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

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

79 reviews

olive_lol'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

4.25

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the_true_monroe's review against another edition

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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.

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gilnean's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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olivia_piepmeier's review against another edition

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informative tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Lo just knows how to tell a good story, so with that and the LGBTQ historical fiction topic AND it's Vermont Reads pick of the year, I wanted to at least give it a try. She does a great job describing the world Lily lives in. San Francisco feels like a character within itself. The little blips of experiences of her family were interestingly used to frame the reader on where Lily is coming from based on the experiences of her family. Particularly when this "don't say gay" mess is going around, this seems like a very timely book.

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xjr's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

If you're buying this I'd read some of the author's notes about language before starting since it may come off offensively.

Anyway, this historical sapphic love story that takes place in the 1950s is both sweet, emotional and in a way empowering. Lily truly undergoes a transformation, and the lesbian yearning is strong.

I simply wish some of the other subplots were elaborated on to make it feel a bit more satisfactory. The romance itself was well done and I enjoyed both characters, their interactions and their adorkable dream sharing.

The author's notes at the end are also all super interesting and I recommend all to read it for some history lessons and interesting anecdotes from sapphic Asian Americans that experienced the 1950s-1970s USA.

Removed details of my issues since I can't get the spoiler button to work and they're very minor issues so can't explain without spoiling lol rip.

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megelizabeth's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

I completely adored this book. Lily and Kath are characters who I know will stay with me forever, and there's so much to love about their story: the beautiful, tender depictions of queer awakenings; the vividness with which 1950s San Francisco is captured; the complex family relationships and friendships that are explored; the seamless interweaving of discussions of race, gender, sexuality, and Cold War politics. This wasn't quite a 5* for me only because I found the ending to be ever so slightly unsatisfying and because there's a very brief mention of student-teacher 'relationships' which didn't sit right with me, but on the whole I just loved this book, its quiet, haunting, timeless depiction of queer love and community in an unsafe world, and everything else it comprises.

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sprucewillow's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

I really loved this book. Great look into 1930-1950's Chinatown/San Francisco gay scene, as well as the life of Chinese families before and during WWII. I have never read a queer book like this. I have learned so much (thanks to the author for including more historical details at the end!) and am incredibly grateful LGBT has advanced so much that the homophobia Lily had to cope with is less nowadays, at least in the US.

Ending was a bit lackluster but I can forgive that.

This is how I like historical fiction.

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