Reviews

Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So

embsc's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional inspiring fast-paced

5.0

allietay41's review against another edition

Go to review page

QUITE good.

ljutavidra's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Mnogo mi je žao što nam Entoni neće podariti još neko delo. Ovo je bilo vrcavo, originalno, i iako je škripalo na nekoliko mesta (ipak mu je ovo prva i, nažalost, jedina zbirka priča), dopalo mi se jer mi je dalo uvid u jednu totalno drugačiju kulturu i u živote ovih živopisnih likova.

cerysvy's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

madiursenbach's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

theokaykatsby's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I love anthologies of short stories because there is so much to explore - but often when I finish a short story, I wish I could have stayed a little longer and gotten to see a little bit more. And that's kinda how I felt when I learned halfway through the book that the author had passed away. It's incredibly sad to hear that, not just because of all the books he could have written we'll never read, and that influenced how I read the rest of the stories, carrying that sadness.

"Three Women of Chuck's Donuts" is haunting in its own way, though as others mentioned about the writing, I felt always at a distance even though it's written in the present tense. "Superking Son Scores Again" is a journey, a slow falling apart of a man's life through the eyes of young boys, though the story I admit I was the least invested in. "Maly, Maly, Maly" and "Somaly Serey, Serey, Somaly" felt like a Part 1 and Part 2 in some ways and both stories touched heavily on grief (personal and generational) and made me wish I got to know more of Maly herself, with all her unprocessed complicated grief. "The Shop" I loved as a coming of age story - it's at times tender, often contemplative, and the ending is a suckerpunch. "The Monks" was interesting - Rithy is a different narrator, and I found the story to be an interesting exploration about the different ways we escape our own lives. "We Would've Been Princes!" is another favorite of mine and like unpeeling the layers of a family in all its dysfunction and love. "Human Development" felt most real and most specific and I very much could have spent a lot more time with its characters. "Generational Differences" was a change of pace, written as a letter from a mother to son.

It felt like a very cohesive anthology, in the way the stories overlap explicitly and in their focus of the Cambodian American experience. I picked it up because I had never read something by a Cambodian American author and I remember thinking that this book felt like Anthony Veasna So's love letter to his community only to find that the very last line of his acknowledgement says just that. In the rabbit hole I found myself in after learning of his death, I learned he had a five book plan and that he wanted to take his writing to Hollywood, and I so wish I could have seen that, as someone who very much wants to see more diverse Asian American stories in our media and also as someone who enjoyed this book.

cheekychook's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

4.5

nmcnasty's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

deevianna's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Heartbreaking and real - great read for those interested in coming of age stories about Cambodian kids. The stories aren't afraid to address sex, generational trauma and marginalisation. Couldn't put it down!

ethmwu's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

Some of the stories are obviously stronger than others. I really enjoyed the super King son story, I think So really shines with a slight element of humor and despair at the same time. This collection of stories was kind of painful for me to read honestly; not because it is badly written, but because it brings up a lot of the feelings of existential despair that I knew growing up. I think we inherit them from our family and from our community environment it’s a sense that we won’t ever amount of anything and then we won’t ever escape from the hellhole that we’re in and that everything kind of sucks. I don’t want to live in that world.