Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So

12 reviews

robinks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This collection of short stories was so engaging and devastating. So seamlessly integrates fact and fiction, and I love how the characters jump off the page, some recurring in multiple stories to get another perspective on them. What a beautiful testament to Cambodian-American life and queerness.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Dementia, Genocide, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Mass/school shootings, Sexual content, War, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, Child death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Drug use, Medical content, and Racism

Minor: Vomit, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

samantha1960's review

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

One of the best short story collections I’ve ever read. Each one is unique yet perfectly aligns with the books overall theme. This book will make you laugh with absurdly weird moments and cry from true tragedies. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racism, War, Addiction, Death, Dementia, Colonisation, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Mental illness

tm400's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this was a wonderful collection of short stories that illuminated the lives of different cambodian americans, and how the effects of the khmer genocide in the 70s continue to affect the cambodians that managed to flee + their children. the author was a gay cambodian american so all of the stories relate to either one or both of those aspects of his identity
i really enjoyed this collection, but the one thing i disliked about the story most by far is the (in my opinion) over-sexualization of many aspects throughout the book. i know the author is gay, and i know his homosexuality is an intrinsic part of this life/experience- i just personally dislike reading sexualized scenarios (especially in scenes that aren't inherently sexual?) and i wasn't understanding the relevance of such.. detail to the actual story. i also felt like the language/detail at times was excessively vulgar/grotesque/idek..just way vivid and not what i was expecting. i disliked that a lot.
those are my main demerit, so i'm giving this one 4/5 stars. also this is going to sound bizarre but there was one story in particular that genuinely made me angry, and that was superking strikes again.... i'm just copying what i wrote in my journal:
"paired with genuinely grotesque language about blood, guts, crude things, etc., it was just a hard piece for me to digest. that, on top of the fact that it's written in a first person perspective ("we" pronouns) and has TWENTY-EIGHT SEPARATE INSTANCES OF PARENTHETICAL STATEMENTS, it makes the story feel like it's trying so desperately to be something that it's just not... and it was obvious, to me."
trust me. i counted.

definitely recommend the read!!! also there are definitely more tw's than what i've listed i just wld have to scan thru the book again for a super detailed tw list! 

(my copy had 256 pages) 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, and Racism

Moderate: Mass/school shootings and Sexual content

martinatan's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Enjoyable and incredibly reflective. At the center of all of these stories is the protagonists’ emotional development, set against a vibrant exploration of many corners of the Cambodian American experience. It is obvious that the author found a lot of catharsis in writing about friends, relatives, and other figures of his personal community. He treats all of these people with empathy and nuance. I was a little lost at times when beginning a new story as it would introduce a new point of view, and it took me a little effort to come to terms with the fine line that So treads between autobiography and autofiction. However, it didn’t take me long to grow fond of each character’s personality and care about their challenges and victories. I felt some kinship as a fellow Asian American, but learned much more about the specific histories that Cambodian immigrants in California have to reckon with. Hard for me to pick a favorite story, but Generational Differences was an extremely interesting and uniquely written story to end the collection on. I wish Anthony Veasna So were still here to see his work move through the world, but regardless he leaves behind a body of work that I and many others will cherish.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Drug use, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, Death, Dementia, Medical content, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Addiction

Minor: Gun violence, Classism, Violence, Hate crime, Cancer, Drug abuse, War, Cursing, Colonisation, Excrement, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Racism

caroliiineb's review

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide and Racism

Minor: Death, Gun violence, and Suicide

kayladaila's review

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Excrement, Terminal illness, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, War, Abandonment, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Alcohol

geraldinerowe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I didn't really get hooked until the second half. Without giving too much away that's where both the really endearing and utterly gut wrenching stories lie. After I'd finished the book and was skimming through the acknowledgements my emotions caught up with me and I started to cry, something very few books have made me do. Well worth a read alone for learning about the Cambodian atrocities. I was young when they were on the news so was aware of the situation but not of the detail. They don't feature heavily as a plot line, but influence every aspect of these stories.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Murder, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Racism, Suicide, and Sexual content

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Drug use, War, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Cultural appropriation, Suicide, Racism, Alcohol, Classism, and Sexual content

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

afterparties is an interesting book that refreshingly features cambodians and cambodian americans - a rarely spotlighted group - and the byproduct is a semi-interconnecting set of original, unpredictable, sometimes startlingly provocative yet darkly humorous short stories, though i feel like some of them could've been more impactful.

every ethnic group always has a set of commonalities that binds them, yet as so adeptly illustrates here, they are multifaceted and far from being a monolith. i learn a lot abt cambodian culture and the u.s. cambodian community - despite them being a lil similar to my own - but i also enjoy this for its purely fictional aspect, w/ a particular favorite being "human development." 

the different immigrant struggles, family conflicts, legacy of intergenerational trauma are examined through various characters and storylines. although they're effective in varying degrees, i often find myself smirking and snorting bc of the dark humor that only the marginalized and survivors know to espouse, while also startled by the off-handed mentions of trauma and violence, a firm reminder that the genocide that sent this group of ppl to where they reside happened not long ago, yet it's also not talked abt enough in the mainstream. 

from this volume, it's clear that so was a literary force to be reckoned w/, someone whose future work i would've looked forward to. ig we'll all have to make do w/ afterparties, a nonetheless notable work.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Sexual content, and Dementia

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Violence, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Racism, Excrement, and Gun violence

Minor: Addiction, War, Child death, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Homophobia, and Drug abuse

elihegy's review

funny informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, Dementia, Genocide, Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Addiction