Reviews with content warning for War - Afterparties

I really enjoyed the first story with the daughters and mother owning the donut shops and theme everything else basically went down hill dramatically. I took a break from the book to see if maybe I wasn’t in the right head spaces and hated it when I picked it back up.

Despite multiple different characters of different genders and occupations, they all bleed together after a few and have nothing new to really saw and while some talent in prose it was also incredibly stiff awkward and self righteous while having very little to say especially that wasn’t repetitive from the previous and frankly pretentious. Many stories read like thinly veiled short essays that would probably have been better then what’s supposedly a fiction story that’s largely just a rant about how Buddhist temples fleece grieving people for money and are hypocrites to having an elderly refugee talk about being afraid of boys in red and blue that’s very clearly trying to dodge that the woman is referring to black boys she just assumes are gang members and reads so poorly you are not surprised that despite the Themes of poverty that the author literally grew up in a gated community upper middle class. I also thought the way the book talked about woman was flat and one dimensional at best after the first story. It just was very disappointing to have a boring book that insisted upon itself while having nothing to say, a book that had so many characters but came off to me as uninterested in people or their lives and as if it didn’t like them and increasing bitter not even over the actual tragedy or trauma in the book but anything. The book confuses pretension and pessimism with depth having teacher character talk about not knowing how to talk to their coworker who wears floral blouses or skirts and likes her job??? There’s literally jokes how common floral clothing is especially for spring before even the point about working a job and not knowing how to talk to your coworkers who don’t hate their job, it just made me out the book done and wonder if the author even talked to people ever.

So has enough spark of talent though I will be putting his actual essays and other posthumous work in my tbr.

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robinks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This collection of short stories was so engaging and devastating. So seamlessly integrates fact and fiction, and I love how the characters jump off the page, some recurring in multiple stories to get another perspective on them. What a beautiful testament to Cambodian-American life and queerness.

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samantha1960's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

One of the best short story collections I’ve ever read. Each one is unique yet perfectly aligns with the books overall theme. This book will make you laugh with absurdly weird moments and cry from true tragedies.

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goodolnicole's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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martinatan's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Enjoyable and incredibly reflective. At the center of all of these stories is the protagonists’ emotional development, set against a vibrant exploration of many corners of the Cambodian American experience. It is obvious that the author found a lot of catharsis in writing about friends, relatives, and other figures of his personal community. He treats all of these people with empathy and nuance. I was a little lost at times when beginning a new story as it would introduce a new point of view, and it took me a little effort to come to terms with the fine line that So treads between autobiography and autofiction. However, it didn’t take me long to grow fond of each character’s personality and care about their challenges and victories. I felt some kinship as a fellow Asian American, but learned much more about the specific histories that Cambodian immigrants in California have to reckon with. Hard for me to pick a favorite story, but Generational Differences was an extremely interesting and uniquely written story to end the collection on. I wish Anthony Veasna So were still here to see his work move through the world, but regardless he leaves behind a body of work that I and many others will cherish.

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marymason's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

this was such a charming collection, and i really loved some of the stories

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jessalex610's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

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