absolutely stunning writing, great pacing, flashed out characters. i felt like i learnt so much about a community i've previosuly known nothing about in just a couple pages, which tells you just how important stories and reading are

Thank you to Netgalley, Anthony Veasna So and the publishers for an ARC of this book.

From the very first short story in this collection ("Three Women at Chuck's Donuts") I knew this was going to be amazing. It creeps up on you slowly, until the final few paragraphs hit like a punch to the gut. I've always been fond of writers who deal with things like immigration, and the diaspora, and this novel was so rich in detail, yet it's never overt. Always subtle, the threads of the past in Cambodia weaving into the present day of America.

I'm gutted that the author is no longer with us, and we lose a truly bright voice that I would've loved to hear more from.

This book was really beautiful, sad, but beautiful. It’s made up of 9 short stories, each one relating a bit to the other ones and each one giving a bit more insight into the Khmer Rouge genocide and how the people survived and persevered. I loved all of the characters in each story and wished that their stories were longer so I could sit with them for longer. Definitely recommend reading this book

A collection of short stories set in California following the Cambodian American diaspora. It thoroughly investigates the intergenerational trauma carried by those who survived the Khmer Rogue regime and genocide, connecting the experiences of those who remember the old times and those who only have survival as a reference.

So brilliantly uses each story to encase a recognisable moment in the Cambodian American community. Weddings and funerals, coming of age and religious obligations. He intersperses those with the constant battle his community feels to assimilate, to grapple with the elusive Americans dream their parents thought they were buying when landing in the valley all those years ago. It’s stories of expectation and disappointment, of living up to names or carving new ones.

Clear generational divides are observed as the old want to only look toward a better life for the young, and the young want the space to figure things out alone.

I read this soon after finishing the brilliant how to pronounce knife, a collection following Lao immigrants in Canada, and although each collection has its own brilliance, there’s notable connections between the experiences of those who are othered in countries they seek safety in.

It would be amiss to mention the tragic circumstances surrounding the book’s publication, as Anthony So is no longer alive, and although that has no bearing on the quality of the stories, it is a great shame when we consider what more Anthony could have produced, given more time.

I did not love this as much as I thought I would. Everybody adores these stories, so do take my opinion with a grain of salt. While there were some really interesting sentences and the observations were really sharp, overall the structure of the stories didn't ever seem to work for me and with short stories, structure is really what makes a story work for me. My favourite was the first story, with its interesting sibling relationship at its core.

I have never been to Cambodia, so I was curious about this collection of short stories called Afterparties, written by Anthony Veasna So, an American writer with Cambodian parents.

This book was such a pleasant surprise. I really enjoyed reading the short stories! I haven't rated each story separately. I especially loved:

- The internal dialogues of the main characters which often made me chuckle or even laugh out loud

- The casual mentions of Cambodian history: the onus is on the reader to find out more if they are unaware of the genocide and the Khmer rouge

- Cambodian culture as a background: food, monks, terms to describe family members (Mas, Bas, Gongs, Mings, Pous, oun...)

- The queer rep and the not shying away from the "messy" parts. It's worth noting that there are some pretty sexually explicit passages

- The reflexions on generational trauma, poverty, parenting, drugs...

- How character-driven each story was. Which makes sense, for short stories!

What could have been even better:

- A couple of the stories were weaker - I didn't particularly like the one with the wedding for example

- I wasn't a fan of some of the scatological content

- Some of the content was a bit repetitive so I read it over several days, dipping in and out. It was not the reading-in-one-sitting, page-turner kind of read.

I'm really sad that the author Anthony Veasna So has now passed away, as I'm sure I would have loved reading a novel by him.

I recommend this book!

Thank you @NetGalley and @atlanticbooks for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I think the fact this short story collection opens by telling you it was published posthumously gives it extra gravitas and definitely causes you to consider the book in another light. It’s so sad we won’t see Anthony Veasna So follow up to this.

Afterparties is a collection of inter-connected short stories about the experience of Cambodian people living in America. It spans differently characters, families, generations and timescales.

I struggled to get into this and found myself not picking it up too much while I was reading the first few stories, but the last 3 or 4 I really really loved.

A fantastic debut and I’m sad we will never see what would have come next.

3.5 stars

It's always fascinating to read about the migration experience of different group of people and
Anthony Veasna So does a great job in evoking the Khmer-American community. He builds a very nuanced image of this community. We see the poverty afflicting a good portion of Cambodians, but we also see those living the American dream. We experience customs and superstition, drugs and religion, identity with its many facets, complex relationships fuelling an intricate community trying to keep hold of the Khmer identity.

Despite the writing being very expressive, full of colour and sounds and smells, it did not touch me emotionally. For me there was an overall sense of detachment permeating the pages of this collection that infused me as I was reading to the point where I didn't really care about what was happening to the characters. Maybe this is due to the internal conflicts of Veasna So, conflicts that many of his characters have too; or maybe it was just me ...

AFTERPARTIES offers snapshots into the lives of Cambodian refugees, and their [American-born] children, living and working in America. In each story, we meet a new narrator and a new cast of characters, each of them fully realised. From women escaping violent relationships and men having threesomes, to your sister being reincarnated as your great-niece and an unlikely friendship with a Monk; each of the storylines in this collection was unique and complex.

Often exploring difficult or complex themes, AFTERPARTIES holds a special focus on the Cambodian genocide (1975-1979) and the lasting effects on those who survived it. The collection explores intergenerational trauma, and trauma in general; the marks it leaves upon us, and a possible new path forward for survivors.

At times entertaining, at other points unsettling or disturbing; Anthony Veasna So's writing is evocative and immersive. I'm grateful to have read an early copy of this title via Netgalley.

I was devastated to learn of Anthony Veasna So's passing - a writer that has been taken from us far too soon. My thoughts are with his partner, family, and loved ones. And thank you to Anthony Veasna So for writing these stories and choosing to put them out into the world.

Candid and humorously absurd Afterparties is a collection of short stories that focuses on the experiences of Cambodian-Americans in California. In spite of the occasional Shameless-like scenario, these stories remain grounded in realism, almost to the point of reading like a slice of life. Vo’s stories can also be read as frank vignettes capturing the everyday lives of his characters. Nothing truly of note happens in his narratives, yet, the, often funny, interactions between his various characters combined with his irreverent social commentary (on race, sexuality, immigration, america) are bound to keep readers turning pages.

Much about Vo’s tone and scenarios brought to mind Bryan Washington. Like Washington, Vo presents his readers with an unfiltered portrayals of America, queer culture, and millennials, and many of these stories revolve around characters who like to party or are leading rather directionless lives. All of the stories also hone in on generational differences, specifically between young Cambodian-Americans and their parents and grandparents. In addition to racism and homophobia, many of Vo’s characters feel burdened by the pressure to succeed in life or to lead a certain type of lifestyle and by their relatives’ experiences and memories of the Khmer Rouge genocide.

While I recognise that this collection has many good qualities, I didn’t exactly love any of these stories. At times the banter between the younger characters struck me as slightly exaggerated and the humor at times struck me as being of the armpit-fart variety (ie not to my taste). Still, I was saddened to learn that the author has passed away and that this will be likely his only release.
If this collection is on your radar I encourage you to read more positive reviews.

This was good overall, and some of the short stories were definitely excellent (like the one about Moby Dick). It's very, very tragic that the author died so early. It's hard discussing a book like this with the knowledge that it's representative of a career cut brutally short. It was especially brutal to read the Vulture article and learn that the cause of death was due to mixing Adderall with MDMA and other drugs. Based on what's in this book, it's very clear that he would have been capable of so much. A true loss.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

ANTHONY V SO – AFTER PARTIES *****

I read this novel in advance of publication through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Short stories as an art form, compared with novels, are thin on the ground. So, when you find an extraordinary and fresh new talent, less than thirty years old, it is devastating to think that he died of an overdose.

Although the stories are individual, there is cohesion in that they all concern the Cambodian community in California, of which, unsurprisingly, I knew nothing. Following the stories through the book, you learn not just about the characters, but the background of the Cambodians who fled their country in the days of Pol Pot, and how they attempt to make a meagre living in the land of supposed opportunity.

Through deceptively simple writing you get drawn into the lives of the characters and by the end of the book you realise that you have been beguiled by a master craftsman. Thoroughly recommended.

These were really varied stories that captured such vivid little windows into completely developed worlds. We get a clear sense that these characters existed before we came upon them and their stories will continue after. There's a high-spirited quality to the narrations and a varying level of grim background information worked in to each of these or hints of darkness.

The list of authors who have heaped accolades on this sadly posthumously released collection is a veritable who's who of hip writers.

I'm thankful to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The author has a great writing style and a unique perspective on many situations. However, I found the stories hit and miss in terms of my enjoyment.

This is such beautiful writing, and so interesting to read about the lives of Cambodian immigrants in America, and the cultures and customs of the community. I'm sorry there won't be more books by this author.

Afterparties is a collection of short stories, some interlinked, about Cambodian Americans in California, and the complexities of lives as second or third generation immigrants whose families still bear the weight of genocide. From the opening story, 'Three Women of Chuck's Donuts', which follows a woman and her daughters keeping a donut shop open overnight, to the closing one, a mother's reflection on how she told her son that she had survived a school shooting as a teacher, the collection is varied and yet feels like a whole, looking at the same themes and occasionally visiting characters who played smaller roles in other stories.

I tend to prefer short story collections that connect in some way, and this one, with longer stories and a sense of continuity, was very much in that category. It explores the impact of genocide and identity on Cambodian American life, giving specific perspectives but also broader ones about immigration (especially expectations and whether or not someone lives up to them) and sexuality and the intersection of both of those. For such a personal collection, the narrators of the stories do vary quite a lot, which I enjoyed, and there's a real dark comedy edge throughout the stories.

Anthony Veasna So died before this collection could be released, something which the reader is introduced to at the start of the book. It's hard to review Afterparties without mentioning this, but it's also sad that it becomes the focus on what is a great collection that explores identity, family, and queerness.

I really enjoyed this set of fairly long, sometimes interconnected short stories. Despite having visited Cambodia a few years ago, I still learnt a lot about the details of the genocide that I didn’t know before - though all of the Camdodian-American characters here carry the burden of their parents’ and grandparents’ experiences, these stories are often very funny and more light-hearted than my description might makes them sound. Recommended and thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Afterparties made me feel all emotions, laughter, joy, sadness, and many more. It's a really poignant collection of stories that interlink with each other, predominantly about Cambodian Americans, individual identity, sexual orientation and more. It's a fantastic debut, I only wish we could have more from So. I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to expand on their Own Voices reading.

Thanks to NetGalley, Atlantic Books and Anthony Veasna So for an eArc copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 rounded up

It's truly impressive that this a debut - there's something so assured and natural about Anthony Veasna So's writing and distinctive about his method of storytelling. The first story (Three Women of Chuck's Donuts, which is available on The New Yorker website if you're curious) was my favourite and worth the price of entry alone, but the rest of the stories are strong too, and showcase a loosely connected cast of Cambodian, Khmer and Cambodian American characters, many hailing from Stockton, California - like the author himself - and grappling with their identity and relationships, both family and personal. It seems like other elements are likely autobiographical too, but I think this just adds to the impact and authenticity of the stories.

Veasna So's untimely death in December 2020, prior to publication, at age 28 has the potential to overshadow the publication of his debut (and as others have said, likely only) collection of stories. But conversely hopefully this will introduce the book to readers who it may have otherwise passed by. Either way, this is an excellent debut and one I'd highly recommend checking out.

This is a great collection of short stories. I liked each one. Normally with short stories there’s always some you don’t like but not here. The centralising theme of the book was good to both unite and separate the stories into different feelings.