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A review by peggyd
The After Party by Anton DiSclafani
3.0
I read this for my book club; otherwise I doubt I would have picked it up. The problems of rich white girls in 1950s Houston simply isn't my cup of tea. This is about wealthy Cece and Joan, friends since birth. Joan is stunning, lit from within, blah, blah, blah and Cece is her best friend and puppy dog, essentially. Joan disappears from Cece's life several times, and the book focuses on the mystery and impact of those disappearances.
The bones of this story were fine and I think it makes strong points about the nature of women's friendships and how complex they are. Yet I was really impatient with CeCe, the narrator, who seemed willfully ignorant and complacent. The book seems to blithely accept "the way things are" in 1950s Houston, including women as objects and homemakers only. If it tries to question this status quo via Joan and her desire for more, I think it fails, basically saying she can only get more by letting men use her and by using them in return. Hmph. I think those ideas needed to be examined more deeply to make this book a truly satisfying read.
The bones of this story were fine and I think it makes strong points about the nature of women's friendships and how complex they are. Yet I was really impatient with CeCe, the narrator, who seemed willfully ignorant and complacent. The book seems to blithely accept "the way things are" in 1950s Houston, including women as objects and homemakers only. If it tries to question this status quo via Joan and her desire for more, I think it fails, basically saying she can only get more by letting men use her and by using them in return. Hmph. I think those ideas needed to be examined more deeply to make this book a truly satisfying read.