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A review by soupstix
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I was very excited by the premise of this book. As a seventeen year old Asian-American lesbian with an interest in leftist ideology, I could not wait to pick up this book. I guess my expectations were too high though—the premise is just so excellent—because I ended up feeling mildly disappointed by this book. I think it’s a great read, I would’ve appreciated it so much when I was thirteen. I was just expecting to feel a little more...challenged while reading this, which is a bit too much to of a burden to place on a YA novel now that I think about it. Maybe I’ve just outgrown this genre.
I’d like to talk about the writing style. It’s not...my favorite. In fact, it reminds me a lot of Rainbow Rowell whose work I do not tend to enjoy all that much either. Like I said, I’m probably just outgrowing this genre. The use of parentheticals throughout this book was very...clunky, if that’s the word for it. It took me out of the scene quite a bit and only really seemed to work in the chapter whereLily daydreams about her encounter with Tommy Andrews at school . It’s unfortunate because I think the phrases wouldn’t have been so jarring if they’d just been seamlessly inserted into the overall narrative.
Kath, the love interest, fell somewhat flat to me. Maybe that was the intention, to follow Lily through her journey as a Chinese baby queer without centering Kath too much in the journey. But the fact that Kath was given so little attention or, frankly, backstory and motivation made the progression of Kath and Lily’s relationship feel a little abrupt.
Lily Hu was somewhat generic, if I’m being quite honest. She’s introverted and has a deep passion for space—which is great! I know quite a few people like her and I’m sure they would relate to her a lot. I just personally felt that there was very little differentiating her from other YA protagonists. Like if you took away the fact that she was Chinese-American, she could be anyone.
Speaking of, I wish there’d been more examination of the intersection of identity in here. Lily is Chinese, which others her in the pointedly not-Chinese queer community she encounters. She’s also a lesbian, which makes her not-quite-Chinese to her family and the culture she grew up in. I thought there was a lot that could’ve been explored there, specifically about family. I love stories that deal with family, especially Asian families. And all of it could’ve been topped with exploration of the Asian-American desire for assimilation in order to not be deported or viewed as enemies of the state—as well as a closer examination of communism in the US, how that tied in with queer spaces in the 1950s, and how Lily would’ve been affected by it all as a Chinese-American lesbian. This is probably just my wishful thinking; after all, my interest in leftism and LGBT+ history and in my own heritage as an Asian-American is what initially drew me to this book.
Lastly, I want to talk about Shirley. Oddly enough, I found Shirley intensely relatable. The assuredness to her gait as she waltzes through life, the way she covets her friends closely and jealously, the vague insecurity about her social status and her identity as an Asian-American, the sharp vulnerability of her character—like an open wound. Maybe it’s because of my unexpected attachment to her, but I felt she was dealt a pretty shitty hand in this book. I was rooting for her to be queer herself—to explain her animosity toward Kath (internalized homophobia!)—or perhaps a Communist—after all, she does fall for a suspected Communist) —or both! She turned out to be a typical catty sort of antagonist with raging homophobia, but I just thought there was so much potential.
Anyways, yeah, that’s my little review. There’s a lot more I’d like to say, but this seems pretty sufficient.
I’d like to talk about the writing style. It’s not...my favorite. In fact, it reminds me a lot of Rainbow Rowell whose work I do not tend to enjoy all that much either. Like I said, I’m probably just outgrowing this genre. The use of parentheticals throughout this book was very...clunky, if that’s the word for it. It took me out of the scene quite a bit and only really seemed to work in the chapter where
Kath, the love interest, fell somewhat flat to me. Maybe that was the intention, to follow Lily through her journey as a Chinese baby queer without centering Kath too much in the journey. But the fact that Kath was given so little attention or, frankly, backstory and motivation made the progression of Kath and Lily’s relationship feel a little abrupt.
Lily Hu was somewhat generic, if I’m being quite honest. She’s introverted and has a deep passion for space—which is great! I know quite a few people like her and I’m sure they would relate to her a lot. I just personally felt that there was very little differentiating her from other YA protagonists. Like if you took away the fact that she was Chinese-American, she could be anyone.
Speaking of, I wish there’d been more examination of the intersection of identity in here. Lily is Chinese, which others her in the pointedly not-Chinese queer community she encounters. She’s also a lesbian, which makes her not-quite-Chinese to her family and the culture she grew up in. I thought there was a lot that could’ve been explored there, specifically about family. I love stories that deal with family, especially Asian families. And all of it could’ve been topped with exploration of the Asian-American desire for assimilation in order to not be deported or viewed as enemies of the state—as well as a closer examination of communism in the US, how that tied in with queer spaces in the 1950s, and how Lily would’ve been affected by it all as a Chinese-American lesbian. This is probably just my wishful thinking; after all, my interest in leftism and LGBT+ history and in my own heritage as an Asian-American is what initially drew me to this book.
Lastly, I want to talk about Shirley. Oddly enough, I found Shirley intensely relatable. The assuredness to her gait as she waltzes through life, the way she covets her friends closely and jealously, the vague insecurity about her social status and her identity as an Asian-American, the sharp vulnerability of her character—like an open wound. Maybe it’s because of my unexpected attachment to her, but I felt she was dealt a pretty shitty hand in this book. I was rooting for her to be queer herself—to explain her animosity toward Kath (internalized homophobia!)—or perhaps a Communist
Anyways, yeah, that’s my little review. There’s a lot more I’d like to say, but this seems pretty sufficient.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Xenophobia
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Forced institutionalization