Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

104 reviews

aysha_blake's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Racial slurs, Deportation, Drug use, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Grief, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Miscarriage

novella42's review

emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Misogyny

Minor: War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, Gaslighting, and Miscarriage

the_true_monroe's review

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

5.0

I love reading books that focus on the impact of intersectionality (how multiple parts of someone’s identity relate to each other) on people’s life experiences, and while there are an increasing number of those, this one stood out to me as also being historical fiction. Most I have read are featured in present day or are memoirs.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a coming of age novel surrounding a Chinese American child of an immigrant, living in 1950s San Francisco, who realizes she is attracted to women and that there are many others like her. With McCarthyism brings both The Red Scare and the Lavender Scare to a time where racist and homophobic sentiments were already through the roof. Lily and her family and friend’s experiences portray very multifaceted and underrepresented stories in a way that readers can easily follow and become connected to the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Outing, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Cultural appropriation, Misogyny, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Deportation, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, War, Body shaming, Drug use, Miscarriage, and Police brutality

gilnean's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Sexual content, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Racism, Colonisation, Alcohol, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Sexism, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Outing, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, Miscarriage, and Blood

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Violence, Drug use, Classism, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Excrement, War, Gore, and Adult/minor relationship

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

nibs's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

5.0

I love the merge of historical fiction and queer romance. Lily and Kath's love story was so engaging and Lily's emotions felt so real (and accurate for a teenager). There was joy to their romance, but the realities of 1950s California were not overlooked. Racism, homophobia, sexism and anti-communist fearmongering were all interweaved into the story and Lily's everyday life in a way that felt very realistic. 

I appreciate the research and attention to detail the author put into writing this book. The author's note is really thorough and goes into language choices (using terms that were in use in the 1950s) and other research done to get the historical details right. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Misogyny and Racism

knockoffrainbow's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Alcohol, Biphobia, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Classism, Gaslighting, Racism, Hate crime, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: War, Abortion, Deportation, and Alcohol

dragon_lord's review

adventurous hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Abandonment, Death, Outing, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Excrement, Drug use, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

sprucewillow's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective slow-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

I really loved this book. Great look into 1930-1950's Chinatown/San Francisco gay scene, as well as the life of Chinese families before and during WWII. I have never read a queer book like this. I have learned so much (thanks to the author for including more historical details at the end!) and am incredibly grateful LGBT has advanced so much that the homophobia Lily had to cope with is less nowadays, at least in the US.

Ending was a bit lackluster but I can forgive that. 

This is how I like historical fiction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and War

Moderate: Misogyny and Toxic friendship

some_random_person_hi's review against another edition

challenging sad tense medium-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

3.5

It's an important book due to how it tells the stories of people who previously only existed in the margins of history and gives them a voice but I personally did not enjoy it. It's probably due to how I usually don't read historical/romance, didn't ship the main couple and personally would not make some of the major decisions the main character did. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Deportation, and Racism

Minor: Police brutality, War, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Confinement

Underage drinking & underage smoking. (Not explicitly condemned in text.)