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

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense 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? No

4.5

 This book was a beautifully written sapphic historical fiction and it definitely lived up to the hype and the awards it has received. This book was so comforting and I absolutely loved how much the writer had us rooting for Lily. I adored her and wanted to give her a hug. The parts of her sneaking out had me on the edge of my seat and I was truly immersed and anxious during the climax of the story. My favorite part about this book was probably in the first 65% where Lily is discovering that she is queer. As someone who is lesbian reading this felt VALIDATING. It was so cute and tender to watch her discover herself. I also loved the scenes of her going into the Telegraph Club for the first time and how in awe she was and how observant of everyone she was. That was exactly how I felt went I went to a lesbian bar for the first time, starstruck and observant. Another aspect I loved was how it went int detail about Lily's family, like the excerpts about her mom and aunt's past. I think it was important to the context of the political turmoil and consequencial discrimination the women who raised Lily had to go through. It just gave them more context for why they, even though it was ultimately harmful, were trying to protect Lily. Her relationship with Shirley was also something I appreciated reading, as I think it is really common (especially for queer women) to have a toxic possessive best friendship. I thought their relationship was honest and interesting. The reason it got knocked a half star was because I wish there was more depth to Kath's character and I wish there was more background on her because I really liked her character. I would totally recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction and/or sapphic coming of age stories! 
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