Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

49 reviews

lolajh's review

emotional 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

5.0

FUCK. The last 100 pages of this book absolutely broke me, even though I knew going into this it would have to be intense when it’s about racism and lesbiphobia in the 50’s. Regardless, I loved this book. It has everything, lesbians and the usage of queer terminology such as lesbian, as well as butch and femme, which I absolutely loved to see.

Lily Hu. What a fantastic character. A Chinese American lesbian dealing with not just racism and lesbiphobia separately, but as overlapping things that create much more of an impact than one of these things by themselves. The portrayal of Lily’s lesbianism was portrayed a bit iffy in some parts, such as describing her intense focus on other girls’ bodies, but for the most part was described as more than skin-deep. 

Lily’s love for Kath, a butch lesbian, was so bittersweet, and a lovely depiction of lesbian love. Their relationship transitions so seamlessly from friends to lovers, and despite the context they are in, neither have internalised homophobia about their lesbianism, and there are never any moments of shame between them after they show affection, which is something quite prominent in a lot of queer books done even in present context. Seeing Lily’s love for butches in this book where the butch is the love interest and femme as the mc was lovely, because I got to see Lily’s admiration for butch lesbians and for Kath. I can clearly see Lily as a femme, whilst it isn’t stated as clearly as Kath being butch, because of how she expresses her femininity in no way for a man, and because of her true love for butch lesbians. They are clearly Lily’s type; her love for butches was just so beautiful to see, and so different from traditionally feminine (but not femme) lesbian stories. 

There are also sex scenes in this book, and the characters are both seventeen, which isn’t too young I guess, but because of how the scenes were portrayed in such a beautiful way, I still found them to be enjoyable. They’re my age, and it’s not unrealistic for people under the age of 18 to have sexual thoughts and interactions, so I do think it’s fine. I loved how intimate the scenes were portrayed; the consent and communication and them not at all being something directed for the male gaze was beautiful. It was less about lust and pleasure than just pure intimacy and love between the characters, something so pure I really admired.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Hate crime, Homophobia, Police brutality, Lesbophobia, Outing, Racism, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Deportation, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, War, Blood, Body horror, Medical trauma, and Toxic friendship

kashby's review

emotional fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Hate crime, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Blood, and Miscarriage

hannibanani29's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Outing, Racial slurs, Racism, and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, and Miscarriage

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Wow how YA has improved since my days. The complex issues and history that have been woven into this story are amazing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Outing, Homophobia, Xenophobia, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Colonisation, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, War, Hate crime, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, and Violence

parkyparkpark's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Hate crime

Minor: Child abuse

gm_vak's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Outing, Sexism, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Hate crime, and Racism

aus10england's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

Oh wow, this was a dense one. 

I really enjoyed a lot of things about this book, and I would def feel differently about this if I was a queer Chinese woman, so for that alone I am so happy this book exists today. 

The first third and last third of the book I think we’re the strongest, but the middle is where I lost the most interest and think could have been more concise. The last part of the story was the most thrilling and kept my attention the most. 

Overall, an excellent story, and important read for so, so many people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Miscarriage

1quillb's review

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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Outing and Toxic friendship

Minor: Hate crime, Alcohol, and Classism

kalinamiski1's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Hate crime, Toxic friendship, and Racism

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, War, and Police brutality

lunasreads's review

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

lily and kath my beloveds! finally finished reading this one and my heart is in pieces on the floor. reading this story as a lesbian made me ache all over because it just hurts knowing that lesbians before me had it so so hard. just found out about homophobia… not good! the side characters — mainly lana jackson — were wonderful and i loved the atmosphere of the telegraph club itself. i did find that the flashback parts involving lily’s family took me out of the story a bit? but it wasn’t that much of an issue tbh. also, though this isn’t the fault of the book, i feel like the ending has been misconstrued when people recommend this — all i’ve heard is how it has a happy ending, but i definitely think it’s more bittersweet than anything else.

overall i really loved reading this and i’m sad it’s over!! kathleen miller i will see you in my dreams.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Racism, Hate crime, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, and Outing

Minor: Abandonment