Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Last Night at the Telegraph Club

Reading this was just 🤌 I so appreciate the thought that went into crafting this very important historical fiction YA novel. It was the perfect mix of informative and emotional that is my cup of tea, and I think it will be for a lot of other people too! I think a lot of young adults can see themselves in Lily or empathize with her and the feelings of first love. My only complaint is that I wanted more about post the big dramatic thing that happened, but I'll get over that by reading the cinnamon novel soon I think!

Quotes:

They had been in the same classes together for years, but it was as if they had been figurines on an automated diorama, moving on mechanical tracks that approached each other but never intersected until now. Today they had broken free from those prescribed grooves, and Lily was acutely aware of the unprecedented nature of their new friendliness. (56)
America had given her so much in the 4 years since she arrived, but it also regularly reminded her of how it saw people like her. (305)
-Lily felt as if she were stuck on a broken track and a diorama, as if she were not herself, but merely the figurine of a Chinese girl that kept jerking back to the beginning rather than continuing through her miniature world. It was clear that if she agreed with her mother--and Shirley--if she would only tell them what they wanted to hear, then she can move forward on her prescribed path. But that would mean a racing all of her trips to the Telegraph Club; It would mean denying her desire to go at all. It meant suppressing her feelings for Kath, and at that moment, her feelings seem to swell inside her. So painfully that she was terrified she might burst. (327)
"But we're never what our parents expected. They have to learn that lesson." (339)
A few hours at home and the Telegraph Club seemed more like a fantasy than a real thing. This troubled her. It felt as if someone had taken an eraser to her memory--to her very self--and rubbed at it, then blown away the remains. (369)

Content Warnings

saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

"They aren't looking for the truth. They're looking for scapegoats."

Last Night at the Telegraph Club is personal, being about a Chinese immigrant family living in San Francisco in the 1950s following their daughter, Lily, who's a lesbian. She's dealing a lot with homophobia both internalized and externalized, racism, and both the red and lavender scares.

I found the way this book dealt with coming out to yourself to be really relatable. The gray area where you're beginning to realize you're queer but scared of acknowledging it openly and the awkward joy of being in your first queer space. I also really loved the family dynamic because even though Lily's relationship to her parents is complicated, through flashbacks you see what they've been through and why they are the way they are. That said, I felt some of the non-POV characters were kind of flat, particularly Kath and Lily's asshole friend.

I was gripped throughout the story, reading it all over the course of two days. It was pretty emotional with me screaming and almost crying at certain points during the second half (view spoiler)

Overall, Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a needed bittersweet novel about learning to accept oneself and being Chinese and queer in the 1950s. The notes about the research at the end was also really great to read as it seems this was a personal novel for Malinda Lo who is Chinese-American and queer and included inspiration from her family along with her research.

Content Warnings

addyruth17's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Content Warnings

smithreads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

swaggyfrog's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

my time not spent reading this was spent thinking about getting back to it. i am glad to live in the time i live in now, i am grateful for the people before me whose lives were like lily hu's, and i am both excited and resentful of those who will come after me. i love you lesbians ❤️🧡🤍🩷❤️

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