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megim's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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
juliamikhno's review
4.0
4 ⭐️ adored this book! 1950s lesbian culture, a coming of age story of a chinese american teenage girl discovering and coming to terms with her sexuality, a delightful slow-burn romance?? sign me Up!!
i was already here for the setting and the vibes and the self discovery and lily and kath’s adorable interactions, but then the story really picked up the pace in the back third and had me speeding through the rest of it. which i Loved, although it did end abruptly and (even though the book is already 400 pages) i am so curious about some plot lines that we didn’t get any concrete conclusions for. cannot believe that i’m saying that a historical fiction novel needs to be longer than 400 pages but i was so invested in every little plot point. but besides that, the epilogue was a satisfying conclusion to the story. i do wish we got a little more of a true happily ever after, but i’ll gladly take the epilogue.
lily’s inner monologue was just so relatable to me as a queer person, and it made me feel validated and seen. i loved following her journey so much. her and kath are so very dear to me <3
i wasn’t the biggest fan of the flashbacks because they seemed to have little effect on the plot and were too brief and scattered to truly make me Feel anything even though they did touch on really heavy topics. but they did a good job of educating the readers on the cultural and political issues of the time. overall, i feel like like malinda lo did a fantastic job of immersing us into the 1950s san francisco. definitely going to be thinking about this story for a long long time.
i was already here for the setting and the vibes and the self discovery and lily and kath’s adorable interactions, but then the story really picked up the pace in the back third and had me speeding through the rest of it. which i Loved, although it did end abruptly and (even though the book is already 400 pages) i am so curious about some plot lines that we didn’t get any concrete conclusions for. cannot believe that i’m saying that a historical fiction novel needs to be longer than 400 pages but i was so invested in every little plot point. but besides that, the epilogue was a satisfying conclusion to the story. i do wish we got a little more of a true happily ever after, but i’ll gladly take the epilogue.
lily’s inner monologue was just so relatable to me as a queer person, and it made me feel validated and seen. i loved following her journey so much. her and kath are so very dear to me <3
i wasn’t the biggest fan of the flashbacks because they seemed to have little effect on the plot and were too brief and scattered to truly make me Feel anything even though they did touch on really heavy topics. but they did a good job of educating the readers on the cultural and political issues of the time. overall, i feel like like malinda lo did a fantastic job of immersing us into the 1950s san francisco. definitely going to be thinking about this story for a long long time.
uvm's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Last Night at the Telegraph Club was an incredibly slow-paced historical fiction novel with underdeveloped characters. It was informative though.
panprincess's review
dark
emotional
relaxing
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
willgilmore_87's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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? Yes
5.0
tigerlillymelody's review
4.75
Did I love the sweet, complex, and period specific sapphic romance? Yes. Did I also love the world building and sense of time and place of the novel? Yes. But I just wanted to give a special shout out to the 30 minute author's note that goes over the sources and historical context for the novel. There's a special place in my heart for both fiction and non-fiction historical works that look at "alternative" cultures, and I love hearing more about the basis for this story and all the cool books I can add to my to-read to learn more. Also anything narrated by Emily Woo Zeller is a treat.
darkmagenta's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
sunisreading's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
4.0