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

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.75

i wanted so badly to give this 5 stars! the writing is gorgeous and atmospheric- you can tell that a lot of love, passion, and research went into this novel. Lily and Kath's relationship was beautiful described and well-paced, with the bloom of first love being achingly vivid. side characters were fleshed out, and the dialogue was smooth (i think one of my favourite conversations was at the end, when
Eddie offered to beat up the kids at school who were gossiping about Lily. it just felt so real, the way that you don't have to be understood to be loved sometimes
). everything felt so realistic and raw and filled with feeling. the one thing that kept it from being at the very top of books for me is that the plot lines were weaving together beautifully, and then it felt like most aside from the main one were just snipped away in a very unsatisfying fashion.  it just seemed as if there was going to be a lot more other plot than there ended up being, based on what was setup, so that was a bit disappointing.
like, what about Shirley and Calvin? did Lily ever consider telling her parents about the two of them like she said she would? what does her father decide to do, when it comes to either signing a fake claim or not getting his papers back? does Lily ever get any other closure with Shirley, who i feel was a much more complex character than she was given credit for by the end? how about the anti-communism pamphlet, does Lily never think of it again?


these little nitpicks don't take away from the beautiful story that was there, but they were enough for me to shave a little off my star rating. still loved it, though, and the audiobook narrator is very talented!
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