A review by trips
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

challenging emotional informative 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

4.0

I don't read historical fiction a ton because I typically find it pretty dry. I didn't experience that this time, yay!
This story covers the red scare, the lavender scare, and growing up as a Chinese American discovering her identity in the 1950's. I found the plot to move at a steady pace although it does ultimately revolve around the main character Lily and her thoughts, feelings and how she grapples with her internal realizations in her own coming-of-age period. I liked Lily a lot and I appreciate seeing a coming-out story from a perspective often forgotten in history.
However, I thought the flashbacks within the book were overall unnecessary (although I liked 1 of them a lot) and I would have preferred to see a couple switches to Kath's perspective. Kath is a quiet person so all we really know about her is that she good at math, likes airplanes, and is queer. But I understand the authors choice not to do this because it is a story about Chinese Americans, not white children realizing their queerness.

So yeah, I enjoyed this! I'd easily recommend it to many.
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