Preparation for the Next Life
Winner of the 2015 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
'BLISTERING' THE TIMES * 'EXTRAORDINARY' FINANCIAL TIMES
SOON TO BE A MJAOR MOTION PICTURE
A gut-wrenching love story set in the underbelly of New York, about the unexpected connection between an illegal Uyghur migrant and a damaged Iraq veteran.
*Winner of the New York City Book Award for Fiction*
*Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Fiction*
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, destroys the myth of the American Dream through two of the most remarkable characters in contemporary fiction. Powerful, realistic and raw, this is one of the most ambitious – and necessary – novels of our time.
New York Times Best of 2014
Wall Street Journal's Best of 2014
Vanity Fair's Best of 2014
Publishers Weekly's Best of 2014
BuzzFeed's Best of 2014
New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2015
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lish (Life Is with People) turns to fiction with this stunning debut novel that plumbs the underbelly of New York City, tracing the relationship of Zou Lei, a Chinese immigrant working in a tiny noodle restaurant, and Skinner, an AWOL Iraqi war veteran and wanderer. Enduring stints in prison and homelessness, Zou Lei and Skinner experience life on society's fringes. Lish destroys the American dream with the struggles his characters face for Zou Lei, it's enough to survive: "forget living like an American. It was enough to be free on the streets." New York City is anything but idyllic; through the perspective of the two protagonists, it is frightening and cruel and alien. Zou Lei and Skinner have their budding relationship tested by insurmountable odds, and their own foibles and peculiarities are rendered with vivid detail. Lish's prose is at once raw and disciplined, and every word feels necessary.
