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

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

24 reviews

swaggyfrog's review against another edition

hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

my time not spent reading this was spent thinking about getting back to it. i am glad to live in the time i live in now, i am grateful for the people before me whose lives were like lily hu's, and i am both excited and resentful of those who will come after me. i love you lesbians ❤️🧡🤍🩷❤️

Content Warnings

thecriticalreader's review

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emotional hopeful informative 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

4.75

Blurb:

Lily Hu is a high schooler living in Chinatown, San Francisco in 1954 whose life changes when she visits a homosexual bar, The Telegraph Club. As she learns to understand her own desires and identity, she develops a relationship with a female classmate. On top of the regular social pressures and strains that come with coming of age, Lily must navigate the complicated and complex pressures that come with being a queer Chinese girl with big dreams in 1954 San Francisco.

Review:

There are very few books that meet my stringent standards for historical fiction, but I’m delighted to say that Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo passes my scrutiny with flying colors. Lo obviously did her research; the extensive biography in the back confirmed what I knew from reading her writing. The details are immersive and luscious; there was not a single moment that I was drawn out of the story due to a historical inaccuracy or anachronism. Books like this one are the closest we will get to time travel, and for that they are special.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club would already earn a high rating just for its historical immersive quality, but Lo’s storytelling is equally skilled and compelling. The prose is accessible and easy to read, the plot is balanced and well-structured, and the characters feel like real people. Lo captures the nuances and imperfections of real-life circumstances, interactions, and relationships while crafting a focused, hopeful, and touching central storyline. I especially liked reading about the relationship dynamics between Lily and her longtime friend, Shirley. I did not want the book to end.

The only part of the book that I did not absolutely ~love~ is the chapters between sections from the point of view of Lily’s family members. I could not see how these vignettes added to the central story, and consequently, I found them less compelling. I think that Lo should have either put them at the end of the book as “bonus material” or left them out altogether.

Despite this minor quibble, Last Night at the Telegraph is a wonderful read on every level and deserves all of the recognition it receives.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like Last Night at the Telegraph Club if . . .

· You grew up reading the American Girl Doll historical books

· You appreciate slice-of-life storytelling

· You are curious about learning about life from a perspective not often seen in historical fiction

You might not like Last Night at the Telegraph Club if . .

· You dislike books that take time to describe lots of details to set the scene

A Similar Book:

Good Luck, Ivy by Lisa Yee. Although Good Luck, Ivy is written for a significantly younger audience than Last Night at the Telegraph Club, similarities between the books include:

· A Chinese American female protagonist who lives in twentieth-century San Francisco

· Themes of understanding your identity and following your passion

· Historically immersive storylines

Content Warnings

bashsbooks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

5.0

Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a love-letter to butch/femme relationships and to Chinese-American culture. Its setting of 1950s San Franciso comes to life under Lo's descriptions. And there is a subtlity to Lily's changing feelings - about both Kath and Shirley - that shows Lo's fine handle on detail. The flashbacks supply important cultural context, and the timelines keep everything straight (pun intended). The author's note at the end is also very informative.

Content Warnings

arlaubscher's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

Content Warnings

spookily's review

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emotional 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

4.0

Content Warnings

cady_sass's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.25

A beautiful story of a young Chinese American girl coming to terms with her sexuality during the 1950s. Gorgeous writing that tugs at the heart strings, woven together with artfully crafted descriptions of 50s San Fransisco, the communist panic and unlawful deportation of many Chinese Americans. A little slow, but purposeful. I envy the bravery and confidence that Lily shows in the face of adversity from both her family and the world.

Content Warnings

clemrain's review

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emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Lo has a distinct style of writing. I enjoy her attention to detail. Her dialogues are realistic, but a lot of conversation happens in the thoughts and how they are read and how Lo describes those interactions. Which I think is key for the types of family and time period Lo is writing.

I think the most dynamic and understandable character in this book was Shirley Lum. Would I want a friend like her? No. But she was an interesting character. She had a reputation to uphold and held secrets. She understood the repercussions. She, to me, was the daughter of an Asian immigrant. She found her best friend in a similar situation and the first thing she did was try to dig her out of it. Unfortunately,

she was very homophobic in her approach.

Shirley Lum was a lot more realistic and easy to relate to.

Lily’s jealousy of Shirley was a huge catalyst for much of her actions. However, those actions of sticking to truth over consequence presented her as above it all. This childishness in her to hold on to something so new yet so innate, caused a lot of anger in me. I couldn’t understand how she could be so reckless. Though the actions are incredible and something to strive for. I just couldn’t see Lily making those choices. She just wasn’t developed enough. All I’ve seen of her is her relishing in the community at the telegraph club. Her falling in love with someone she only knows on a surface level. How could these things persuade her to so easily stand up and loose the love of her family? It just isn’t realistic. I don’t understand how Lily went from point A to point B.

Kath just seemed like a love interest and nothing was interesting about her past her conversations with Lily about science. The meat of the historical moments sat with Kath.

What happened to her during her raid? How did her family react?

Still, even as a romantic interest, I kept thinking what were her feelings for Lily past the romantic? Flat character.

I didn’t understand what the point of the timeline was. As much as I liked reading about Lily’s family, I could’ve also done without having whole chapters dedicated to them. What I was told in those little chapters could’ve been condensed and delivered more efficiently.

All that to say, I can imagine this novel as a movie or even as a short story (which it was at one point). I think it didn’t effectively make use of its length. There was a lot of redundancy in scenes and much of the story could’ve been reduced.

I wish the raid had happened earlier so we could’ve gotten more of what happened after instead of having multiple bar scenes that ultimately showed the same point.

The ambition of talking about Chinese immigrants as well as the butch/queer scene of America as well as communism and America all in one novel was high. These three big ideas can coexist but in this novel they were not fully realized. There was too much going on and majority of it had no time to truly be resolved.

The ending was too rushed. The first half of the book took a while to ramp up. But I enjoyed it. It was so deeply researched and written. The intimate and realistic depiction of Lily learning about her queerness accompanied by the harsh reality of being Asian was gorgeous and relatable. But what was set up so carefully in the first part of the book did not pay off with such detail and satisfaction in the last part of the book.

For what it was, it was beautiful. It was well written. Ambitious. And at the core of it, it really was just a story about a girl whose identity was much bigger than she could begin to understand and live at such a young age. I wish we just could’ve seen her fight against it and learn from it a bit more.

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zoiejanelle's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

5.0

i cannot recommend this book enough.

if i had been reading this alone (instead of in the car on a roadtrip with my family) i would be bawling. LNATTC is a honest, insightful, and hopeful peek into what life must have been like as a Chinese-American lesbian in the 1950s.

Lily’s perspective was so vivid and real that it made me nostalgic for an age i neger thought i’d miss. what a unique experience to be seventeen and for the first time really, honestly, truly understanding who you are. who you will become. her yearning, for truth and progress and love, was so heartfelt. through Lo’s unforgettable, spare (yet still lush) writing, Lily’s warmth and desire leapt off the page and struck me square in the chest. her thoughts will resonate with me for many years to come.

though this book is unmistakably about Lily—her coming-of-age, her identity, her wants, her world—it was also about how each person’s life is more than just one story. the glimpses into Lily’s family’s lives and the lush imagery of 1954 San Francisco bring the reader to the startling understanding that we are all part of something bigger, and despite this we still deserve the freedom to be ourselves. though we get to know Grace and Joseph and Judy and are shown their own struggles, we don’t have to agree with their decisions regarding Lily. we can understand them, though, which makes them cut much deeper. the chapters of their POVs were so interesting and enlightening and unexpected. i haven’t read a book quite like this before.

the details of The Telegraph Club and its patrons were just so REAL. reading about women like me in a time that feels so distant and so dark lit my soul on fire with love and pride. how proud i am of Lily—and Kath, and Lana, and Tommy, and Paula, and Rhonda, and Claire, and Jean… how proud i am to be reading this book and feel like i am among friends in this other world. i felt like i could reach through the pages and hold their hands, smell their cigarettes, and laugh at this jokes.

LNATTC is not a tragedy, though tragic things do happen, but a triumph. despite the realism and the heartbreak toward the end (see trigger warnings), the ending inspires hope for a future Lily and Kath don’t yet know. for a future we have the privilege to live today.

if i could give this book 6 stars, i would. i will hold Lily and Kath gently in my heart forever. i can’t wait to read A SCATTER OF LIGHT.

Content Warnings

courtneyelove's review

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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? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

hannahrogers's review

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emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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

Content Warnings

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