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. He’s also invested his protagonist with a self-deprecating sense of humor that keeps his pessimism from veering into maudlin territory. If there’s hope to be found within this harsh landscape, it’s in our connection with one another.
[A] buoyant, witty caper ... Walter’s affinity for his quirky cast shines through in their banter ... Lacks the layers of the author’s previous works ... His set pieces entertain.
It’s a great hook that draws you in and doesn’t really let up for the next 256 pages ... The plot unfolds quickly. Most readers won’t need more than a day or two to reach the final page.
If So Far Gone’s starting point is an obvious, potentially static thought experiment — what if you could opt out of the past decade or so of American life? — where it goes is much more entertaining and, ultimately, cathartic ... There’s a hint of Vonnegut in the ambition of So Far Gone’s thematic scope ... It’s that dash of cynicism that makes So Far Gone a worthy novel about These Times(™) — even at its most optimistic, it never suggests we’ll all be able to come together and hold hands.
The novel has genuinely severe consequences for some characters, but it also makes a lot of excuses for people, presenting some militia members as just misunderstood or misguided, and Kinnick concludes a profanity-laden screed about the 2016 election by saying that Trump voters 'weren’t really the problem' ... This would be a pleasant read in a vacuum, but in the world that it’s attempting to comment on, it can feel obtuse.
Brisk ... Considering the newsworthy crises Mr. Walter wants to comment on...Rhys’s adventures seem incongruously cartoonish, mixing shootouts with laugh-track banter ... If there must be a potted lesson, I guess I’m glad I agree with it.
Walter taps into his crime origins to bring us his penchant for snappy dialogue and expert quick establishment of these secondary characters ... This is, as expected, a very well-done novel ... There are laugh-out-loud moments of comedy and dark incidents of violence.
Walter’s trademark mix of clever dialogue, diverting tangents, heartrending emotional stakes, and real-feeling characters caught in amped-up human situations will please a broad range of readers.
Feels both prescient and timely yet with a backward glance ... This work is a tremendous achievement: more literary and ambitious than Walter’s previous popular books, with an urgency that may make it one of the strongest realist but dystopian novels of the present era.
The genius of Jess Walter's writing is both mercury and steel: never predictable, always reliable ... A thriller, a family drama, and a think piece all in one, about a man forced to reckon with questions of faith and politics and what we will do to save the ones we love.
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.
So Far Gone feels like a greatest hits album, incorporating career-spanning elements of all of Walter’s best fiction: Punchy, hilarious dialogue, long passages of touching interiority, and astute commentary on the absurdity of our current political moment. This is a novel that shines a stark and steely light on the cracks in our politics, families, and even ourselves. It attempts to answer what could heal those fissures or what would cause them to break irreparably. But in the end, So Far Gone works so well because it’s so much fun. It’s easy to tell how much fun Walter had writing this novel, and that certainly translates to the reading experience as well.
Walter demonstrates his usual talent for creating self-aware-yet-charmingly-flawed characters who draw us into the story on a level deeper than the will-he/won’t-he level of plot ... one more example of Walter’s ability to capture the splendor and horror, love and rage, and failure and redemption of our country. It is a testament to the complexity of our hearts, always beating toward hope and forgiveness.
Things get really serious toward the end in a way we might not be totally prepared for, and doesn’t feel absolutely necessary, but perhaps it’s Walters’ way of saying the danger is real. Walter is a beacon of wit, decency, and style.
Rollicking and heartrending ... The propulsive plot also sees Bethany coming to terms with her own choices, and the reader comes to care deeply about all the primary characters—even Shane, who turns out to be more of a misguided seeker than a villain. This captivates.
