Reviews tagging 'Violence'

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 a them. What a beautiful testament to Cambodian-American life and queerness.

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Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Vomit

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

taylorsevalia's review

challenging emotional reflective sad

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Minor: Gun violence

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.

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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

emmehooks's review

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

This is the kind of short story collection I would have loved to read with a book club. Every story creates a universe full of nuance and life and left me with more questions and thoughts at the close than the start. 

beautiful prose sharing glimpses into American Khmer existences, generational trauma, and queerness .

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, Addiction, War, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Suicide and Drug use

Minor: Miscarriage and Vomit

bookishaddictions's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

This one has been on my shelf forever it seems, so it was time to give it a read. I started this hyped to learn since I don’t normally hear much about Cambodian Americans, and I found I myself researching often and learned quite a bit. Overall, I thought the stories were interesting. Each of the short stories depicts one people living their daily (and often connected) lives; this includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. This book did make me uncomfortable in a bad way though, and that ultimately made it a three star read for me. I do not have an issue with smut or dirty scenes in themselves, however, I typically like my books to be upfront about there being sexual content. I was not prepared for the amount of detailed sexual content was included, so it caught me very off guard. If there had been some indicator that there was sexual content in this one, I think I would have been cool with it. On the bright side, there was a lot of talk of yummy sounding food; I’m now looking to see if I have Cambodian near me 🤣✌🏻

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Domestic abuse and Homophobia

readingthroughinfinity's review

adventurous hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a raw, honest, and moving collection of short stories about Cambodian-Americans finding meaning in their lives and interpersonal bonds in the US. Some of the stand out stories for me were Three women of Chuck's donuts, Maly, Maly, Maly, Human Development, and Generational differences, which were all about family ties and emotional connections with other people.

Anthony Veasna So has a really intimate way of describing human interactions that suggests he really understands the psyche of his characters. I could be wrong, but I got the sense that several of these stories were semi-autobiographical because some of the characters referred to the protagonist as Anthony (and the character's background matched what I know about the author).

This was a bittersweet read because the writing was excellent and really thought-provoking, but the author died before the collection was published, so I know I'll only get to read one more of his books (Songs on Endless Repeat, set to be published in 2023).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Sexual content

Moderate: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Mass/school shootings, and Violence

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.

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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

annuich's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, War, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Mental illness, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Infidelity, Genocide, Drug use, and Dementia

emmclaay's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Sexual content, and Violence