So Far Gone

Rhys Kinnick is the central protagonist of the novel. He is introduced as a retired journalist who went into self-exile in 2016 after a series of events—the loss of his job, the end of his relationship with Lucy Park, and the provocations of his son-in-law Shane Collins—convinced him that the world no longer needed him. Walter heavily relies on backstory to explain Rhys’s motivations and to deepen the emotional impact that his self-exile inflicts on his life and the lives of his family. In the present action of the novel, Rhys is focused largely on making amends for his actions and for lost time.

Rhys is an environmentalist. When he worked as a journalist, he covered the environment beat, allowing him to meet Brian and Joanie through their activist efforts, as well as Dean Burris during his poaching trial. Rhys’s intellectualism impacted his relationships by making him unsympathetic to the emotional needs of the people in his life. This is best demonstrated by his affair with Lucy Park, which led to the end of her marriage. Rhys’s ex-wife Celia tried to get him to realize the moral weight of his actions, but Rhys argued that Lucy’s divorce was inevitable regardless of the affair.