The After Party: A Novel
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The After Party: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 1,435 ratings
Editors' pick Best Literature & Fiction
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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.

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  1. Listening Length
    10 hours and 10 minutes
  2. Author
    Anton DiSclafani
  3. Narrator
    Dorothy Dillingham Blue
  4. Audible release date
    May 17, 2016
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Penguin Audio
  7. ASIN
    B01D0HYUDM
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 10 hours and 10 minutes
Author Anton DiSclafani
Narrator Dorothy Dillingham Blue
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date May 17, 2016
Publisher Penguin Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B01D0HYUDM
Best Sellers Rank #267,887 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#2,294 in Coming of Age Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#4,893 in Family Life Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#8,969 in Women's Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
1,435 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Susan
4.0 out of 5 stars The Pathology of a Friendship
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2016
Verified Purchase
This book, so appropriately titled, caught me off-balance at its first page and has not let me go. Set in 1950s Houston, The After Party is the story of two girls, now young women, whose lives intertwine to the point of a creepy obsession by one character.

Joan Fortier, a classic narcissist, seems to have emerged from the womb as a beautiful, flamboyant, thoughtless rule breaker with an endless supply of her daddy's money. The narrator, Joan's best friend, is also called Joan, but the girls' first schoolteacher, insistent that multiple Joans cannot coexist in her classroom, forces the more docile girl to use her middle name, Cecilia. She is forevermore called Cece.

What terrific character development by Anton DiSclafani! These two girls as they become young women make me want to pull out my last hair for different reasons. Cece eventually lives with the Fortiers after her mother succumbs to cancer, with assistance from Joan. Cece's father lives with his mistress in St. Louis, rendering Cece technically an orphan. Joan and Cece become partners in crime as youngsters, with Joan in charge.

Cece will do anything to please Joan, the It Girl. Because of her friendship with Joan, Cece's social currency is significant as well. Let there be no mistake; Cece is also beautiful and wealthy, but in her mind, she is a stratosphere beneath Joan.

Cece will also do anything to protect Joan, most of the time from herself. Like many narcissists, Joan is a compulsive liar, and Cece eventually finds herself lying to Joan's family and, even worse, to her own husband. "Grow a spine (or a part of the male anatomy)", I seethed.

Anton DiSclafani perfectly portrays the era in which the story takes place. I had to continually remind myself that the young women were barely twenty. Wealthy girls were expected to make good marriages, bear children, become perfect hostesses, dress to the nines, keep perfect homes and be model wives. Volunteer work, Garden Club, Junior League and lunch with gal pals at proscribed eateries only; no paying jobs allowed. From my experience, this was more commonplace in the South. A glance at my Mount Holyoke directory during this period bears out my theory. By no means were Southern women intellectually inferior to their Yankee counterparts; this was a cultural divide.

I laughed when the women chain-smoked and guzzled daiquiris during their pregnancies. I distinctly remember women having a few smokes with their OB/GYNs!

I loved reading the accurate stories of Houston. Stories of the famous Shamrock Hotel abounded as I grew up. Because I am a St. Patrick's Day baby, I begged my parents to take me there for my birthday, but, unlike Joan, I did not get my way.

I thoroughly enjoyed The After Party and recommend it to everyone who enjoys a good yarn. Well-written and provocative, the book held my attention for two straight days.
48 people found this helpful
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Voracious Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Savor this beautiful tale!
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2017
Verified Purchase
Anton DiSclafani's writing is as interesting and thought-provoking as her name.
Retro glamour feels fresh and relevant. She takes the reader right back to 1951 & 1957 and describes each in a way that is neither dusty or tired.
DiSclafani's thoughtful guidance provides strategically-placed backstory, peppered throughout the book, avoiding flabby info dumps. The reader can almost envision the author's well-manicured hand graciously gesturing to each destination and era. While the audio version provided interesting characterizations and nearly impeccable execution (save, for the use of the proper English pronunciation of a Texas city, different from the vernacular used, no fault of the author), The After Party delivers a magical ride through the complicated ups and downs of two sisters of the heart. With a backdrop of Houston's early oil boom years, Joan and Cece shined as brightly as the city lights of Houston might have back in 1957. Like a rich, dark chocolate or an impeccably aged cabernet, The After Party should be savored.
4 people found this helpful
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Emily Joy Brown
3.0 out of 5 stars Odd but not terrible?
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2016
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This book was intriguing, definitely not "the book of the summer" like so many book lists seem to claim. It was strange and the characters irritated me.

However, it did keep me reading. Mostly to find out what the heck was going on behind the scenes. The entire book is written from Cece's point of view but the author keeps a lot of her thoughts from us until the end.

I am usually excellent at knowing how things will play out at the end but this one... was weird. I had no idea but it isn't surprising, shocking or exciting. The last 20% of the book is like a verbal diahrea of information and then it's all over. The end.

Part of me feels like I really wasted my time with this book. But I also really enjoyed this authors style of writing.... Just not the story itself perhaps. I think of this were a movie, I would just sit there thinking "What is happening here? What did I just witness?"

There are so many directions this book could have gone that would have added depth and built the characters into more like ale creatures. But in the end this book is about 2 girls - one obsessed with the other, both fairly unlikable. Both being used by someone and using everyone around them. Neither of whom I would want to know in real life.

If you have a few hours to spare and want to be left slightly confused, this is the boom for you.
3 people found this helpful
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TMG211
4.0 out of 5 stars It's a love/hate thing...
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2016
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This was my first Kindle purchase, and a vacation beach read. I did enjoy it, though at times found it a bit redundant or monotonous. How many times did I read the name Joan???!! Granted, she is a main character, but occasionally I felt like I was beating my head against the wall. All and all, however, it kept my interest and made me want to see how it would end. It is not an earth-shattering read, but it was entertaining, and really, isn't that what reading is all about?
2 people found this helpful
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J. Jamison
2.0 out of 5 stars About an Obsession.
Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2020
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Most of the book is very repetitious, except when CeCe is interacting with her husband Ray and her son. Ray and Tommy take up 10% of her thoughts and the other 90% she is obsessing over Joan, her friend. Seems like her every waking moment is concerned with Joan. Is Joan OK.? Is Joan thinking about her? Is Joan going to smile at her? If this was a love affair I could understand it, but there is nothing sexual about their relationship. It's very odd. And may I say, gets very boring after dozens of pages of CeCe thinking about Joan. I was glad when it was over. I kept reading to the end but not sure why.
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Cruella33
5.0 out of 5 stars How times have changed.
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2016
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This was an unexpected read. I was at the hair salon and this book was featured in one of the magazines I was reading and I decided to try it. I have not read anything by this auther but will definately start. The flow is great and keeps moving. I felt sorry for this woman and her friend Joan but the 1950's were perfect for the setting. Thanks for a great travel through time gone by.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Kelly Okeefe
3.0 out of 5 stars Good summer read
Reviewed in Canada on July 18, 2016
Verified Purchase
It wasn't bad. I liked the 1950's vibe. The story was a bit mainstream, but a good read. I finished it.
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