Afterparties: Stories

The stories are disjointed but interesting as being from a different culture in the alien landscape of central California. I enjoyed most of them and the humor and multi-generational struggle. What killed it for me was the poor narrator who could not pronounce or even understand what he was reading. He would actually pause when he came to a difficult word as if he was reading a story to class and had to be prompted on how to pronounce the word. I get the tie-in to the Cambodian experience but a fluent narration would have made the experience much more compelling.

It's tragic the author died so young because this book just makes you want to read more of his work. You'd have to be a sociopath to not empathize with the lived experiences of every character. And I love that the author introduces you to Cambodian/Central Valley culture without explaining everything. This makes you feel very clearly just how different life is for strangers you encounter every day. It's also very funny, insightful, and flawlessly original.

The stories are tough to read. They will make you cry and rage. They are heartbreaking and empowering. It was tough to read these stories and not have feelings.The stories are interconnected as they take place within a tightly knitted Cambodian American population in California.

Powerful and beautifully told stories. Everyone should read this book.

Upon reflection, I wish I had used a highlighter when reading these stories. There were lines throughout that I wanted to revisit. I was sure I'd remember in which story they appeared, or maybe where they were on a page. But, as the portraits of people against the backdrops of their lives in the U.S. began to stack one upon the other, I lost track of the lines while getting immersed in lives. In a few months, I plan to read a story or two again. This time, I'll remember the highlighter. I want his words.

Memorable characters and an insight to Cambodian-American culture were plusses. But some of the scenarios were implausible, such as when a character masterbates with a monk, remove a reader's confidence to the writer's hold on narrative. A diverse collection, indeed, but some pieces required skipping, which is not the sign of a great short story collection.

These stories are so well written and the author is able to fully realize lead characters who are nothing like him. It is so sad to know that he died so young and we won't have more work from him.

Fantastic book! It arrived quickly so I had to time to be read it before book club!

Good stories but only good, not excellent to my taste. Found them dragging and text heavy. Kinda frivolous for a mature palate.

To be diverse in reading is one of the greatest joys according to me. You read diversely and you are aware about so much that goes on – and not just that, I think to some extent it also perhaps makes you a better person.Afterparties: Stories by Anthony Veasna So is one such book. A book that makes you see people differently, their lives perhaps with a little more empathy, and more than anything else, I felt some of the stories hit harder as a gay man. Sexuality in these stories is subtle and yet makes such a huge impact on the reader.The stories in this collection are so diverse, and from the same community – the Cambodian Americans. From “Three Women of Chuck’s Donuts” where these women are seen fighting, talking, and reading Wittgenstein behind the window of their bakery in wee hours, trying desperately hard to make sense of their identity while being stuck, to “Generational Differences”, where a survivor of the Khmer Rouge has also witnessed a school shooting, and is only doing her best to raise her son differently and without any further trauma, these stories become more than just being tragic.At the same time, these stories speak of renewal, of healing, of finding solace in the mundane and the monotonous. So’s people are mostly queer, angry, romantic, hopeful, and displaced – survivors of the genocide, trying to find their way in the world.Afterparties is a collection of stories that is predictable, also unassuming sometimes, and lets its characters explore detours and various twists in the tale through the complexities of their cultural identity. Please read it.*Anthony Veasno So died from a drug overdose in 2020. He was twenty-eight years old.

Very boring