Books like Preparation for the Next Life

Having read a couple glowing reviews, my expectations were high. I would say they were met in most ways. But there is a disturbing and painful core to this book, it permeates the whole of it really; that makes it a hard book to love. It's a book you accept. A novel you realize reflects far too much of the reality of American life in the 21st century. It's sad and makes you want to puke. But you keep reading because the prose is kinetic and the landscapes... it hinges in some respects on the landscape swallowing up the characters and spitting them back out. A dark and nefarious landscape full of characters that are blind to personal desires, such as those of our main characters. The humming, throbbing beat of life, in New York and wherever down and out folks may find themselves, doesn't pause for anyone. If you can't tread above water, like the damaged war veteran Skinner, or if you have too many chips stacked against you like the incredibly fleshed out protagonist, Zou Lei, the tide will oversweep you.I will probably carry this book in my mind for many years but I will not be cheerful about the prospect. I will acknowledge it as a necessary burden of being honest to ourselves about what America is. And we have always known that it's not a gentle and nurturing place. It is a place where you have to fight to make it out of the muck.