INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE'S JOHN LEONARD
PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK WINNER OF THE FERRO-GRUMLEY AWARD FOR LGBTQ FICTION Named a Best Book
of the Year by: New York Times * NPR * Washington Post * LA Times * Kirkus Reviews * New York
Public Library * Chicago Public Library * Harper's Bazaar * TIME * Maureen Corrigan Fresh Air
* Boston Globe* The Atlantic A vibrant story collection about Cambodian-American life?immersive
and comic yet unsparing?that offers profound insight into the intimacy of queer and immigrant
communities Seamlessly transitioning between the absurd and the tenderhearted balancing
acerbic humor with sharp emotional depth Afterparties 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. 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 Moby-Dick. And in the sweeping final story a nine-year-old child
learns that his mother survived a racist school shooter. The stories in Afterparties ?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? (George
Saunders).
