Preparation for the Next Life: A Novel (PEN/Faulkner Award Winner for Fiction)
Aug 2025 · Sold by Vintage
Ebook
432
Pages
Tools
info
family_home
Eligible
info
About this ebook
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • WINNER OF THE PEN/FAULKNER PRIZE • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • A troubled war veteran and an undocumented immigrant find love while struggling to survive
A BEST BOOK OF 2014: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Publishers Weekly, BuzzFeed
“Dizzying in its ambition and exhilarating in its triumph.”—The New York Times Book Review
Brad Skinner, newly returned from three tours in Iraq, hitchhikes to New York hoping to exorcise his demons and reacclimate to American society. Zou Lei, an undocumented immigrant from Central Asia, catches a bus into the city, searching for a way to get by—or at least stay out of jail. Skinner and Zou Lei meet each other in the margins of the metropolis, each finding something they long for in the other, and their unlikely love story becomes the beating heart of this remarkable tale.
Set in the underbelly of New York, Preparation for the Next Life exposes an America as seen from the fringes of society and, in devastating detail, lays waste to the myth of the American Dream through two of the most memorable characters in contemporary fiction. Powerful, realistic, and raw, Atticus Lish’s masterful first novel is one of the most ambitious—and necessary—stories of our time.
A BEST BOOK OF 2014: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Publishers Weekly, BuzzFeed
“Dizzying in its ambition and exhilarating in its triumph.”—The New York Times Book Review
Brad Skinner, newly returned from three tours in Iraq, hitchhikes to New York hoping to exorcise his demons and reacclimate to American society. Zou Lei, an undocumented immigrant from Central Asia, catches a bus into the city, searching for a way to get by—or at least stay out of jail. Skinner and Zou Lei meet each other in the margins of the metropolis, each finding something they long for in the other, and their unlikely love story becomes the beating heart of this remarkable tale.
Set in the underbelly of New York, Preparation for the Next Life exposes an America as seen from the fringes of society and, in devastating detail, lays waste to the myth of the American Dream through two of the most memorable characters in contemporary fiction. Powerful, realistic, and raw, Atticus Lish’s masterful first novel is one of the most ambitious—and necessary—stories of our time.
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • WINNER OF THE PEN/FAULKNER PRIZE • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • A troubled war veteran and an undocumented immigrant find love while struggling to survive
A BEST BOOK OF 2014: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Publishers Weekly, BuzzFeed
“Diz...
Discover more
About the author
ATTICUS LISH is the author of The War for Gloria and Preparation for the Next Life, which won the 2015 Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the 2016 Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine. He lives in California.
ATTICUS LISH is the author of The War for Gloria and Preparation for the Next Life, which won the 2015 Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the 2016 Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine. He lives in California.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
