Afterparties

<b>Anthony Veasna So</b> (1992-2020) was a graduate of Stanford University and earned his MFA in fiction at Syracuse University. His writing appeared in the <i>New Yorker</i> <i>n+1</i> <i>Granta</i> and <i>ZYZZYVA</i>. Born and raised in Stockton California he resided in San Francisco until his sudden death in 2020. <b>WINNER OF THE JOHN LEONARD PRIZE AT THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS AND THE FERRO-GRUMLEY AWARD FOR LGBTQ FICTION</b><br><b>THE <i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLER</b><br><b></b><br><b>'So's distinctive voice is ever-present: mellifluous streetwise and slightly brash at once cynical and bighearted...unique and quintessential' <i>Sunday Times</i></b><br><b></b><br><b>'So's stories reimagine and reanimate the Central Valley in the way that the polyglot stories in Bryan Washington's collection <i>Lot</i> reimagined Houston and Ocean Vuong's novel <i>On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous</i> allowed us to see Hartford in a fresh light.' Dwight Garner <i>New York Times </i></b><br><br><b>'[A] remarkable début collection' Hua Hsu<i> The New Yorker</i></b><br><br><b>A Roxane Gay's Audacious Book Club Pick!</b><br><b></b><br><b>Named a Best Book of Summer by: <i>Wall Street Journal </i>* Thrillist * <i>Vogue </i>* Lit Hub * Refinery29 * <i>New York Observer </i>* The Daily Beast * <i>Time </i>* BuzzFeed * <i>Entertainment Weekly </i></b><br><br>Seamlessly transitioning between the absurd and the tender-hearted balancing acerbic humour with sharp emotional depth <i>Afterparties</i> offers an expansive portrait of the lives of Cambodian-Americans. As the children of refugees carve out radical new paths for themselves in California they shoulder the inherited weight of the Khmer Rouge genocide and grapple with the complexities of race sexuality friendship and family.<br><br>A high school badminton coach and failing grocery store owner tries to relive his glory days by beating a rising star teenage player. Two drunken brothers attend a wedding afterparty and hatch a plan to expose their shady uncle's snubbing of the bride and groom. A queer love affair sparks between an older tech entrepreneur trying to launch a 'safe space' app and a disillusioned young teacher obsessed with <i>Moby-Dick</i>. And in the sweeping final story a nine-year-old child learns that his mother survived a racist school shooter.<br><br>With nuanced emotional precision gritty humour and compassionate insight into the intimacy of queer and immigrant communities the stories in <i>Afterparties</i> deliver an explosive introduction to the work of Anthony Veasna So. A debut story collection about Cambodian-American life - immersive comic and unsparing - by an indisputable talent. So's distinctive voice is ever-present: <b>mellifluous streetwise and slightly brash</b> at once cynical and bighearted...unique and quintessential <b>witty and sharply expressed</b>...the reader senses that [So] had a vast amount of soul and spirit in his account and that he'd only just begun to draw from it...So's stories reimagine and reanimate the Central Valley in the way that the polyglot stories in Bryan Washington's collection <i>Lot</i> reimagined Houston and Ocean Vuong's novel <i>On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous</i> allowed us to see Hartford in a fresh light. [A] <b>remarkable </b>début collection...The young people in <i>Afterparties</i> spill forth with language. His stories are chatty and crass as characters incessantly tease one another make jokes...talk back and talk trash A <b>bright and fearless</b> debut full of heart joy and unforgettable characters. The sheer richness and energy of So's narratives can't be overstated - his characters are full of love and full of longing and full of laughter and full of the possibilities that life offers them and also the ones it hides. It's rare and magical and wild to find queer life as it's <i>actually </i>lived on the page - or on any pages - with all its multiplicities and creases and paradoxes and curves and yet So lays it out for us sparing nothing and giving everything. I was in awe through the entire collection -and you will be too. <b><i>Afterparties </i>is an actual marvel.</b> A wildly <b>energetic heartfelt original</b> debut by a young writer of exceptional promise. These stories powered by So's skill with the telling detail are like beams of wry affectionate light falling from different directions on a complicated struggling beloved American community. <i>Afterparties</i> weaves through a Cambodian-American community in the shadow of genocide following the children of refugees as they grapple with the complexities of masculinity class and family. Anthony Veasna So explores the lives of these unforgettable characters with bracing humour and startling tenderness. <b>A stunning collection</b> from an exciting new voice. The mind-frying hilarity of Anthony Veasna So's first book of fiction settles him as the genius of social satire our age needs now more than ever. Few writers can handle firm plot action and wrenching pathos in such elegant prose. This unforgettable new voice is <b>at once poetic and laugh-out-loud funny. </b>These characters kept talking to me long after I closed the book I'm destined to read again and cannot wait to teach. Anthony Veasna So is a shiny new star in literature's firmament and <i>Afterparties</i> his first classic. Anthony Veasna So is a terrific writer. These <b>wild complex and funny </b>stories are brilliant in every way. They also speak in profound ways to this troubled American moment. One of the most exciting debuts of the past decade. Karen Russell Carmen Maria Machado Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah - you can count on one hand the authors of this century whose debut short-story collections are as <b>prodigious and career-making</b> as <i>Afterparties</i>. This lovingly specific history-haunted comedy of Cambodian-American manners should put Anthony Veasna So on smart readers' radar to stay. So's distinctive voice is ever-present: <b>mellifluous streetwise and slightly brash</b> at once cynical and bighearted...unique and quintessential <b>witty and sharply expressed</b>...the reader senses that [So] had a vast amount of soul and spirit in his account and that he'd only just begun to draw from it...So's stories reimagine and reanimate the Central Valley in the way that the polyglot stories in Bryan Washington's collection <i>Lot</i> reimagined Houston and Ocean Vuong's novel <i>On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous</i> allowed us to see Hartford in a fresh light. [A] <b>remarkable </b>début collection...The young people in <i>Afterparties</i> spill forth with language. His stories are chatty and crass as characters incessantly tease one another make jokes...talk back and talk trash A <b>bright and fearless</b> debut full of heart joy and unforgettable characters. The sheer richness and energy of So's narratives can't be overstated - his characters are full of love and full of longing and full of laughter and full of the possibilities that life offers them and also the ones it hides. It's rare and magical and wild to find queer life as it's <i>actually </i>lived on the page - or on any pages - with all its multiplicities and creases and paradoxes and curves and yet So lays it out for us sparing nothing and giving everything. I was in awe through the entire collection -and you will be too. <b><i>Afterparties </i>is an actual marvel.</b> A wildly <b>energetic heartfelt original</b> debut by a young writer of exceptional promise. These stories powered by So's skill with the telling detail are like beams of wry affectionate light falling from different directions on a complicated struggling beloved American community. <i>Afterparties</i> weaves through a Cambodian-American community in the shadow of genocide following the children of refugees as they grapple with the complexities of masculinity class and family. Anthony Veasna So explores the lives of these unforgettable characters with bracing humour and startling tenderness. <b>A stunning collection</b> from an exciting new voice. The mind-frying hilarity of Anthony Veasna So's first book of fiction settles him as the genius of social satire our age needs now more than ever. Few writers can handle firm plot action and wrenching pathos in such elegant prose. This unforgettable new voice is <b>at once poetic and laugh-out-loud funny. </b>These characters kept talking to me long after I closed the book I'm destined to read again and cannot wait to teach. Anthony Veasna So is a shiny new star in literature's firmament and <i>Afterparties</i> his first classic. Anthony Veasna So is a terrific writer. These <b>wild complex and funny </b>stories are brilliant in every way. They also speak in profound ways to this troubled American moment. One of the most exciting debuts of the past decade. Karen Russell Carmen Maria Machado Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah - you can count on one hand the authors of this century whose debut short-story collections are as <b>prodigious and career-making</b> as <i>Afterparties</i>. This lovingly specific history-haunted comedy of Cambodian-American manners should put Anthony Veasna So on smart readers' radar to stay.