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

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

292 reviews

pinetree_reads's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad fast-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

3.0

I found that the book was a good middle ground but not something I was obsessed over.
In the beginning I found it quite boring, since it had too much description of things for my taste and I nearly put it down. Only around chapter 8 I felt like it was going somewhere.

I know that the relationship between Lily and Kath is not the only focal point of the story but I still found it quite short. It didn't feel rushed but was missing.
Making it okay to continue reading but not a necessity born from curiosity about how the story would end.

That said I know I'm not the target group since I'm white so take everything with a grain of salt.

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precise's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

It was really clear how lovingly researched this book is. I found it hard to read and hard to see Lily struggling in a society that is not accepting of her. The novel does a good job of showing how stuck she is between racism and homophobia. I liked that there is as happy an ending as is viable for the time period. It was interesting seeing the ways in which gender and race were different in the 1950s.

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meaghanelizabook's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

4.0

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hailstorm3812's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

I see why this is so popular. I think if I found this at the right time it would have been absurdly impact, but even as an adult I quite enjoyed it.

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pantslint's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

I don't often read historical fiction, but a close friend gifted this book to me and boy am I glad she did.

This book made me cry. It made me do further reading, too. I knew about the insanity of McCarthyism and COINTELPRO from schooling, but didn't know the extent of the effects that the Red Scare had on the Chinese-American community (which aren't surprising, honestly). I didn't know about Dr. Hsue-shen Tsien. Or about the Chinese Confession Program. Or how the Chinese Exclusion Act meant that Chinese immigrants and Chinese-American communities were largely men.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a beautiful coming of age story, and also a diaspora story. It encompasses a lot of what I feel for my own immigrant parents—compassion for the difficulties they've endured and the trauma they harbor, and yet anger for their refusal to see outside of themselves and their community's perceptions. I have so much to say about this book, but I think that's all I can manage for this first read.

All I have to say left is that I have a personal vendetta against Shirley.

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bo0ks_are_cool91's review against another edition

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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? Yes

4.5

Wow good book love the aesthetic and the characters Yaey (I will edit this I swear)

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victoriastarkid's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

5.0

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tabea1409's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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katbotelho's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring 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

3.75

this was an interesting read because the beginning half felt very melancholic and ive never had a book made me feel that way before,, as a result i felt like the first half was a bit slow now a lot happened but the end really saved it for me i found this half a lot more interesting, also quite a bitter sweet ending but thats kinda expected given the circumstances and the time period but i like that it ended on a hopeful note

this book felt like an important read bc it made me reflect on my own experience as a queer person and how lucky i am to be living in a time where it’s much more safe to be who i am and how different my life wouldve looked if i lived in the 50s

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myloveshine's review against another edition

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hopeful medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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