Even unfinished, works in 'Songs on Endless Repeat' are not to be missed

Fans of the late Anthony Veasna So's acclaimed story collection, "Afterparties," will be thrilled by this new volume of prose containing more than 100 pages of his fantastic unfinished novel, "Straight Thru Cambotown," along with a variety of essays.

So died tragically at age 28 while he was still working on the book.

The polyphonic novel is terrific. Set in an area in Los Angeles County that So dubs "Cambotown," the novel begins with the death of Ming Peou, a 55-year-old former refugee who ran a highly successful, if illegal, loan-shark business called the "Circle of Money."

While babysitting her American-born nephews and niece, Darren, Vinny and Molly, Peou liked to take the children on her money collecting runs. So writes, "Usually, in these car rides, Peou finds herself lecturing her kmouys, talking their ears off. About what? Anything: the welfare state, Cambo gangs … how condensed milk is just poison the French used to cripple the lactose-intolerant peoples of Southeast Asia, how they all need to be good with money."

Now in their twenties, the cousins have drifted apart over the years. Darren has come out as queer and is studying for a doctorate in the philosophy of comedy at Stanford, Vinny is a rising rap star and Molly is an aspiring artist saddled with six figures of student debt. Shocked by their beloved aunt's death, they must come together for the raucous funeral to honor Cambotown's biggest moneylender.

So's novel recaptures all the elements that made "Afterparties" a bestseller. He observes his characters with a sharp eye and deep affection. His turns of phrase are brilliant, hilarious, at times profane and always whip-smart.

There's an utterly dazzling chapter where the intellectually inclined Darren attends Vinny's rap concert in Oakland in northern California. Darren's trying to figure out if Vinny's new rhymes are a queer coming-out. (It's a hilarious rap about male anatomy and Cambodian American identity — and none of it is quotable in a family newspaper.) His inner monologue is a deep dive into identity, desire, class and assimilation as Darren ponders "this uncanny sensation of futile ascent."

So didn't get to finish the novel, but it hardly matters that the plot is unresolved because the issues So is raising about his characters' search for meaning in diaspora are not resolvable, either.

So was also an astute nonfiction writer, and his essay topics range from movie reviews and personal works to a list of his yearly reading. All would be fine if they had been grouped together, say, after the novel, rather than inserted every few chapters, which makes for a disjointed reading experience. Also, it's not the vision that So had for his own novel.

The impulse to use the essays to explain the world of the novel feels like a sign of the publisher not trusting the reader. Regardless, "Songs on Endless Repeat" is not to be missed.

May-lee Chai, author of short story collections "Tomorrow in Shanghai" and 'Useful Phrases for Immigrants," is a board member of the National Book Critics Circle.

Songs on Endless Repeat: Essays and Outtakes

By: Anthony Veasna So.

Publisher: Ecco, 240 pages, $28.99.