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A review by signemai
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
4.0
I just finished this book less than an hour ago, and I'm trying to gather my thoughts. I think I'm ending it on a 3.5 rating, but I am really unsure.
This book checks most of my favourite boxes. It's queer? Yes. It's character driven? Yes. It feels authentic? Yes. On top of that, it is a relatable, heart-wrenching, queer coming-of-age tale in a time and place where being queer was not very fun. The book shows queer life and happiness beautifully, and in an exciting way.
The few negatives this book had, I was able to overlook:
1. For a character driven novel, I felt like it needed a little bit more to make me really enjoy it. It was very slow, as are books with no immediate plot, but I also felt like Lily wasn't entirely enough to make up for it. Don't get me wrong, her journey was very relatable from a queer perspective and I felt for her deeply. But I just felt like there was something I needed. The love story also starts late, which gives space to secret pining (really cute), and Lily's own journey has a bigger focus.
2. The writing was a little uninspiring. What was great about the writing was the descriptions. The book felt totally alive, both with setting, mood, characters, everything. This book made me seriously hungry, and I loved it. But the inner monologue was maybe just not as fun and engaging to read? I don't know, I'm still gathering thoughts.
3. The flashbacks were great in theory, but they confused me in practice. I felt like they were a little out of place in terms of what the novel was about, maybe just a little boring? I like getting to know Judy, but the circumstances in which the stories took place just seemed a little bit random. Similarly, I felt like the political parts could have been highlighted much more. But then again, I really like politics, and the story didn't suffer because of it.
Anyway, I would definitely recommend this.
This book checks most of my favourite boxes. It's queer? Yes. It's character driven? Yes. It feels authentic? Yes. On top of that, it is a relatable, heart-wrenching, queer coming-of-age tale in a time and place where being queer was not very fun. The book shows queer life and happiness beautifully, and in an exciting way.
The few negatives this book had, I was able to overlook:
1. For a character driven novel, I felt like it needed a little bit more to make me really enjoy it. It was very slow, as are books with no immediate plot, but I also felt like Lily wasn't entirely enough to make up for it. Don't get me wrong, her journey was very relatable from a queer perspective and I felt for her deeply. But I just felt like there was something I needed. The love story also starts late, which gives space to secret pining (really cute), and Lily's own journey has a bigger focus.
2. The writing was a little uninspiring. What was great about the writing was the descriptions. The book felt totally alive, both with setting, mood, characters, everything. This book made me seriously hungry, and I loved it. But the inner monologue was maybe just not as fun and engaging to read? I don't know, I'm still gathering thoughts.
3. The flashbacks were great in theory, but they confused me in practice. I felt like they were a little out of place in terms of what the novel was about, maybe just a little boring? I like getting to know Judy, but the circumstances in which the stories took place just seemed a little bit random. Similarly, I felt like the political parts could have been highlighted much more. But then again, I really like politics, and the story didn't suffer because of it.
Anyway, I would definitely recommend this.