itself in the thick of modern American woes. So Far Gone's protagonist...is pulled into a zany adventure (with an equally entertaining ensemble cast) as he attempts to bring his family back together." - Elle
"[Walter] writes like a sly angel...Enjoy the ride in this sweet, sharp book." - Air Mail, "Best Read of the Week"
"Who better to give us the latest version of a recluse with a heart of gold than Walter?... It's a gleeful, kooky and tender homage to Charles Portis' "True Grit" with echoes of Tom Robbins and yes, Elinor Lipman too." - Los Angeles Times
"A book for our times. . . . Serious and sad topics masterfully written with inventive humor and a whiff of hope." - Esquire
"In this brilliant and riotous jaunt through modern America, .... Walter's "So Far Gone" is a standout read this summer." - Huffington Post
"There is both hurt and healing in So Far Gone in its depiction of both a society that can seem so far gone down the wrong road and people who want to do the right thing." - Daily Kos
"Jess Walter has done it again." - The Advocate
""Winning and interesting...Walter taps into his crime origins to bring us his penchant for snappy dialogue and expert quick establishment of secondary characters...Walter is trying to paint a route through what seems to be a kind of collective madness to reconnection and a return to community and dignity...Very well done."
- Chicago Tribune
"Entertaining and, ultimately, cathartic... a madcap road novel... across the Pacific Northwest, encountering one distinctly American weirdo after the next... As it barrels toward its conclusion, So Far Gone inevitably becomes about the value of connection." - Vulture
"Balancing on the narrow path between comic observation and dark realism isn't easy, but the Beautiful Ruins author navigates the journey with blistering humor and an insider's eye." - The Minnesota Star Tribune
"Jess Walter's 'So Far Gone' is so far, soooo good....A compelling tale of a broken America and the struggles of the everyday few to try and bring back some semblance of being united... This is a romp in the style of the best of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett, ....a noir style thriller that follows the conflict lived by every family that has gathered for Thanksgiving after 2015." - The Spokesman-Review
"So Far Gone," which is both amusing and sad, is a terrific novel penned by national treasure Jess Walter....The story is razor sharp and riveting....The characters are rich and the book is a sign of the times." - Pasadena Weekly
"As one would expect from a writer of Walter's empathy and intelligence, So Far Gone transcends the madcap misadventures of the Kinnick clan.... Walter makes an affecting, persuasive case that our deepest happiness is the sort we find closest to home." - BookPage (starred review)