Book

Afterparties

Afterparties is a collection of short stories by Anthony Veasna So about Cambodian Americans in California, first published in 2021.[1][2] Its nine linked stories follow refugees who survived the Khmer Rouge and their American-born children, many of them in So's hometown of Stockton.[3][4][2]

Illustrated book cover on pink: two people lounging in an open car trunk in a parking lot under a palm tree, title at top.
Cover of Afterparties (2021).

About the book

Most of the stories are set in California's Central Valley, and several characters appear in more than one story.[5][6] Many of the older characters survived the Khmer Rouge genocide, which killed an estimated 1.7 million people between 1975 and 1979, and its aftermath shapes the daily lives of their children.[3][1] The stories deal with generational differences, the effects of trauma, immigrant community life and queerness.[7][6] The title points both to the one literal after-party in the book and to the bond between Cambodian refugees and the children who came after them.[4]

Much of the book unfolds in family businesses and community gatherings.[2] "Three Women of Chuck's Donuts" is set in an all-night donut shop, the business run by 16-year-old Tevy's mother.[2][3] "The Shop" takes place in a failing car repair garage, where Toby, a gay college graduate, helps his father.[4] "Superking Son Scores Again" follows a badminton coach who runs a struggling Khmer grocery store.[2][8] In "Maly, Maly, Maly," family and friends gather because a newborn is believed to be the reborn soul of a relative who survived a Khmer Rouge death camp.[3] In "The Monks," a young man spends a ceremonial week at a Buddhist temple to help his late father's soul move on.[3] "Human Development" follows Anthony, a young gay Cambodian American teacher, and Ben, an older software developer.[3] The final story, "Generational Differences," follows a survivor of the racially motivated 1989 shooting at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, who worked there as a teacher's aide.[1][2]

Publication and editions

Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, acquired the book in a two-book deal and published it in 2021.[1][7] So died unexpectedly in December 2020, eight months before publication.[2][7][9] Eight of the nine stories were also published in magazines and literary journals:[9]

  • "Three Women of Chuck's Donuts": The New Yorker[9]
  • "Superking Son Scores Again": n+1[9][10]
  • "Maly, Maly, Maly": The Paris Review[9]
  • "The Shop": Granta[11]
  • "The Monks": n+1[9][10]
  • "We Would've Been Princes": American Short Fiction[12]
  • "Somaly Serey, Serey Somaly": BOMB[13]
  • "Generational Differences": ZYZZYVA[5]

Reception

The collection won the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize and the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction.[14][15] Reviewers noted the humor that runs through the stories alongside their serious subjects.[4][5] George Saunders called them affectionate and funny portraits of a complicated American community.[8]

References 15
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Wikipedia
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 NPR, review of Afterparties (August 3, 2021)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Public Books, B-Sides: Anthony Veasna So's Afterparties
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The New York Review of Books, Poised and Precarious
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 ZYZZYVA, Zack Ravas, 'Afterparties' by Anthony Veasna So: Born from Incongruence (September 14, 2021)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Harvard Review, Afterparties (October 12, 2021)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 The Seattle Times, review of Afterparties
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 n+1, Afterparties
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Poets & Writers, Alex Torres, First Fiction: Anthony Veasna So (June 16, 2021)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 n+1, Anthony Veasna So (author page)
  11. ↑ Granta, Anthony Veasna So (contributor page)
  12. ↑ American Short Fiction, Issue 73
  13. ↑ BOMB, Anthony Veasna So, Somaly Serey, Serey Somaly (July 15, 2021)
  14. ↑ National Book Critics Circle, Michael Schaub, Announcing the Winners of the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Awards (March 17, 2022)
  15. ↑ The Publishing Triangle, Here Are the Winners of the 2022 Publishing Triangle Awards (May 11, 2022)
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This page was last edited on 21 October 2026, at 06:59.