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

I don’t give a lot of 5 star ratings. But I am obsessed with this book. It’s brilliant. The time in San Francisco when gay clubs were being closed. Communism rumors were everywhere with McCarthyism. The Chinese were under suspicion and they’re living in Chinatown. All of that setting the stage for a young girl coming of age and realizing she’s a lesbian. The feelings were so authentic and felt so real to me. The racism of the time. The wonder of finding people like you. The tug to feel authentic vs. being shunned by your family and your community. I just loved every page. Definitely one of my favorites this year!

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whatannikareads's review

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emotional informative 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

3.75

v cute sapphic love story with some cool interracial queer asian representation. there are some really pretty sentences in here. i overall enjoyed it!

i just felt it was a bit dry the first 100-200 pages, but then it picked up after that. the ending was fine for me, not WOW but not bad. plus i didn’t really connect the flashbacks of the family members to the core plot of the story since they’re not really brought back to light in the present-day plot. also i just didn’t care for shirley as much as she was mentioned in the book lmao the chinatown pageant was just kinda miscellaneous for me. i think the author attempted to shed light on a lot of different social issues at the time: being asian american, being queer, communism, women in STEM, and i think if the plot was a little more focused it would’ve made it a lot stronger.

but i appreciate the research that went into making the fiction fairly accurate for the time period it’s presented in. also i love san francisco :)

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toffishay's review

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emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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

4.25

What a sweet and emotional read! I absolutely loved following Lily's journey and I learned so much about a time in American life that I am not very familiar with. I never thought that I was one for historical fiction, but this book may have changed my mind. I also loved the insight into Lily's family too. Really, her whole world feels so real and honest. It can make it difficult to read about Lily's tough times because they feel so real. I want to return to this story again and again though. It's hard, but it's real.

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laurenkimoto's review against another edition

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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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andromeda_1998's review

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challenging emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Last night at the telegraph club took me by surprise. For school I had to read an historical fiction and as the raging queer that I am I chose this book to read. I wanted to read something that would mean more to me than just that one book I read for school and well…. The telegraph succeeded in that. Normally I’m not a big fan of this kind of book is just amazing.

Characters
The list of characters is really diverse and I loved it. I cannot speak for the Asian rep but I loved the sapphic love. I could really find myself in the panic that surrounds a baby gay and I wish with whole my heart that Lily’s story would have been easier. I felt a lot for her and she deserved better.

Worldbuilding
The worldbuilding is done in a very fun way. The story is played oud in the real world and it shows. If you google the locations you are able to find them and I love this!

Story
This is one of those books that is very important but before you read this please check the triggerwarnings!

Writing
The writing was beautifully done and gripped me. I had to finish this book!

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