A review by missamandamae
The After Party by Anton DiSclafani

3.0

I definitely got engrossed in the idea of this book, as I always perk up at 1950s relationship stories. But as I got past the halfway mark, it seemed off. I was invested in these characters, but suddenly I could predict what was going to happen and it was a letdown to be proven right. Joan - the mysterious and worshipped friend in the story - seemed like a twist on a John Green novel, with the protagonist narrator borderline obsessed with the idea of the 1950s Texas version of a manic pixie dream girl, only to have illusions squashed during the course of the story. It was a little annoying, frankly. I did LOVE reading about the lives of these rich women, who weren't turned into caricatures. But ultimately the build up did not quite match the denouement.