Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

246 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, and Outing

Moderate: War, Racial slurs, Racism, and Miscarriage

pantslint's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcohol, Racial slurs, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content

maecave15's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Sexual content, Deportation, Racial slurs, and Racism

bo0ks_are_cool91's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Colonisation, Deportation, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Cursing

victoriastarkid's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Outing, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Racial slurs

buzzboy's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Alcohol

Moderate: Racism

letters_from_gabriella's review against another edition

emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book would’ve been a 5 star read if it weren’t for a few sections that felt unnecessary to me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Racism, Racial slurs, Lesbophobia, Xenophobia, Outing, and Homophobia

Moderate: Miscarriage, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Deportation, War, Toxic friendship, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Pedophilia and Adult/minor relationship

tey_lynn's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Homophobia, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Deportation, Miscarriage, Bullying, Drug use, and Cursing

kajoreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

The beginning was a bit too slow for me, otherwise I really loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, War, Police brutality, Sexism, and Deportation

Minor: Sexual harassment, Drug use, Miscarriage, and Toxic friendship

alica2's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense slow-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

3.0

I really liked the historical setting, but I felt kind of underwhelmed by the characters. Lily and Kath's relationship was cute, but after the beginning section I didn't really get a good feel of Kath's character besides her wanting to be a pilot. I felt like there was a lot of stuff included that didn't really go anywhere or was only offhandedly mentioned later, like I thought there would be more tension around Lily's fake ID given how concerned she was about getting it, or that the Red Scare might impact her family/friends more directly, or that her attendance at the youth picnic early on might have more drastic consequences later.

I liked the interlude sections where we got POVs into Lily's parents and aunt, but these also didn't really seem to add much to the story since I never saw those parts of their character peek through in Lily's perspective. The ending also felt way too rushed for me, and I know every queer story doesn't have to have a happy ending but it just felt really unsatisfying and abrupt.

With that said though, I still loved the atmosphere and could feel the love and research that went into it. It was nice to be back in San Francisco, and especially to see a part of its history that I haven't really been exposed to. I think this would have been a perfect book for me when I was younger, and probably would have helped me figure things out sooner LOLOL.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol