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

I read Malindo Lo's "Last Night at the Telegraph Club" and oboy what a lovely and heartaching book. Sweet baby dykes in Chinatown and North Beach San Francisco during the 1950s. It was so evocative and touching. I'll definitely re-read this one.

Content Warnings

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Content Warnings

jashanac's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.25

I quite enjoyed this! It was a very quick read for me -- every time I sat down to read I had read 50 pages before I knew it, and always wanted to continue even if I couldn't at the moment.

This was a lovely, real, and honest coming-of-age story combined with a coming out story. With the added layer of what it was like to be Chinese American at a particularly tense time in American history for that community.

I thoroughly enjoyed the writing in this story; I found myself getting lost in the story time and time again, despite it not being some high-action, full-of-high-drama kind of story.

My only real qualm here is the backstory chapters we got for Lily's parents and her aunt. There were only a few of them, and I personally don't think they actually added anything to Lily's story that was being told. Her parents were very much background characters, and I don't think they needed to be more than that -- I don't feel that I needed to learn more about who they really were, or who they were when they were younger, etc.

This story ends on a hopeful note, and doesn't tie everything up with a neat bow, which I didn't mind.

Content Warnings

forestfloor's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful 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? No

4.0

I really enjoyed this read, I found the relationships compelling and I loved the way Lily's inner voice is written.

I felt it did leave me with some unanswered questions which i would have liked to have addressed.

Spoiler

Did her father get his papers back? Did anything actually ever happen to Calvin and the Man Ts'ing? Does Aunt Judy ever understand like she asks Lily to give her patience for? I think it would be nice to have had more of a window into where Lily's family were on her return to San Francisco. It's implied not great, as Lily says she'll lie about where she's been, and it bothers me not to really see the development because she was so adamant about not lying, about maintaining trust with her mother even if it made her hate her. How did Lily and Kath manage to find each other again? After so much worry about not knowing where she was I felt a bit robbed of the relief of Lily finding her again.

Content Warnings