The After Party

by Anton Disclafani

"A vintage version of 'Gossip Girl' meets bigger hair." --The Skimm

"DiSclafani's story sparkles like the jumbo diamonds her characters wear to one-up each other. Historical fiction lovers will linger over every lush detail." --People

One of the Best New Books for Summer 2016 - Good Housekeeping
One of the 3 Beach Reads You Won't Be Able to Put Down - O Magazine

From the bestselling author of The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls comes a story of lifelong female friendship - in all its intimate agony and joy - set within a world of wealth, beauty, and expectation.

Joan Fortier is the epitome of Texas glamour and the center of the 1950s Houston social scene. Tall, blonde, beautiful, and strong, she dominates the room and the gossip columns. Every man wants her; every woman wants to be her. Devoted to Joan since childhood, Cece Buchanan is either her chaperone or her partner in crime, depending on whom you ask. But when Joan's radical behavior escalates the summer they are twenty-five, Cece considers it her responsibility to bring her back to the fold, ultimately forcing one provocative choice to appear the only one there is.

A thrilling glimpse into the sphere of the rich and beautiful at a memorable moment in history, The After Party unfurls a story of friendship as obsessive, euphoric, consuming, and complicated as any romance.

• ISBN10: 1432840606
• ISBN13: 9781432840600
• Publish Date: 16 May 2017 (first published 17 May 2016)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 26 March 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Large Print Press
• Edition: Large type / large print edition
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kait ✨]

i’ve been seeing this book everywhere as it is, apparently, one of this summer’s biggest books. so of course i can’t resist giving my two cents. i feel like everyone and their mother—except for me that is—read and loved [b:The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls|16158508|The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls|Anton DiSclafani|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1364772121s/16158508.jpg|21995426] (it’s on my giant TBR stack, i swear). so i can’t comment on how this stacks up as a sophomore novel, but overall i loved it.

it was a very fun novel, which surprised me a bit considering there is some pretty heavy stuff here at times. it kind of gave me [b:The Help|4667024|The Help|Kathryn Stockett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346100365s/4667024.jpg|4717423] vibes? deep south in the 1950s and 60s, etc. it takes place in river oaks, a hoighty-toighty place that is a little bubble unto itself, and is about the friendship of joan and cece as they grow up in this place. joan finds river oaks completely claustrophobic, whereas cece is content to be her “lady-in-waiting” and conform to the societal expectations of wifehood and motherhood, mostly because of her fairly transient and traumatic childhood.

this was a quick read for me because i was dying to find out the BIG SECRET joan has been keeping from cece for years. ultimately that secret was a bit of a letdown, but the anticipation carried me all the way through the novel. the most interesting character by far is joan, but i think that’s because the novel is told from cece’s perspective and it turns out joan has always held herself at a bit of a distance from cece, has always been a bit mysterious. thus, for me at least, cece’s obsessive desire to uncover joan’s secrets mirrored my own in a way.

on that note, i thought cece was a bit craycrazy…she literally has everything she’s ever wanted (husband, baby, security, etc.), except for joan. her feelings toward joan are so mixed up. they’re friends—but also seem kind of more than friends at times? (although i think it’s more one-sided, and cece totally denies it.) i just wish this had been explored more, it seems like a missed opportunity. female relationships can be so complex and interesting, and while that’s true of these two, i feel like we didn’t really get enough to go on to understand them.

i did really enjoy this, aside from those few quibbles. but i feel like they would make this a great book club book. there’s so much to discuss here and i am curious how other people would read the relationship between joan and cece.