Book Review: As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back by Alle C. Hall

Nominated for The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Book Award, Alle C. Hall’s debut literary novel, As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back is a-girl-and-her-backpack story with a #MeToo influence: 

Carlie is not merely traveling. A child sexual abuse survivor, as a teen she steals ten thousand dollars from her parents and runs away to Asia. There, the Lonely Planet path of hookups, heat, alcohol, and drugs takes on a terrifying reality. Landing in Tokyo in the late 1980s, Carlie falls in with an international crew of tai chi-practicing backpackers. With their help, Carlie has the chance at a journey she didn’t plan for: one to find the self-respect ripped from her as a child and the healthy sexuality she desires.

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

ISBN-10: 1685131476

ISBN-13: 978-1685131470

ASIN: B0BVW7YCYT

Print Length: 267 pages

Purchase a copy of the book on Amazon, Bookshop.org, or Barnes and Noble. Make sure you also add it to your GoodReads reading list.

About the Author, Alle C. Hall

Nominated for The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Book Award and—this just in—winner of The PenCraft Book Award for Fiction – Adventure, Alle C. Hall’s debut literary novel, As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back was winning prizes before its publication, including the National League of American Pen Women’s Mary Kennedy Eastham Prize. Her short stories and essays appear in journals including Dale Peck’s Evergreen Review, Tupelo Quarterly, New World Writing, Litro, Creative Nonfiction, and Another Chicago. She has written for The Seattle Times, Seattle Weekly, and was a contributing writer at The Stranger. She is the former senior nonfiction editor at jmww journal and the former associate editor of Vestal Review. Hall lived in Asia, traveled there extensively, speaks what she calls “clunky” Japanese, and has a tai chi practice of 35 years running.

Find her online at:

Website: https://allehall.wordpress.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allechallwriter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allec.hall/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/allechall1

Substack: https://allechall.substack.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alle-c-hall-36a588159/

My Review:

Four Stars–An epic journey of healing and hope from childhood trauma

Riding the train from Narita Airport to Ueno Station, I thought about how each time you start the kata, you begin by sinking down. You stand with your legs together, rotating them from the hip joint so that your toes pointed out, heels almost touching. Before moving, you take a moment to experience standing, simply standing, pelvis tucked, shoulders rolled back and relaxed, and spin, neck, and head in line and connected to the golden string that attached the best part of you to that great, green god in the sky. If you could do all this while breathing gently, you could do anything.

Alle C. Hall’s novel “As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back” is an epic journey of survival and self-discovery. Protagonist Jennifer, a.k.a. Carlie, gives the reader an inside look on how pervasive incest can be in families, and demonstrates that sometimes even asking for help from the abuse is not an option. Carlie’s family “looks” a certain way, and her mother would rather blame the victims for the sexual abuse rather than giving up the lifestyle she’s grown accustomed to. I was impressed by the plan Carlie put together to escape her father’s grip, change her identity, all while also being resourceful enough to travel to other countries on a shoestring budget as part of her healing. Because she is only a teenager (17) when she leaves home, she has many issues to work through, including a misguided need to connect herself with the men she meets along the way. Hall deftly describes how putting physical distance between yourself and an abuser is only the first step in battling lifelong demons. She then has to overcome her fear of being alone, her addiction to alcohol and then to food, finding her own community in Tokyo and turning to tai chi as she learns to love her mind, body, and spirit again.

One of my favorite parts of the book was learning about what it was like traveling through Asia during the 1980s, and being introduced to the various characters Carlie meets up with. There are so many kindred souls around her who are also working their way through trauma, and she learns from each of them. She finds a home with the couple Cho and Ava in Tokyo, and Ava plays a large role in keeping Carlie accountable in her recovery, encouraging her to support herself financially with a job as an ESL teacher, all while grappling with her own sordid history.

The only reason I gave it a four stars is because it tackles a lot of painful subjects that may not be the right fit for every reader, including incest, eating disorders, and suicide. It’s clear the author spent much time and consideration crafting the poignant scenes found in this book and this is a tale that will inspire many readers for years to come.