Preparation For The Next Life

Atticus Lish’s 2015 novel Preparation For The Next Life follows Zou Lei, a young woman who is an illegal immigrant from Afghanistan. Her status makes it very challenging for her to find work to support herself, and her most stable gig has been working at a Cantonese restaurant. Although it pays her enough to live, she does not get along with the manager who regularly yells at her and tries to unfairly dock her wages. She is desperate to change her situation and find a way to obtain her green card so that she can stay in America without worry.

Zou Lei is in love with Brad Skinner, and she thinks she may be able to realize her American dream through him. Brad is a war veteran who suffers from extreme symptoms of anxiety and PTSD. He has frequent nightmares, hallucinations, and has developed an addiction to alcohol, which he uses as a coping mechanism. Brad lives in the basement of Mrs. Murphy’s home.

When Brad and Zou Lei meet, they immediately fall in love. Brad promises to do everything in his power to prevent her from being deported. In spite of the affection they have for one another, Brad’s mental health and addiction issues sometimes get in the way. They have had fights about it, and he is doing his best to remain on the long road to recovery.



Mrs. Murphy’s son Jimmy is an ex-convict and a white supremacist. Believing he is superior to other ethnicities, he blames Chinese immigrants for the downfall of his hometown. While Brad is living at the Murphys’, Jimmy comes back to his family home to live. Jimmy rails against immigrants, and he shows no remorse for the crimes he has committed, among them the rape and murder of a Chinese woman. In his mind, he is justified for the action he has taken due to what has been taken from him by the immigrant population. Jimmy has essentially given up on life, believing he is doomed after carrying out his prison sentence.

As the three character’s lives converge, things start to go downhill. Skinner’s PTSD is wildly out of control, causing him to behave violently, even towards Zou Lei. Things take a turn for the worse for Zou Lei when a new hire at work ends up filling all the hours, clearly favored by the manager in spite of her poor attitude. Zou Lei travels to the next town over, twenty miles away, in search of work. Here she meets Tesha Noor, who is also a Muslim immigrant. Zou Lei’s story tugs at his heartstrings, and he feels compelled to help her. He introduces Zou Lei to his wife. They give her some food and bring her to a nearby mosque.

During the mosque service, Zou Lei learns about the afterlife, something she had not given much thought to previously. She realizes that she should not be wasting too much of her energy on her life in this world and that her goal moving forward should be to prepare herself for the next life. After attending mosque, she decides that she doesn’t need Skinner’s help to secure her green card after all, deciding to try to make it on her own.



Jimmy, who has been selling drugs in order to make a bit of money, decides to go to a Chinese massage parlor, where he forces a woman to have sex with him against her will. When he later finds out the woman has died, he blames it on a Chinese crime ring. Jimmy has also been stealing in order to get by, and all of these factors contribute to accentuating Skinner’s PTSD, especially since he suspects Jimmy of stealing his things.

Nevertheless, Skinner is determined to remain strong and on the right track for the sake of Zou Lei. He returns home one day and realizes that she is missing, and all of her possessions are gone. He immediately confronts Jimmy about it, which results in a big blowout between the two. Mrs. Murphy calls the police and Skinner is arrested. He tells the police that he believes Jimmy has done something terrible to Zou Lei, but they do not believe him. They release him but refuse to follow up on Zou Lei’s disappearance, which infuriates Skinner.

He returns to the Murphys' home, this time with a gun and insists that Jimmy tell him where Zou Lei is, and what he has done to her. Jimmy denies everything, but Skinner refuses to believe him, instead, shooting him in the head. After this, he runs out to the alley to take stock of what he has done. He understands that his actions have cost him everything and that darkness follows him wherever he goes. He decides to shoot himself to end his life.



When Zou Lei returns to the Murphy home, she finds Skinner’s body in the alleyway. She takes what little he has given her and flees to Arizona, once again in search of work and a better life, vowing to make the best of the opportunities she has received through Skinner.