So Far Gone by Jess Walter

"So Far Gone came from a question I kept asking over the last few years of what to do with all this dread: political, social, ecological, existential dread. Could a person simply run away from it…? That urge came over me like a fever in 2023 and 2024, so I wrote feverishly over that period" Jess Walter

Thank you to Susan at thecuecard.com who gave me a heads up a few weeks ago regarding So Far Gone by Jess Walter.  This novel was released on June 10th.  I put in my order through Libby early which is fortunate because right now So Far Gone is a 16 week wait.

So Far Gone is a timely novel about present day America and the deep divide that has taken place in our country. The novel centers around Rhys Kinnock and his family.  They have been torn apart by politics and the trouble reaches a boiling point on Thanksgiving right after the 2016 Presidential election.  Rhys becomes furious when his son-law Shane starts reciting conspiracy theories and calls him a snowflake.  Rhy punches Shane and is shocked by what he has done.  Rhys is not a violent man but Shane would not agree to give politics a rest and Rhys lost it.

Rhys as he drives away from the family gathering feels ashamed at what he did.  And as he examines his current situation he is becoming more depressed at the current political climate, the newspaper he worked for closing down.  His ex-wife is remarried.  His daughter Bethany, Shane and their young children have their own lives.

And so Rhys decides to make a radical change.   He owns a cabin deep in the woods of Washington State and he could live there off the grid.  He could read to his heart's content, write that second book he has been planning. Rhys at his old newspaper was an environmental reporter and so living alone in the wilderness has alot of appeal.

But seven years later Rhys has become a hermit.  His cabin is falling apart, Rhys rarely shaves and he is still writing that book that even he knows he will never finish.  And then one day Rhys opens the door and two children accompanied by a woman are standing outside.  They are Rhys' grandchildren, Leah 13 and Asher 9.  Their mother Bethany has run off and Shane their father has gone looking for her.  But before Bethanny left she asked her neighbor Anna to bring the kids to their grandfather's house.

Rhys is stunned by this turn of events and by the fact that until he was told who they were he didn't recognize his own grandchildren.  And thus begins his journey back to civilization to find his daughter Bethany and rescue his grandchildren from the dangerous survivalist movement that Shane has gotten mixed up with. 

So Far Gone raises important questions about our current political climate but also about why shutting yourself off from others is a bad idea.  And once you reenter the world there can be danger and disappointment but there are also good people willing to help,  

Such is the case with Chuck an ex-cop with bipolar issues and Brian, Rhys' Native American neighbor who ends up saving the day.   Chuck and Brian are all in on helping Rhys locate his daughter and protect his grandchildren and they ask nothing in return. Such friends you don't meet if you stay holed up in your cabin.  I am rating So Far Gone 4 stars.