The After Party Audiobook By Anton DiSclafani cover art

The After Party

A Novel

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The After Party

By: Anton DiSclafani
Narrated by: Dorothy Dillingham Blue
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"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)

From the best-selling 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 25, 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.

©2016 Anton DiSclafani (P)2016 Penguin Audio Coming of Age Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Women's Fiction Friendship

Critic reviews

Dramatic... Left me holding my breath.” (The New York Times Book Review)

"A tale of lavish balls, garden clubs, and enduring female friendship.” (O, The Oprah Magazine)

“Two women take on the Texas social scene in the 1950s and all its attendant glamor and scandals. You’ll just have to imagine the accents for yourself.” (Boston Magazine)
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I loved hearing about the elegance and scandal of the 1950's Houston oil boom.
Anyone interested in this type of history would thoroughly enjoy this book.
The only down side was the confusion the author created at times by jumping back and forth between time periods.

Loved hearing about old-time Houston!

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I enjoyed this. The setting of 1950's Houston was vividly depicted; the author obviously did a lot of research and worked the details into the story smoothly. This story of a dysfunctional friendship is very insightful and I found it quite interesting. Wonderful narration, too.

Examination of a friendship

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This is an easy read and I was very enthralled with the women. There were times I wanted to jump in the book and kind of lead Ce Ce down a differnt path and talk to her about better choices! Sometimes I wanted to choke her. Definitely a great beach read but be prepared for a narrator that will make you love her and want to slap at the same time!

I wanted to jump inside the book!

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Narrator kept you there! Had a three day drive, the narrator was believable! She put a movie in my head!

Entertaining

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The strange attachment of CiCi to June got tiring really quick. Would not recommend due to the fact that there wasn't much complexity in the story or the characters past an unhealthy obsession and a rich, beautiful (spoiled) girl unsatisfied with having everything on a golden platter so she decides to continually sabotage herself.

Tiresome

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A great story diminished only by a lukewarm protagonist. Riveting twista and satisfying plot developments. Our narrator was simply....just why did she do the things she did?!

Great story diminished only by....

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I'm on chapter 20, still listening because the narrator is good and I'm still waiting to find out what the plot of the story is... well, maybe that's not fair - I'm just not invested in the characters, if J doesn't turn out to be a psychotic drug addict OR if C doesn't stop being a whiny girl & grow up ----- then? it feels like I'm reading a 16 year old's diary..... but worth a listen if you like diaries (& the narrator is good - the writing is good too, but I'm halfway through and still waiting for the meat of it.....)

still waiting.....

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While I loved this author's first novel, this one didn't sing to me in the same way. The writing was more precious and the protagonist less sympathetic. Disappointing.

Not up to par

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This is a great light read. Easy to listen to. Don't pass this up.

As a Houstonian I loved this story!

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Would you try another book from Anton DiSclafani and/or Dorothy Dillingham Blue?

Probably not

Has The After Party turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

Would you be willing to try another one of Dorothy Dillingham Blue’s performances?

Sure

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The After Party?

I am on chapter 8, and I just can't listen anymore because I Cannot hear the word Joan one more time. The narrator is completely obsessed with character we don't even know. It's like, "Air, Joan loves breathing air. I have watched Joan breathe for days. Has Joan ever watched me breathe? Joan is constantly on my mind. Joan is everything. Joan knows that I am constantly watching her.

Any additional comments?

I am a native Houstonian, and I really wanted to like this book, but it's just about a narrators obsession with an aloof girl.

So repetitive that it is infuriating

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