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Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, War, Classism, Deportation
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Deportation
Minor: Cursing
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Deportation
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexism, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Miscarriage, Deportation
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Classism, Deportation
Moderate: Racial slurs, War
Minor: Cursing, Drug use
Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing
Minor: Cursing, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Lesbophobia
Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Xenophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Deportation
Minor: Addiction, Cursing, War
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.
Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Deportation
Minor: Cursing, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, War, Classism
Graphic: Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, Grief, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Classism, Deportation