S8, Ep. 37: Jess Walter on the American Family Unplugged

Fiction writer Jess Walter joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his new novel So Far Gone, in which a former environmental reporter living off the grid is jolted back onto it by the surprise arrival of his two grandchildren and news of his missing daughter. Walter talks about developing the character of his protagonist’s son-in-law, whose right-wing politics are one of the causes of the family’s fissure. He also reflects on what it means that conspiracy theorists, who were formerly at the fringes of American politics, are now at its center, and why it is important for writers to depict the interior lives of those with different political beliefs. Walter reads from So Far Gone. Selected Readings: Jess Walter So Far Gone Beautiful Ruins The Cold Millions We Live in Water The Angel of Rome and Other Stories The Financial Lives of the Poets Citizen Vince Ruby Ridge:  The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family Over Tumbled Graves Land of the Blind Others "America's 'Spot News' Novelist Takes on the Trump Era from Spokane" Washington Post Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 6: "All the President's Shakespeare: Jess Walter and Kiki Petrosino"  Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4 Episode 4: “Life After Trump: Jess Walter and Jerald Walker on the Aftermath of Election 2020” Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 8 Episode 5: Jess Walter on the Election ‹ Literary Hub Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices