Will I love Afterparties?

I’m a huge admirer of the late Cambodian American author Anthony Veasna So—he had an eye for the perfect, defining detail. In his debut short-story collection, published after his death, he bore witness to his beloved Khmer diaspora community’s loves and losses, traumas and triumphs—somehow balancing bitter wit and humanity as he tackled the Big Questions: How do you remake a life after witnessing the worst horrors imaginable? How can the next generation truly understand what their elders endured?

So was an extraordinary talent—what a tragedy that he died so young. Thankfully, he left the world this splendid document of… show more.

On December 8, 2020, Anthony So died of an overdose. We know he was found cold, in bed, by Alex Torres, So’s partner of seven years; that San Francisco’s official autopsy report determined the cause of death: “gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), methamphetamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA);” and that So was doing massive amount of Adderall in order to hit the deadline for his first book (Afterparties).

One of eleven children of survivors of Pol Pot’s Killing Fields, So grew up in a massive extended Khmer family in Stockton, CA. The pre-book-publication of the stories that make up Afterparties appeared in… show more.

Someone asked me recently when the last time was I felt truly represented in art or media, and I told them it was when I read this book.

Afterparties is a series of short stories about Cambodians around the country… and it gets it so absolutely, hilariously right. The characters are vivid, extraordinary in their ordinariness, and familiar not just to Khmer people, but to anyone who belongs to a community.

Its tone is a high wire act… sardonic, morbid, and always so affectionate and loving to its subjects.

So’s short story collection weaves through the lives of Cambodian refugees and their search for identity while forging a better life for their families.

How do the survivors of genocide move forward and start over?

Whether told from the perspective of two sisters working in their mother’s donut shop, a son grieving his father in a temple, or a badminton team losing faith in their coach, these stories offer a one-of-a-kind kaleidoscope with whimsy, heartache, fortitude, and rebellion. 

Afterparties: Stories is about Cambodian Americans, their first-generation Khmer Rougue-surviving parents, and the tensions between their dreams and desires for themselves and their families. There are apprentice monks, reincarnated souls, mechanics, artists, slackers, and wannabe tech millionaires. So never sells any of his characters’ dreams short. Every story is a gem!