When the history of the United States in 2025 is written, perhaps one of the best things that will be said is: “Well, it made for some great art.”

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 exhib

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