In broken country

AI Rating: 1/10 - David Wagoner's 1979 novel follows a middle-aged man on a rugged backpacking trip in the Cascade Mountains with friends and family, exploring themes of aging, friendship, wilderness survival, and personal introspection amid natural beauty and peril. Lacking progressive political messaging, social justice agendas, identity politics, or diversity quotas, it prioritizes character-driven storytelling and evocative nature writing over any ideological content. Pre-1980s context reinforces its apolitical literary focus.