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

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

158 reviews

chuuyazai's review against another edition

5.0

emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

lainie08's review

4.5

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Content Warnings

jordynbtw's review

4.5

emotional informative tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

elizakay's review

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful informative sad 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: Complicated

This book is essential reading. Not a word was wasted, and there’s so much depth and emotion wrapped up in Lily and Kath’s story.

Content Warnings

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

4.5

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: No

Content Warnings

caitlinreadss's review

4.5

challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This book certainly put me through every emotion possible. One minute I was over the moon with happiness for Lily and Kath, the next I was so worried and then I was crying.
Brilliant and heartbreaking.
Last night at the telegraph club has very loveable characters and an extremely sweet lesbian (secret) romance. It has characters with historically accurate mindsets - which I magically hoped that they wouldn’t be because I was hanging on to the possibility that there would be the happiest ending for Lily and Kath. But despite this disappointment I set myself up for, the book was incredible to read and it really made me feel so much for these girls.

Content Warnings

aria_'s review

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring 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: Yes

Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a beautiful story about Lily Hu, a seventeen-year-old Chinese American discovering her identity, and learning what it means to be a lesbian in 1954 San Fransisco, and Kathleen Miller, the girl who introduces her to the Telegraph Club, a lesbian bar that is a place where both of them, for once, feel just at least a little at home.

This is the first book I’ve read by Malinda Lo, and it absolutely blew me away. The writing is stunning, and brings Lily and Kath, and all of the characters to life in such brilliant ways.

Reading Last Night at the Telegraph Club showed me a whole new perspective on what it was like to be a queer teenager in America in the 1950s. LGBTQ+ representation in historical fiction can also be hard to find, and I loved reading a book set in the past that didn’t just have a queer side character, but actually centered around them, and their identity.

I have always loved historical fiction, but in the last couple years, as I’ve been more aware of the books that I read, I’ve sought out more books with LGBTQ+ representation. Most of the time, those are contemporary books set in the present day, or high fantasy books set in whole different worlds.

It’s so much more difficult to find historical fiction that really focuses on queer people and their experiences in the past. Last Night at the Telegraph Club doesn’t only focus on two lesbian teens, but also the whole community that was forced into hiding in the shadows, and I think that it’s really beautifully done.

Lily Hu, the main character of Last Night at the Telegraph Club is Chinese American, and this part of her identity plays a very large role in her experiences, and is talked about a lot in the books, through multiple underlying subplots.

The book takes place in 1954, and with the Red Scare, the government is on the constant lookout for any signs of people with communist ties. Even her father, with his hard-earned citizenship, is put under suspicion and faces deportation. Learning about how what was happening on the other side of the world in China affected Chinese Americans living in the US was an amazing addition to the depth of the book, and it was clear how much effort Malinda Lo put into making sure that Last Night at the Telegraph Club reflected the many different aspects and challenges of life for the Chinese American community, along with everything else that the book focused on.

Lily Lives with her family in San Fransisco’s Chinatown, and for her whole life has been surrounded by that community. This means that she’s also been witness to how anyone under suspicion of being gay is treated, and how even the thought of it is met with horror and disgust.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club is an incredibly written, unique, and beautiful romance that tells the story of a young girl navigating the difficulties of being a lesbian and Chinese American in a city that doesn’t always appreciate either.

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Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a YA historical romance about a 17 year old Chinese American lesbian named Lily falling in love in 1954 San Francisco. It is a beautiful book with vivid characters, I loved every page and I cannot recommend it more.
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This one was my first read of 2021, and ahh it was so incredible!! I loved every page, and I could not have picked a more perfect book to start off my reading in 2022!

Content Warnings

eurydice_books_09's review

4.0

challenging emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this was a good book! personally I thought it was gonna be like super good cause of all the amazing reviews I read but it didn’t fully live up to that. It’s still really good though! Tbh lily bugged me at times and idk why, my fav character was probably kath or lana honestly. this book made me cry at the end though :((

Content Warnings

ciaracullen's review

4.5

emotional hopeful 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: No

Content Warnings

books_are_my_coping_mechanism's review

4.0

emotional hopeful relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This is a very fun book with wonderful world building and well-crafted characters, if you're looking for your next queer-historical fiction read, then give this a go :)

Content Warnings

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