Julie's Review: The After Party

Author: Anton DiSclafani
Series: None
Publication Date: May 17, 2016
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Pages: 384
Obtained: publisher
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Captivating
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab!

Summary: 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 who sees her seems to want her; every woman just wants to be her. But this is a highly ordered world of garden clubs and debutante balls. The money may flow as freely as the oil, but the freedom and power all belong to the men. What happens when a woman of indecorous appetites and desires like Joan wants more? What does it do to her best friend? Devoted to Joan since childhood, Cece Buchanan is either her chaperone or her partner in crime, depending on whom you ask. But as Joan’s radical behavior escalates, Cece’s perspective shifts—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. ~amazon.com  

Review: After Party is the story of friendship and how far you would go to save a friend who you thought needed to be saved. It's about finding out how little you know about those closest to you. CeCe and Joan have been friends since they were little girls because they bonded not because their mother's were friends. Joan's mother didn't come from money, she married it and CeCe's mom had money, that's how things worked in Houston. Somehow, Joan and CeCe stayed close throughout childhood and young adulthood.

That is until Joan starts to act differently again. See Joan's erratic behavior isn't new to her circle of friends, this has happened before. It's the speed at which it's re-occurring that concerns CeCe. As a reader you question CeCe's motives at times. Is she too involved in wondering what Joan is doing? Is she stepping over boundaries of their friendship? And what about Joan? Does she even want CeCe around? Does she value their friendship?

I kept turning the pages because I wasn't quite sure where Ms. DiSclafani was going to take the novel. It definitely had a creepy/stalker vibe to it at times but then I also saw it through CeCe's eyes where she was just trying to help her friend. I loved the themes that she brought into the novel: friendship, motherhood and marriage. It also highlighted for me how as a society we have changed some aspects for women and yet some things remain the same.

I flew through this book because I wanted to know what the hell was up with Joan. Was she losing it? Was it an act to separate herself from the society women she wanted nothing to do with? Was she just trying to be different? Prove that she could break free from  her mother's ideals?

Ms. DiSclafani has such a gift for storytelling. I was hooked from the first line of the novel. She is subtle in the way she addresses issues and will keep you thinking long after you put the book down. Although I don't participate in a book club, this would be an excellent choice for one.

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Julie's Review: The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls

Summary: Named a most anticipated book for Summer 2013 by The Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly. A lush, sexy, evocative debut novel of family secrets and girls-school rituals, set in the 1930s South. It is 1930, the midst of the Great Depression. After her mysterious role in a family tragedy, passionate, strong-willed Thea Atwell, age fifteen, has been cast out of her Florida home, exiled to an equestrienne boarding school for Southern debutantes. High in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its complex social strata ordered by money, beauty, and girls friendships, the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is a far remove from the free-roaming, dreamlike childhood Thea shared with her twin brother on their family's citrus farm — a world now partially shattered. As Thea grapples with her responsibility for the events of the past year that led her here, she finds herself enmeshed in a new order, one that will change her sense of what is possible for herself, her family, her country. Weaving provocatively between home and school, the narrative powerfully unfurls the true story behind Thea's expulsion from her family, but it isn't long before the mystery of her past is rivaled by the question of how it will shape her future. Part scandalous love story, part heartbreaking family drama, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is an immersive, transporting page-turner — a vivid, propulsive novel about sex, love, family, money, class, home, and horses, all set against the ominous threat of the Depression — and the major debut of an important new writer. ~powells.com

Review: The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is a superb debut novel. It takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. Thea is a complex, fully flushed out character. She is deeply flawed and yet young and naive. She often acts without thinking of the consequences. She is burning with desire. She is naive and sheltered. She is a young woman caught between childhood and womanhood. Ms. DiSclafani grasps all of these and adds nuances to them in a wonderful manner.

The camp/school itself adds to the coming of age story. The setting is remote. Thea moves from one sheltered situation into another one. They are just different experiences for her. She gets to see how others view her and the world. I loved the camp setting. I could picture it tucked back into the mountains with the cabins being hidden with in the woods.

Ms. DiSclafani keeps you guessing throughout the book. It's not so much what happened but how the story is told. You can pretty much ascertain what happened but it's the outcome of why Thea was the one to be sent away that is fascinating to me. The family dynamics of the Atwell's are certainly different than what I've experienced. The four of them live very sheltered lives only to visited by Thea's dad's brother, his wife and his son. How do children learn to interact with others? How do they learn what is social acceptable?

You knew the road that Thea was going to go down but you couldn't do anything about it. You are fascinated by her. You root for her. You want her to figure out that some of her choices have sent her down this path. I was anxious for her to make friends and fit in.

I loved Thea's friendship with Sissy. In the end it is that friendship that saves her. It is also her growing and realizing that actions have consequences. Sometimes those consequences last a lifetime but it doesn't mean you cannot obtain happiness. You have to make your own happiness.

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is a wonderful novel. It is perfect for the beach, pool, campfire, etc. You will want to know what the terrible thing Thea did was and won't be able to stop reading until you do.

Did you know that the camp really existed?! Neither did I but check it out! I kind of want to go there now. Girl trip anyone?!

Final Take: 5/5

Thank you to Riverhead Books for my ARC copy of the book.

Note: Join the discussion on Twitter by searching for #Yonahlossee.





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