Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So

10 reviews

fionamclary's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Unfortunately I was disappointed by this collection. It's been on my TBR ever since I happened to read an article about So's death back in 2020 or 2021, the first I'd heard of him. There was so much hype and praise around this posthumous publication that my expectations were quite high. I felt that the stories did improve in the latter part of the book. I kind of liked that many stories took place in the same "universe" with recurring characters. I'll give a breakdown of my thoughts on each story, though, since they range wildly.

Three Women of Chuck's Donuts: 2.75/5. It was fine, with a theme self-contained enough for the scope of the story. Not terribly interesting however.

Superking Son Scores Again: 1/5. Easily the worst in the collection. I guess I get the point of the story but my god it was so boring. The author did nothing to make me invested in the characters. I felt like I was listening to a stoned teenager telling a story full of pointless details and not at all caring whether or not the events were relevant or interesting to their audience.

Maly, Maly, Maly: 3/5. Again, pretty boring, but I did connect with the feeling of both having empathy for someone going through a tough time while also resenting them for not noticing or caring about your own struggles.

The Shop: 3.5/5. This was the one where my interest finally started picking up, where I actually cared about the characters.

The Monks: 2.5/5. This one was weird. I suppose the stories of 20-year-old straight men feeling lost in life must be told, but I don't have to read them.

We Would've Been Princes: 3.5/5. Finally, some real character work! Fully fleshed-out interpersonal relationships! I also felt like So cared about these main characters a lot -- I could feel their complicated emotions about themselves, each other, and their community through the page.

Human Development: 4.75/5. This one was really good. The critique of mainstream 2010s liberal identity politics was subtle but powerful and really hit home for me. It's clear that this was the most autobiographical story in the collection, with the main character sharing the author's first name, and I think that may have leant a good deal of strength to this one.

Somaly Serey, Serey Somaly: 4/5. This one felt sort of unifying given how many previous characters it featured. The exploration of generational trauma was compassionate, yet unrelenting and sharp.

Generational Differences: 5/5. Short and to the point, and strong for that. It felt fitting to finish the collection with a story about a woman who has escaped the genocide only to immigrate into the most American form of death, a school shooting. The ways that survival and violence become inevitable, the difficulty of integrating a survivor identity without passing on too much generational trauma. This one was direct, the theme laid bare without feeling at all didactic or inelegant.

Maybe I'm just a dumb scientist who doesn't Get It because I haven't studied Literature enough, but this collection felt very choppy in quality and tone. However, I'm pleased that there were some stories that I really liked and am glad to have read. In these times I think it's important to heed writers whose families have been through genocide, and I hope we see more Cambodian/Khmer authors filling the gap left by So's sudden and untimely death.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Sexual content, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia

amberinpieces's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism

jpn99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Medical content, and Mass/school shootings

martinatan's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Medical content, Dementia, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Grief, Colonisation, War, and Classism

wenwanzhao's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Great collection of short stories about a Cambodian community in California. Real and messy in a way that requires subtlety to convey. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Sexual content, Mass/school shootings, and Alcohol

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Dementia, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

afterparties is an interesting book that refreshingly features cambodians and cambodian americans - a rarely spotlighted group - and the byproduct is a semi-interconnecting set of original, unpredictable, sometimes startlingly provocative yet darkly humorous short stories, though i feel like some of them could've been more impactful.

every ethnic group always has a set of commonalities that binds them, yet as so adeptly illustrates here, they are multifaceted and far from being a monolith. i learn a lot abt cambodian culture and the u.s. cambodian community - despite them being a lil similar to my own - but i also enjoy this for its purely fictional aspect, w/ a particular favorite being "human development." 

the different immigrant struggles, family conflicts, legacy of intergenerational trauma are examined through various characters and storylines. although they're effective in varying degrees, i often find myself smirking and snorting bc of the dark humor that only the marginalized and survivors know to espouse, while also startled by the off-handed mentions of trauma and violence, a firm reminder that the genocide that sent this group of ppl to where they reside happened not long ago, yet it's also not talked abt enough in the mainstream. 

from this volume, it's clear that so was a literary force to be reckoned w/, someone whose future work i would've looked forward to. ig we'll all have to make do w/ afterparties, a nonetheless notable work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Dementia

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racism, Violence, Excrement, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and War

ladymirtazapine's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicide, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Death of parent

librariangeorgia's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Genocide, and Gun violence

Minor: Homophobia and Mass/school shootings

melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

Thank you to Netgalley and Ecco for an arc of this book.

This is a collection of stories about what it means to be Cambodian-American. It combines stories from the older generation that immigrated to America during the Cambodian Genocides, to the younger generation and what it is like to live in that shadow.

This is such a powerful collection of stories. The writing is really strong and intense. I loved the stories that included queer characters.  I also really loved the way all the stories began to come together the farther you got into the book. I really enjoyed how they were connected to form this community.  Great book.

Pub Date: August 3, 2021

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Homophobia