So Far Gone cover art

So Far Gone

A Novel

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So Far Gone

By: Jess Walter
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
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About this listen

""A warm, funny, loving novel. . . . 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

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).

©2025 Jess Walter (P)2025 HarperCollins Publishers
Action & Adventure Historical Fiction World Literature Funny Witty

Critic reviews

A Vogue “Best Book of the Year” * An Amazon “Best Book of the Year” * A Publishers Weekly ""Most Anticipated"" * A Washington Post “Most Anticipated” * An Oprah's Book Club “Best Summer Read” * An Esquire “Best Book of the Summer” An LA Times “Must Read Book for the Summer” * A New York Times “Book to Read This Summer” * A CBS Sunday “New Summer Read * An NPR “Dark Tale to Hit the Shelves” * An Elle “Best Book of the Summer” * A Lit Hub “Must Read Book for the Summer” * A Chicago Tribune “Summer Book” * A Minnesota Star Tribune ""Terrific Book for the Beach"" * An Alta Magazine ""Book of the Month"" * A New York Times ""New Book We Recommend"" * A Lit Hub ""Best Reviewed Book"" * A NY Post ""Best New Book"" * An Airmail “Best Read of the Week” * A Publishers Weekly Starred Review * A Kirkus Starred Review * A Library Journal Starred Review

All stars
Most relevant  
It is very America-centric and banging on about the pandemic and Trump's re-election will no doubt date it in years to come. I actually agreed with a lot of the protagonist's views but found his point of view fairly boring. The whole story is fairly boring and centred around the characters and their lives more than the plot. None of the plot points are exciting or gripping either, just a trudge through Americana following an old man who doesn't know what a smartphone is.

The narration on the audiobook was good and the ending was at least how you would expect a book set in America to end. That was about it. Would not recommend.

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