You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

A review by jeneanevanderhoof
So Far Gone by Jess Walter

dark emotional funny informative sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Warning: This review is on the book Jess Walter’s, So Far Gone. Readers will find the material in this book covers various sensitive topics- some of which are: violence, family estrangement, conspiracy theories, and some aspects from our current political climate, as well as social aspects too. This review may mention any of these topics, so if any readers are sensitive to these topics, if someone would find them upsetting or triggering, please do not continue on (to read the review and/or book). This warning is here to help readers make an informed decision about whether this is a review and/or book they would like to read.

Jess Walter’s, So Far Gone- should be (in my humble opinion), a classic read one day (even so far as necessary reading it in high school and college)- From page one I was “sucked into this book and couldn’t put it down (I even fell asleep with the book). It’s a bittersweet, sad and twistedly funny (in a gallows humor type of way) story- of the way in which our country (America) has gone- absolutely (bat nuts) crazy. With a terrible ending that, while seeming to some (even me) like poetic justice (just a bit)- brought me to tears (I cried through the last pages of the book, not expecting one part of the ending).

To quote a page (one of my favorites) from the author and one of the main character’s of the story (these are Arys Kinnick’s thoughts on pg.32), “As a journalist (Kinnick), as an American, as a rationalist, Kinnick had come to the terms with the fact that 20 percent of his countrymen were greedy a******s. But then, in 2016, the greedy a******s joined with the idiot a******s and the paranoid a******s (IMO a good way to explain “the joining) in what turned out to be an unbeatable constituency, Kinnick realizing that the a*****e ceiling was much higher than he’d thought, perhaps half the country. Whatever the number, it was more than he could bear. Especially when they were in his own family (and Kinnick means, his son-in-law, Shane)”.

If you can imagine what it is like to have your son-in-law be a member of this “a*****e constituency” or, a believer in conspiracy theories that leads him into a group filled with right-wing militia religious types (which, in the end, becomes his ultimate downfall- and I hate to give away a good- albeit it very surprise ending), an anti-government group called the “Army of the Lord” (or AOL, and it isn’t a dial up Internet service). One Thanksgiving, after sitting through a football game and hearing his son-in-law, Shane, tell him all about how the media, football, the Patriots, the Giants- pulling a whole bunch of random events together, with a whole bunch of random things- able, somehow, to relate them all in some crazy theory- how it all spins- basically, into “a call to arms”, Kinnick has what I’d define as an anxiety attack, punches his son-in-law (never having really raised a hand to anyone in recent time) and finds himself a recluse in his grandfather’s cabin, holed up there for years (even missing his ex-wives cancer and death, along with his daughter and years of his grandchildren’s lives).

Now, surrounded by piles of books (that Kinnick seems to spend his days reading and taking notes on), raccoons that Kinnick tries to chase away with an air rifle, running everything in his cabin with batteries (if it will run) and with only an outhouse for a bathroom, when a friend of his daughters shows up at his backwoods cabin with his semi-grown grandchildren, saying that Bethany (his daughter) has “disappeared”, leaving a note that asked her kids, if necessary, be taken to her father- Kinnick is dismayed. However, this is the beginning of a trip that will lead this man back to the land of the living and the family he so longed to not disappoint- despite the fact the country is just as crazy as when he left it. However, will everything that Rhys is about to do, show that he once again deserves a way back into the fold- especially when it comes to his daughter, Bethany?

The biggest problem though- since Shane (the crazy conspiracist son-in-law) has gone after Bethany, he has sent the only people in his life to watch his children- the militia/ church, anti-government group he is a part of (most of the time, reading this book, my thoughts turned to the thought, what kind of church has armed members, but I digress). Nonetheless, this group feels that since Shane has told them to take his children, and since he has described his father-in-law to the group (and not in a good way)- these “Army of the Lord” members will stop at nothing to get his grandchildren.

With a broken jaw (from the militia men) and his grandchildren taken, turning to the cops is no help (as the local ones seem to like the Army of the Lord). So calling an ex-girlfriend Kinnick is turned on to the craziest, bi-polar ex-cop in the history of literature (and probably IRL- who is a real hoot to read about and a great character addition to this story)- who does everything in an insane way to help Rhys get his grandkids. After dropping the grandkids in the one place he can hide them from the AOL members- all he has to do is find Bethany and ensure that all is all right (if it ever can be, again). However, something from Rhys past riles up one of the members of the militia and in the end, this isn’t a group that you want to tangle with (if only because they have one too many so called “accidents”).

This is MOST definitely a book that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss, in fact it’s one that will go on the list of my top ten favorite reads of all time- if only because it defines the reality of much of our country right now. Having watched a documentary of what Alex Jones had much of America believing over the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, I was dismayed to learn what much of our country could believe (and then a good majority of those people would turn and torture the poor parents who had lost their very young children in a brutal, terrible and senseless moment). That’s why a book like So Far Gone is so important- because, right now, it illustrates reality (and a scary one at that). Plus, while many readers won’t want to see the book end the way it did (and maybe some readers might), mixing militias and churches- guns and prayer- it wouldn’t seem an ending to things of that nature would- or should- be pretty. However, there may still be a happily ever after (maybe not one quite so pretty though) for some of the characters in the story…..(but you’ll have to pick up So Far Gone by Jess Walter, to find out ;).

Happy Reading!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings