Afterparty

by Stampler

[Leah]

When I saw Afterparty by Ann Reddish Stampler on Edelweiss, a site similar to Netgalley, I thought it sounded really intriguing. I loved the cover so much – it’s super pretty. I love novels about female friendships; it’s such a toxic thing, or at least it can be depending on who you make friends with and this novel sounded as if it was the most toxic friendship I was ever going to read about, and I couldn’t have been more correct.

Afterparty wrecked my head. It took me an age to read; I enjoyed it so much but it took a lot out of me every time I picked it up. The back and forth between Emma and Siobhan nearly gave me whiplash. Friends, not friends, friends, not friends. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why Emma kept going back to Siobhan for more. It was like a car crash. It was like when someone abuses someone else and the abusee always goes back for more, despite the fact they should have known better. All Siobhan ever seemed to do was stab Emma in the back and do things that would blatantly hurt Emma, but she always went back for more. I just found that I couldn’t read big chunks of the novel without having to put it down for a breather beacause it was just too much.

The one thing I will say is that I am SO glad I’ve never had a friendship like that. Yep, I’ve had friends who have stabbed me in the back, but never in the way Siobhan stabs Emma. I really didn’t know how I felt about any of the characters. I think my main feeling was intense dislike for all of them because they were all really awful to each other. They stab each other in the back, they screw each other over, they do bad things for no reason. Emma herself is no angel, lying consistently to everyone in her life, especially her Dad. I found her so unreliable as a narrator. I didn’t even feel as sorry as I should have when Siobhan stabbed her in the back repeatedly. The other character I mildly liked was Dylan, and he was also quite awful – you don’t date two best friends, that’s bad.

Afterparty will stay with me a while. The opening scene is harrowing, especially the line where Emma says, “Good girls don’t usually kill their best friend.” That hooked me in immediately and reading how it all came to be, on the roof of a building, with Siobhan dangling off, was super fascinating. I just didn’t care for the characters, they were not good people, but on the other hand, I kept going back for more, just like Emma did. I was insatiable. It’s a good look at a toxic friendship, though, and it is horrifically toxic. It’s a novel that will stay with you once you’ve finished reading, long after completion, believe me.