Scan barcode
A review by saucy_bookdragon
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.0
"They aren't looking for the truth. They're looking for scapegoats."
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is personal, being about a Chinese immigrant family living in San Francisco in the 1950s following their daughter, Lily, who's a lesbian. She's dealing a lot with homophobia both internalized and externalized, racism, and both the red and lavender scares.
I found the way this book dealt with coming out to yourself to be really relatable. The gray area where you're beginning to realize you're queer but scared of acknowledging it openly and the awkward joy of being in your first queer space. I also really loved the family dynamic because even though Lily's relationship to her parents is complicated, through flashbacks you see what they've been through and why they are the way they are. That said, I felt some of the non-POV characters were kind of flat, particularly Kath and Lily's asshole friend.
I was gripped throughout the story, reading it all over the course of two days. It was pretty emotional with me screaming and almost crying at certain points during the second half (view spoiler)
Overall, Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a needed bittersweet novel about learning to accept oneself and being Chinese and queer in the 1950s. The notes about the research at the end was also really great to read as it seems this was a personal novel for Malinda Lo who is Chinese-American and queer and included inspiration from her family along with her research.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is personal, being about a Chinese immigrant family living in San Francisco in the 1950s following their daughter, Lily, who's a lesbian. She's dealing a lot with homophobia both internalized and externalized, racism, and both the red and lavender scares.
I found the way this book dealt with coming out to yourself to be really relatable. The gray area where you're beginning to realize you're queer but scared of acknowledging it openly and the awkward joy of being in your first queer space. I also really loved the family dynamic because even though Lily's relationship to her parents is complicated, through flashbacks you see what they've been through and why they are the way they are. That said, I felt some of the non-POV characters were kind of flat, particularly Kath and Lily's asshole friend.
I was gripped throughout the story, reading it all over the course of two days. It was pretty emotional with me screaming and almost crying at certain points during the second half (view spoiler)
Overall, Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a needed bittersweet novel about learning to accept oneself and being Chinese and queer in the 1950s. The notes about the research at the end was also really great to read as it seems this was a personal novel for Malinda Lo who is Chinese-American and queer and included inspiration from her family along with her research.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Outing, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Drug use, Police brutality, Alcohol, and Deportation