A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 from:
LA Times * Boston Globe
* The Millions * LitHub * Shondaland
By the
New York Times
bestselling author of the award-winning AFTERPARTIES comes a collection like none other: sharply funny, emotionally expansive essays and linked short fiction exploring family, queer desire, pop culture, and race
The late Anthony Veasna So’s debut story collection,
Afterparties
, was a landmark publication, hailed as a “bittersweet triumph for a fresh voice silenced too soon” (
Fresh Air
). And he was equally known for his comic, soulful essays, published in
n+1
,
The New Yorker
, and
The Millions
.
Songs on Endless Repeat
gathers those essays together, along with previously unpublished fiction. Written with razor-sharp wit and an unflinching eye, the essays examine his youth in California, the lives of his refugee parents, his intimate friendships, loss, pop culture, and more. And in linked fiction following three Cambodian American cousins who stand to inherit their late aunt’s illegitimate loan-sharking business, So explores community, grief, and longing with inimitable humor and depth.
Following “one of the most exciting contributions to Asian American literature in recent years” (
Vulture
),
is an astonishing final expression by a writer of “extraordinary achievement and immense promise” (
).