Book Review: Jess Walter's 'So Far Gone' sets a redemption story in fractured, modern America
Consider 'So Far Gone,' the new novel by Jess Walter. Set in present day America, it opens with two kids wearing backpacks knocking on a cabin door. 'What are you fine young capitalists selling?' asks Rhys Kinnick, before realizing the kids are his grandchildren. They carry with them a note from Kinnick's daughter, describing dad as a 'recluse who cut off contact with our family and now lives in squalor in a cabin north of Spokane.'
It's a great hook that draws you in and doesn't really let up for the next 256 pages. We learn why Kinnick pulled a Thoreau and went to the woods seven years ago (Hint: It has a lot to do with the intolerance exhibited by no small percentage of Americans and embodied by a certain occupant of the White House), as well as the whereabouts of Kinnick's daughter, Bethany, and why her messy marriage to a guy named Shane led to Kinnick's grandchildren being dropped off at his cabin.
In a neat narrative gimmick, the chapters are entitled 'What Happened to ___' and fill in the main strokes of each character's backstory, as well as what happens to them in the present timeline. Told with an omniscient third-person sense of humor, the book's themes are nonetheless serious. On the demise of journalism in the chapter 'What Happened to Lucy,' one of Kinnick's old flames and colleagues at the Spokesman-Review: She 'hated that reporters were expected to constantly post on social media… before knowing what their stories even meant.' Or Kinnick's thoughts as he holds a .22 Glock given to him just in case by a retired police officer who is helping him get his grandkids back from the local militia: 'The shiver that went through his arm! The power!… The weight of this gun was the exact weight of his anger and his fear and his sense of displacement… That's where its incredible balance lay.'
As Kinnick links up with various characters and drives across the Northwest in search of his daughter and grandchildren, the plot unfolds quickly. Most readers won't need more than a day or two to reach the final page, which satisfies the Thoreau quote Walter uses in the story's preface: 'Not till we are lost… 'till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves.'
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Mischief wrapped in tenderness. A poet disguised as an outlaw. A father, a son, a brother — etched in contradiction, tempered by love that left its mark.' 12 DeAnna Madsen, Michael Madsen and Luke Madsen attend a photocall at Casa del Cinema on March 15, 2014, in Rome, Italy. Getty Images 12 Madsen filed for divorce from his third wife, DeAnna Madsen, in September 2024 after 28 years of marriage. Getty Images 'We're not mourning a public figure. We're not mourning a myth — but flesh and blood and ferocious heart,' the 'Candy Man' actress continued. 'Who stormed through life loud, brilliant, and half on fire. Who leaves us echoes — gruff, brilliant, unrepeatable — half legend, half lullaby.' 'I'll miss our inside jokes, the sudden laughter, the sound of him,' she concluded. 'I'll miss the boy he was before the legend; I miss my big brother.' Madsen's 'Reservoir Dogs' co-star Harvey Keitel, as well as his 'Kill Bill' co-star Vivica A. Fox, also reacted to the shocking news of his death on Thursday. 12 Madsen as Mr. Blonde and Harvey Keitel as Mr. White in 'Reservoir Dogs.' Live Entertainment/Kobal/Shutterstock 12 Madsen and Keitel in another still from Quentin Tarantino's 'Reservoir Dogs.' Live Entertainment/Kobal/Shutterstock 'We've lost another great American poet,' Keitel, 86, told The Post. 'Farewell, my dear friend.' 'I had the pleasure of working with Michael Madsen on 'Kill Bill' & several other films!' Fox, 60, also told The Post in a statement. 'Michael was a talented man with an AMAZING on-screen presence! My deepest condolences & prayers to his family.' Besides being a frequent collaborator with the famed director Quentin Tarantino during his decades-long acting career, Madsen was also working on and looking forward to several projects at the time of his shocking death, including three new movies and a book. 12 Madsen was working on and looking forward to several projects at the time of his shocking passing. Michael Madsen/Instagram 12 'We've lost another great American poet,' Harvey Keitel told The Post after the news of Madsen's death. 'Farewell, my dear friend.' WireImage 'In the last two years Michael Madsen has been doing some incredible work with independent film including upcoming feature films 'Resurrection Road,' 'Concessions' and 'Cookbook for Southern Housewives,' and was really looking forward to this next chapter in his life,' his managers Susan Ferris and Ron Smith, as well as publicist Liz Rodriguez, told The Post. 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