Preparation for the Next Life (2014) by Atticus Lish

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Preparation for the Next Life (2014)

by Atticus Lish

Queens, New York

Brooklyn/Queens/Long Island/Staten Island: 17/26

New York: 94/103

   Preparation for the Next Life was published by Tyrant Press.  Tyrant Press was in the news in April of this year because its publisher, Giancarlo DiTrapano, died what can only be described as an untimely death at the age of 47.    His New York Times obituary described him as a "defiantly independent publisher," which I believe means he refused to sell his company for a comfortable sum and then later made bad financial decisions.  This book was one of his career highlights as a published because it won a PEN/Faulkner award.  Here is the relevant portion from the NYT April Obit:

The next year, Mr. DiTrapano published the first novel by Atticus Lish, “Preparation for the Next Life,” a love story about an Iraq war veteran and a Chinese Muslim immigrant set in Queens. Mr. Lish, a Harvard dropout who once taught English in China, had labored on the novel for years. After reading the manuscript, Mr. DiTrapano became convinced that he had discovered a bold new literary voice, so he ordered his largest print run yet: 3,500 paperback copies.

Reviewing the book in The New York Times, Dwight Garner proclaimed it “perhaps the finest and most unsentimental love story of the new decade,” and it became the talk of the literary world. Mr. DiTrapano scrambled to print thousands more copies. Mr. Lish was recognized with a PEN/Faulkner Award.

     Anyway, the cause of death was not released.  Within the context of the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America Preparation for the Next Life was an absolute joy.  It pulses with the energy of post-Iraq War I NYC- you can practically taste the garbage in your mouth.  There are moments of shocking action- any discussion would be spoiler-adjacent, but wow, it did get my attention.  The character of the Chinese Immigrant woman who forms a relationship with a damaged Iraq-war veteran is well drawn, Lish doesn't patronize her.   RIP Giancarlo DiTrapano. I'm sure he would have been amused to read his own obituary in the New York Times.