Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Last Night at the Telegraph Club

Originally I bought this book for the pretty cover, I had no idea what it was about, but oh am I glad I chose to read it.

I really liked this book even if the pace is slower than what I usually read. I actually quite enjoyed reading all the little details and even if ever so often I remembered a detail that turned out to not matter all that much story-wise it didn't feel like I wasted my time reading words for nothing.

And if you're like me and you dislike reading spicy scenes this book is great because it barely contains any (explicit that is, there of course are mentions of sex and sometimes it's more than others but overall I didn't feel like it was too difficult to read)

A thing that shocked me was the language use in this book. Many words that today would be considered very offensive were used and at first it made me upset but I later realized it was simply the author trying to stay true to the 50's, so naturally that kind of language was used back then.

This book definitely made me reflect on many things and I really recommend reading this book.

Content Warnings

jenna_gilb's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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narbine's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

So much to relate to as a young queer kid figuring it out. Especially as a child of an immigrant who is not white.

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jojo_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

auteaandtales's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

lisa_m's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

This was an interesting book. It deals with important topics and I especially enjoyed the authors notes at the end of the book.
There she writes about lesbian culture and especially the role Asian-American and other marginalised groups played.

Sadly the story just didn't grip me. I really wanted to love this book but I didn't. I liked the story and I think it's a really important one to tell. It was just not a very enjoyable read for me.

I guess I just don't want to read about queer people being seen as abnormal and gross. I get that at the time that was normal but it still just made me uncomfortable and mad.
Also the author uses some words that made me uncomfortable because of their negative connotations. She also addresses this at the end of the book and that she used those words because it's what would have been used at the time.

I also didn't really connect to any of the characters. They all felt a bit shallow and like just a way to portrait the story. If I liked the characters more I might have been able to overlook the rest..

Edit:
For me it was probably a 2 star read. I did not enjoy it and the weird terms like calling the Asian protagonist 'china doll' multiple times just made me uncomfortable. I do think that this book is important though. It is not catered towards me and I cannot identify with the mc very much but maybe I'm just not meant to and that's okay. There are so many books written about girls I can identify with extremely well so I don't think that this is a bad book just because it's not for me. Actually I would maybe even recommend this to a very niche group of people. Queer people (of colour) with historical interests or interest in the LGBTQ movement.
For those reasons I have decided to give this book 3 stars instead of the 2 it was for me. it would just feel unfair and not do this book justice.

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