I wanted to give this more stars as it's worthy, and well put together, but in the long run it doesn't amount to much. Of course, it's difficult to be fresh about the war, which is no reason not to keep trying, but in any case, Far to Go isn't fresh. It's a small story, banal in the detail, and not particularly insightful, with thinly drawn characters and no strong sense of time or place.

There are a couple of slightly annoying layers - the author's family has been fictionalised, and then THAT family's story has been novelised, with the join made obvious through the device of an involved but apparently reliable narrator. I can see why this is - the author clearly wants to make a point about the layers through which memories, and unremembered pasts, are recovered and the resulting resonances - but in general I find this sort of a cheat's device... Just tell the story, and we'll get it.

Anyway it's readable, if not fully convincing, but not aiming very high.