I’ve tried and failed to find adequate comparisons to <i>Afterparties</i>, Anthony Veasna So’s debut and presumably only short story collection. Perhaps oddly, I think of Philip Roth’s <i>Goodbye, Columbus</i>, his debut 1959 collection. Roth’s perhaps apocryphal remark that <i>”I am not a Jewish writer; I am a writer who is a Jew”<i> equally applies to So: reducing So to “a Cambodian writer” or a “Cambodian-American writer” or “a gay writer” does a disservice to the depth, breadth, and universality of his stories. <i>Afterparties</i> fits within the small category of brilliant short story collections placed within but not bounded by self-contained American ethnic communities, in which the characters, emotions, and relationships transcend their communities into an ecumenical American-ness. So displays an huge emotional range in these nine stories, with only two mild disappointments. My favorites: Three Women of Chuck’s Donuts, destined to be a classic; Superking Son Scores Again; The Shop; and Generational Differences. Anthony Veasna So’s premature death is a gut punch. 4.5 stars

Brilliant, funny, mordant. I couldn't read without a sense of tragedy about the author but am thrilled that his partner and family will carry forward his book tour.

I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t know of Anthony Veasna So until reading his obituary in The New York Times, and now that I’ve read this collection I’m saddened anew at the loss of this bright young author.

I normally prefer novels to short stories, but just a single line from that obituary compelled me to immediately add Afterparties to the top of my reading queue. I’m happy to say that that impulse was well-founded, as the rest of the collection is just as sharp, original, and darkly funny as I could have hoped for. Those who have read the piece have perhaps guessed, but for the curious, the aforementioned line was:

Tevy, he writes, would “do something as simple as drink a glass of ice water, and her father, from across the room, would bellow, “There were no ice cubes in the genocide!”

These sentiments pervade the collection, and the central tension of many of the stories is generational: parents dealing with the trauma of staggering loss and the pressures of surviving in a new country, and their children, whose problems are minor by comparison but no less consuming. These children, who So centers more often than the older generation, struggle in trying to understand and honor the past, while grappling with the uncertainties of their own futures. He captures this beautifully in the last story of the collection, which is also perhaps the most intimate. The story, “Generational Differences,” takes the form of a letter from a mother to her intensely and morbidly curious son, who can’t stop asking about “the regime, the camps, the genocide.” The mother writes:

Every slight detail you would demand to know, as if understanding that part of my life would explain the entirety of yours.

The title is a giveaway, but So was fascinated with what comes after: after the genocide, after immigrating, after college, after the mass shooting, after death. I’m sad that we won’t get to see what would have come after Afterparties, because I’m certain it would have been fantastic.

Thanks to Ecco for the ARC!

The author of this short story collection, Anthony Veasna So recently passed away. He was so young. His writing is so funny and emotional. Such raw talent. My heart goes out to his family and friends.

"Afterparties" is a solid collection. I must admit though, I've read a lot of short story collections throughout the years so even though some of the stories are good and memorable, I can't say ALL the stories have staying power. The 2 strongest are "Three Women of Chuck's Donuts" and "Generational Differences" (this one gutted me). Wow. Such beautiful imagery/characters/storytelling!

There's a couple stories that were decent, "We Would've Been Princes!" and "Human Development". The rest of the stories just didn't leave much of an impact on me. Even though I couldn't connect with every story, this is still worth-while read. Diverse, haunting, and direct. Enjoy!

Thank you, Netgalley and Ecco for the digital ARC.

The last story in this collection refers to a visit by Michael Jackson to an elementary school after a school shooting there. It includes some philosophical takes on death and those soothed me a bit as I continued to think about what a marvel So is. I couldn’t help wondering what more he could have accomplished. But such thoughts must lead to an appreciation or recognition of what he did achieve; and this book certainly demonstrates that.

This book of short stories reflects the voice of a rare talent. He is bold and confident. The writing is witty, smart, and poetic. His storytelling is radiant, celebratory. And while all the stories center on Cambodian Americans, each showcases a varied and rich range of lives. Each reveals something different and unique. So has keen insights about the array of experiences his characters have had as refugees and survivors of a genocide. He deftly depicts their struggles, and how they endure and overcome. And we see how each generation carries the suffering, a legacy that morphs and informs those touched by it.

But what shines clearly through is So’s affirmation and love of the Cambodian American community. This appreciation extends to Stockton, California which features prominently and serves as a key element, explaining how a location affects a people. In his Acknowledgements, So thanks his parents and notes how they created a world out of nothing but their will and imaginations. He, too, has beautifully done similarly in this collection.

I especially liked “The Shop,” “Human Development,” “Generational Differences,” and “Somaly, Serey, Serey, Somaly.” And I gladly note that various Khmer words appear with only the context to inform or explain them; it conveys an intimacy, such as when a close friend confides in you and uses words and descriptors that are used at home.

Thanks to Ecco Publishing and NetGalley for this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Several quotes:

“Dad was one of those guys who smiled and laughed constantly, but never without a sad look in his eyes.”

“I know I was supposed to find a legitimate job, but at this point in my life, dumb epiphanies about home seemed so precious, urgent, fleeting.”

“When I tried articulating my feelings about home, my mind inevitably returned to these songs, the way the incomprehensible intertwined with what made me feel so comfortable. I’d lived with misunderstanding for so long, I’d stopped even viewing it as bad. It was just there, embedded in everything I loved.”

“…Paul strolled over from the food court, projecting that casual angst peculiar to guys who never left our hometown, who stayed committed to a dusty California free of ambition or beaches.”

“Being handsome and pathetic was Marlon’s selling point. Mothers adored that poor fellow brimming with wasted possibility.”

“Which, in fact—the logic’s so Cambodian it hurts: name you kids after the first movies you saw after immigrating, and <i>bam!</i>

“…he felt the sensation he often experienced when visiting home, that his parents had conceived him to work on a conveyor belt of nonsensical family issues.”

“The entire night he had yearned to ache into the warm nothingness. Hollow pangs of muscle memory throbbed in his thighs, his shoulders, the places where he had felt the most heat. Cravings pulsed through his whole body.”

“…I saw the possibility of existing in a dynamic in which every pleasure received, every favor granted, every dick sucked, every bottom filled and every top gratified, could energize you to give back more than what you had in the first place. I saw clearly Ben’s ideal vision of the world, a way of being that could sustain communities, protect safe spaces, and ensure that political progress kept happening. I felt euphoric, high, blood rushing to my head. I felt unbearably hopeful.”

“…I thought about Michael Jackson again, the absurdity of his photo jolting our day into being, how the more he had tried to change, to reinvent himself into something completely new, the more he seemed horrifically burdened by what he used to be.”

“When you think about my history, I don’t need you to see everything at once. I don’t need you to recall the details of those tragedies that were dropped into my world. Honestly, you don’t even have to try. What is nuance in the face of all that we’ve experienced? But for me, your mother, just remember that, for better or worse, we can be described as survivors. Okay? Know that we’ve always kept on living. What else could we have done?”

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Afterparties is scheduled for release on August 3rd, 2021.

As I read this book I felt like by the time I finished a story I’d missed something. Most of the book read as slice of life stories, which I love, but after a while some of them began to feel like the same premise with slight variations on the same broad strokes (family, sexuality, and sense of belonging). I find that “Human Development” tackles these topics in the most engaging manner and in a way that feels most connected to present-day America.

Overall, my favorite stories were “Three Women of Chuck’s Donuts,” and “Somaly Serey, Serey Somaly.”

“Three Women...” is a great leading story as it immediately grabs the reader’s attention with the introduction of this mysterious man who comes into the shop every night to sit at a table with a donut he does not touch; however, it feels out of place with most, if not all, of the other stories as it has the most obvious plot driving it and it is heavily influenced by a specific and immediate familial trauma rather than a cultural one (the genocide that is referenced frequently throughout the book).

“Somaly Serey, Serey Somaly” calls back to an earlier story, “Maly, Maly, Maly,” 23 years later, after the birth of baby Serey who is believed to be the reincarnation of Somaly, who is Maly’s mother. This story is about Serey’s journey to relieve herself of trauma that she did not experience while also being the sole caregiver for her great-aunt who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. As a child of immigrants I find Serey to be a very relatable narrator who I was able to connect with on a personal level.


CW: This book does involve the topics of death, suicide, genocide, domestic violence, stalking, and a school shooting. There are also some fairly short (0.5-2 pages give or take) but descriptive sex scenes. Some of these moments are more graphic than others but please be advised before reading.

I thought these short stories were mostly fun to read! Personally, I didn't connect with many of the stories or many of the characters, and I was at times confused with plots. I loved the writing style, but the pay-offs for some stories felt unsatisfying. I often found myself wishing the stories were longer, which isn't. bad problem for short stories to have.

Much as I wish it weren't the case, I need to start this review this way: I spent part of my 2020 lockdown catching up on about six months' worth of <i>New Yorker</i> short stories, and one of my favorites was "Three Women of Chuck's Donuts." After I finished it, I came onto Goodreads and added Anthony Veasna So's upcoming collection, <i>Afterparties</i>, to my shelf. Then I forgot about it until early December 2020, when I suddenly started thinking about the story again and looked online for more information about this book and its author. It was then I learned that Anthony Veasna So had died accidentally only a few days earlier, at the age of 28.

The thing is, this collection is great! It's laugh-out-loud funny, but every story is aiming for something bigger, every story has some aspect of the human condition it's exploring. A lot of it is related to being Cambodian American, having immigrant parents who had lived under the Khmer Rouge, living in a tight-knit community that's everything to you but trying to figure out how to live in it as young queer person, or how to leave it to pursue other dreams. The stories stand alone but also interconnect, so eventually you realize the character taking center stage in one was a minor player in a previous story, and vice versa. In this way, an entire fictional world is created. I enjoyed it so much, but every time I stopped to register the enjoyment I also registered anew that this was it. We're not going to be able to have other books by So; we're not going to be able to see him grow into an even better writer. This is it. It's impossible to separate my pleasure in this book from my knowledge that it's the only one we're going to get. As with all rare things, its rarity is part of what makes it precious.

<i>Afterparties</i> isn't perfect. As with every story collection, there are a couple that probably could have been left out. And there's some graphic sex and a bit of scatological stuff, so if that bothers you, caveat emptor. The book has a bright, sometimes rambling style that appealed to me, but may not be for everyone. Even so, Anthony Veasna So is basically the very definition of a young writer to watch. Except, except...

I'm somewhere between 4 and 5 stars and am rounding up because to do otherwise seems ridiculous, and I recommend everyone give this one a try. I received this ARC via NetGalley; thank you to the publisher.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ecco for a copy of this book in response for an honest review!

Afterparties is an expertly written book of short stories about Cambodian American experiences. The stories are slice of life vignettes that intermix the joy and trauma experienced by the characters and community. The characters were so clearly written and individualistic, completely believable as real people.

The book didn’t always resonate with me personally. Many of the stories' payoffs didn’t fully work for me, sometimes the stories seemed to meander without reaching a clear destination. I enjoyed the cultural references and integrations, and I think they would really resonate with people familiar with these experiences.

I am absolutely moved by reading Afterparties. Anthony Veasna So is a voice that will be sorely missed. Even the fact of reading this enormously important piece of writing and knowing there will not be any to follow is a heavy weight on the heart and mind.

Born just minutes from Stockton in 1989, I felt grateful to be opened to a world I had not known anything about. I felt at home in So's stories. Each one seemed to sneakingly connect to the other in a way that was massively important, yet written as just a slip of story telling. The depth of the lives that are spoken to is worth letting yourself drown in--I am tears for Ma Eng, aching heart for Anthony and Ben, and a frustrated, red-faced teen for the badminton boys. What is done well here is So's ability to put his own life into each of these pages, each of these experiences, and really speak to being Cambodian (Khmer) in America following a violent genocide. The sustaining of community. The passing on of tradition.

I am grateful for the queerness, the tender joy, and the absolute holding of So's writing. "Know that we've always kept on living. What else could we have done?"

This short story collection of stories about Cambodians living in America as incredible and should not be missed. Anthony Veasna So, however, is greatly missed.

i dont usually read books of short stories, but i thought this was cute! nothing special, but a good time. i wasnt the biggest fan of the writing style but this was a good read!

There reached a point reading Afterparties where I was convinced Anthony Veasna So was writing nonfiction. So's mastery of the written word created a world rich with compelling characters and deep surroundings. So's focus on Cambodians and Cambodian-Americans also provided a narrative highly underrepresented in literature, without tokenizing any character from its wide cast. Even more impressive is how many of the stories are woven and connected together, as the stories all take place in the same surrounding area of California.

So's strongest stories are those which focus intensely on a particular character. Each story displays how trauma has affected an entire community, even those who are an ocean away from memories of genocide, poverty, and war. Superking Son Scores Again is a great story as it blends the past generational traumas with the pressures and expectations of young students today, but using badminton as a driving force for the story. Human Development focuses on a teacher who is teaching Moby Dick to students, while surrounded by a sea of connections who are making plenty of money focusing on technological advancements and applications. This story was particularly memorable, as the main character is both envious and flawed, but still trying to find his own meaning after graduating from esteemed universities. There are plenty of stories which don't focus on students or education at all, such as Three Women of Chuck's Donuts and Generational Differences, which all bring something to think about and relish in their own right. While some of the middle stories blend together at times, this is mostly the result of certain stories shining more brightly than others than any story being particularly dim or boring.

Upon learning of Anthony Veasana So's untimely death, I found it saddening that there would be no second collection of stories. Still, So's debut feels like an instant classic--a must have for any bookshelf.

Well written short stories about Cambodian Americans who deal with sexuality, race, class, and the inherited trauma of the Khmer Rouge genocide. I found this community interesting to learn about. Some of the stories felt like they were long and dragged on, but I loved the story "Human Development".


Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for proving me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Afterparties is scheduled for release on August 3rd, 2021.

For those who don’t already know, Anthony Veasna So passed away at 28 this past December, less than a year before this was supposed to come out. What he’s left the world with here is a really touching collection that I think we’re lucky to have. I liked some stories more than others, but as a whole I thought these were funny and surprising and varied, but still really cohesive, with strong connections of family and different meanings of Cambodian-ness and gayness and Californian-ness throughout. It’s a great collection by an author lost way way way too soon.

A gift! It’s pretty amazing how poetic the writing is while touching upon generational trauma while also being funny. It’s a hard balancing act especially when talking about genocidal regimes. I think the theme of all the stories is children of immigrant loving and being thankful for their parents despite their or maybe even because of their faults (that usually originate from living through and escaping a genocide).

I’ve never read a Cambodian American author, but I was excited about doing so. Overall I enjoyed these stories, some more than others. I loved the LGBT representation in the majority of these stories, and my favorite was “The Shop”... there is something familiar and comforting about So’s writing, it’s really transporting. Such an urgency while maintaining humor and wit while calling attention to the queer experience and intergenerational trauma. I think some stories could’ve been improved by being shortened but overall I enjoyed the collection. I also love the cover art.

Each story is unique, but you can feel the undercurrent of the familial trauma in each character. The characters in these stories deal with family obligations, sexuality, race, regret, addiction, and legacy. Some of the stories are interwoven, with characters appearing in each other’s stories. Like most short story collections, I did feel that some chapters were stronger than others.
This was the first time I’ve read a story featuring Cambodian Americans, and I enjoyed reading each voice and getting to know more about their culture. I am sad to hear about the author’s recent passing, as I was looking forward to his next work. I hope others are able to read this work of his and that it receives the praise it rightfully deserves.

There’s so much bittersweetness surrounding Anthony Veasna So’s debut story collection — his untimely, tragic death casts a chilly sense of loss across “Afterparties,” because reading these stories (which I’ve done again and again and again) reveals what a meteoric, powerful, and urgent voice he possessed. We can only be thankful that he left us these pages, and in them his irreverent, hilarious, witty, smart, and always-tender portraits of queerness and Khmer lives and steep intergenerational trauma.

The first story, “Three Women at Chuck’s Donuts,” sets itself up as a kind of mystery that prongs into philosophical inquiry (what does it mean to be Khmer?), the conspiracies and collective paranoia among post-autogenocide Khmers, and reflections on family and failed masculinity. “The Shop,” my favorite story, strips the narrator — a college graduate who moves back home and works at his father’s car repair shop — down to the familiar tensions of second-generation kids, with heartfelt and heartbreaking micro-epiphanies scaling toward the smack-in-the-forehead realization of its final paragraphs. Other stories focus on profane, cigarette-smoking monks; a mother who writes a letter to her son about a school shooting in Stockton; the alleged transmigration of an autogenocide victim into the body of a nursing home caretaker; and a young post-grad “Moby Dick”-obsessed teacher in San Francisco who starts dating an app developer. There’s freshness and innovation in every story, a sincere and visible attempt to “queer” form, to tease the short story itself into new utterances and wavelengths. Despite all the exaggerated language (there’s deliberate hyperbole here—lots of screaming and gesticulating and energy—possibly inspired by So’s interest in comics) and hyper-smart/cheeky/funny narrators (So was into stand-up), there is always a deep, sometimes unexpected, and invariably wrenching vulnerability that graces each story and infuses the entirety of its pages with warmth, pain, love, earnestness. There’s heart in these lines, reader. I am still thinking about his characters, still moved.

The deal: Vibrant, often darkly comedic stories about Cambodian-American life from Anthony Veasna So, who unexpectedly passed away at the age of 28 in December.

Is it worth it?: Entirely. These stories are so excellent, cutting and sharp and moving, and for lack of better description: alive. I’m gutted about So’s passing and y’all should absolutely read this.

Pairs well with: badminton, the documentary “The Donut King,” educating yourself on the Khmer Rouge genocide

A-