Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

39 reviews

talonsontypewriters's review

emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Misogyny, Outing, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicide, Violence, and Adult/minor relationship

Deportation and other immigration troubles, particularly relating to the post-WWII Red Scare. Setting-typical dated language. Mentions of teacher-student relationships in a film; brief suggestive advances on a teenager by an adult. Non-graphic sex between two seventeen-year-olds and short descriptions of sex scenes in pulp novels. Police raid on a gay bar. Underage drinking and smoking. Scene where a parent slaps a child. One scene featuring an air raid drill at school and discussion of atomic bombs.

lottie3126's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative 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

4.25

Woah. Just woah. I am at a complete loss for words after reading this book. I am feeling all different kinds of emotions all at once; Grief, hope, relief, fear, and so many more. I'm going to be honest, the start of the book felt incredibly slow and put me into a reading slump for a couple of weeks and I thought that it would be my lowest rated book, then when I picked the book up again I finished it in one sitting and absolutely loved it. I fell in love with the characters the connections they had felt real. The writing was absolutely incredible and it was obvious that the author not only did their research but also had personal experiences that they could reflect into the novel. I'm not sure if I would read it again as it has left me incredibly emotionally distraught, but I would recommend this book to everyone and anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Racism

Moderate: Violence and Toxic friendship

Minor: War, Miscarriage, and Self harm

books_are_my_coping_mechanism's review against another edition

emotional hopeful relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This is a very fun book with wonderful world building and well-crafted characters, if you're looking for your next queer-historical fiction read, then give this a go :)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcohol, Violence, and Sexual content

sarah984's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a coming-of-age novel about a young Chinese American lesbian in 1950s San Francisco. There is a romance, but the book is much more focused on themes of belonging, self-discovery and community. The main character is at a sort of crossroads where it is dangerous to be herself: her family sees it as a risk to be a lesbian not just because of 1950s homophobia but because homosexuality is associated with communism and as Chinese Americans they are already automatically tarred with that brush; when she's in gay spaces she tends to be the only Asian and is treated like a sideshow attraction even by people who are kind to her. 

The ways that Lily discovered that there were people like her who could lead full lives really rang true to me (Lily realizing women could kiss each other from reading pulps at the drug store is also an interesting tie in to Malinda Lo’s own work considering that she was writing mainstream LGBT YA in the pretty sparse early 2000s market) and despite the traumatic things that happen overall the book has an optimistic tone that I liked.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, and Violence

Adult/minor relationships are speculated on by some characters and appear in a sensational newspaper article, but there are no relationships like that on the page.

kylajaynebooks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I saw so much of myself in Lily, my heart breaks for her and is cheering her on all at the same time. I loved this book I cannot wait to read it to pieces 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Outing, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Homophobia

memoandradee's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-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

4.5 lo amo tanto

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Violence

outing, lesbofobia, physical violence, family problems

karis_1's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow, I haven't read an actual book in so long and I read this straight through in a day. My only complaint is that there's not a sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Drug use

Minor: Child abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Infertility, and Miscarriage

snowhitereads's review against another edition

emotional informative relaxing 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

4.0

 

I read Last Night at the Telegraph Club for this month’s #SapphicStoriesBookclub!

This is a story about friendship, finding your own voice, family and first love.

The author has given us a thoroughly researched novel about and what it meant to be queer and asian in the 50’s, where xenophobic, homophobic, Anti-Chinese and downright racist  sentiments were extremely prevalent.

Moreover, the author includes brief explanations of research and resources at the end of the book. I think those were very important to get the whole picture of the story and to learn more about LGBTQ+ and USA history overall

To say that I really loved this story is an understatement.

I loved the reflections on the "first times" as a queer person and how exciting and hopeful, but also secretive, and scary they can be.

I especially loved the description of the first night in the Telegraph Club. It  was so vivid and personal, it reminded me so much of my first time at a gay bar and feeling like I found a safe haven.

This book left my little sapphic heart very full, so I can’t recommend it enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, and Xenophobia

queerly_reading's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Police brutality, Violence, and Child abuse