Preparation for the Next Life

by Atticus Lish

Genres: General Fiction; Literary Fiction; War & Military; Romance

Synopsis

SOON TO BE 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.

Release date: August 5, 2025

Publisher: Vintage

Print pages: 432