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A review by clairechum
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
3.5
The premise of this book drew me in because I haven’t read any historical fiction books with queer characters before. I obviously did not live during the 1950s so I cannot really attest to how accurate this depiction of life as a lesbian Chinese-American woman is, but I believe that Malinda Lo portrays Lily’s struggle accurately. (Minor spoilers ahead) I believe that the ending of the story was the right direction for Lo to go in because if it had been any happier or had worked out in Lily’s favor more than it had, then it would feel too romanticized or unrealistic.
I don’t think the story was as developed as it could have been for being 400 pages in length. We barely get to know Kath and do not get much of a hint about how Lily’s or Kath’s lives turn out towards the end. There was too much rising action to the buildup of Lily’s relationship with Kath and The Telegraph Club and not enough time developing the relationship further or Lily’s understanding of her identity. Additionally, I didn’t love when Lo would include flashback chapters about Lily’s mom, dad, and aunt’s lives because it did not seem to add anything to the plot nor were they meant to be main characters, so it seemed unnecessary. If there were going to be developments in their relationships with each other then I would appreciate the flashbacks, but since there weren’t, their perspectives were just filler space.
I don’t think the story was as developed as it could have been for being 400 pages in length. We barely get to know Kath and do not get much of a hint about how Lily’s or Kath’s lives turn out towards the end. There was too much rising action to the buildup of Lily’s relationship with Kath and The Telegraph Club and not enough time developing the relationship further or Lily’s understanding of her identity. Additionally, I didn’t love when Lo would include flashback chapters about Lily’s mom, dad, and aunt’s lives because it did not seem to add anything to the plot nor were they meant to be main characters, so it seemed unnecessary. If there were going to be developments in their relationships with each other then I would appreciate the flashbacks, but since there weren’t, their perspectives were just filler space.