{"id":79470,"date":"2014-11-12T14:30:40","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T19:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=79470"},"modified":"2014-11-12T14:08:18","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T19:08:18","slug":"a-necessary-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/12\/a-necessary-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"A Necessary Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_79471\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/atticuslish.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-79471\" class=\"wp-image-79471\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/atticuslish.jpg\" alt=\"atticuslish\" width=\"600\" height=\"352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/atticuslish.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/atticuslish-300x176.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/atticuslish-1024x601.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-79471\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Atticus Lish. Photo: Shelton Walsmith<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Our <a href=\"http:\/\/store.theparisreview.org\/products\/the-paris-review-no-210-fall-2014\">current issue<\/a> features Atticus Lish\u2019s story \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/fiction\/6326\/jimmy-atticus-lish\">Jimmy<\/a>,\u201d an excerpt from his new novel, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.indiebound.org\/book\/9780988518339?aff=theparisreview\"><em>Preparation for the Next Life<\/em><\/a>. The novel is\u00a0out this week, and we\u2019re elated to report that it\u2019s just received <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/11\/13\/books\/preparation-for-the-next-life-by-atticus-lish.html\" target=\"_blank\">a rave review from Dwight Garner in the <em>New York Times<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This is an intense book with a low, flyspecked center of gravity. It\u2019s about blinkered lives, scummy apartments, dismal food, bad options. At its knotty core, amazingly, is perhaps the finest and most unsentimental love story of the new decade \u2026 Atticus Lish has written a necessary novel, one with echoes of early Ken Kesey, of William T. Vollmann\u2019s best writing and of Thom Jones\u2019s pulverizing short stories.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Many congratulations to Atticus on the well-deserved praise. Read a brief excerpt from \u201cJimmy\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/fiction\/6326\/jimmy-atticus-lish\">here<\/a>, and pick up a copy of <em>Preparation for the Next Life<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.indiebound.org\/book\/9780988518339?aff=theparisreview\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our current issue features Atticus Lish\u2019s story \u201cJimmy,\u201d an excerpt from his new novel, Preparation for the Next Life. The novel is\u00a0out this week, and we\u2019re elated to report that it\u2019s just received a rave review from Dwight Garner in the New York Times: This is an intense book with a low, flyspecked center of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2559],"tags":[15146,2814,71,15141,747,16008,477,282],"class_list":["post-79470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin","tag-atticus-lish","tag-dwight-garner","tag-fiction","tag-issue-210","tag-novels","tag-preparation-for-the-next-life","tag-reviews","tag-the-new-york-times"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Preparation for the Next Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From our current issue, read an excerpt from Atticus Lish\u2019s debut novel.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/12\/a-necessary-novel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Necessary Novel by Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"November 12, 2014 \u2013 Our current issue features Atticus Lish\u2019s story \u201cJimmy,\u201d an excerpt from his new novel, Preparation for the Next Life. 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