Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

28 reviews

literary_waffle's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.5

Loved 🫶
• Having a main character who is exploring her sexualit and sexual expression as well as a love interest who is a masculine presenting lesbian and other character  who are also butches and femmes is very powerful 

• The author knew who her target audience was and the effort and research put into this books about Chinese and queer history is something to be appreciated 


Did not like 
• The flashbacks, even thought I understand why they are necessary (I get it it gives me information about relationship dynamics and the history of Lily's family) I felt like, as a reader, they were just kinda boring and I was always hoping to get through them so I could get to the interesting story

• It has a lot of triggers, especially for someone queer or who is a minority 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Abandonment, and Deportation

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, Xenophobia, and Outing

mbzoller's review

emotional informative reflective 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

4.25

This book broke my lil gay heart.

It was not as atmospheric as I anticipated but I feel that it put to story and page how it would be to be other in myriad ways. It was subtle, beautifully written, and painfully blunt at times.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Outing

Minor: Abandonment, Racism, and Forced institutionalization

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. 

---

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

ghostlyprince's review

slow-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Deportation, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality, and Hate crime

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

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

5.0

---

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

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

---

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

nils_0's review against another edition

informative inspiring lighthearted 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? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Drug use, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Xenophobia and Deportation

calicat42's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A beautifully challenging story for anyone who has journeyed to love themselves and love another; to find who they are when the world says there must be something wrong. A validating story that truly details how scary and overwhelming it it can be to live an unapologetically authentic life. Although the time period falls in the 1950s, it sadly reads like a relatable story for far too many people today. That said, each moment of love, community, and unrelenting truth continued to create the hope we all need in this world. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Deportation, Homophobia, Sexual content, Transphobia, Body shaming, Classism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Sexism, and Abandonment

emfass's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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? No

5.0

Oh god, my heart. I loved this book. Also realized in reading it that I don't think I've read much historical fiction with queer characters at the center. I cannot fully express what it meant to me to spend time with a character coming into her queerness in the 1950s. It was heartbreaking and validating all at once. 

I also ended up loving the interludes where Lo added chapters from the point of view of Lily's parents and aunt, to give voice to the many ways immigration, racism, and living a life spanning multiple cultures affects people.

I deeply appreciate the way Malinda Lo incorporated so much research as well as inspiration from her own family to create such a realistic, respectful view into San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1950s. I also loved reading her Author's Note at the end, which gave historical context to so much of the story. 

I listened to this on audio and narrator Emily Woo Zeller was wonderful.

This is going to be one of my favorite reads of 2023.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Alcohol, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, Deportation, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, and Body horror

tangleroot_eli's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

Beautiful and heartbreaking. I love how much is going on in this book. Lily doesn't just realize she's a lesbian and fall in love. She finds queer community and starts learning the culture. She thinks about future careers. She navigates her shifting relationship with her childhood best friend. She worries about her father being deported, and about whether her being gay increases the risk of that. She tries to balance her love for her family, community, and culture of origin with her love for herself and her need to be true to her own identity. She faces her family's homophobia and the mostly white lesbian community's racism and xenophobia. Other characters have lives independent from Lily's, and sometimes there's friction where those lives overlap.

This isn't just "realizing you're gay and falling in love"; it's  "realizing you're gay and falling in love while living in a world where everything else keeps happening."

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Sexism, Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Abandonment

Moderate: War, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, and Gaslighting

Minor: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Drug use, and Gore

Red Scare/Lavender Scare