Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

311 reviews

thatchickengirl23's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Deportation

Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Blood, Police brutality, and Sexual harassment

lily_sutton's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Racism

Moderate: Outing, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual content and Deportation

mostlykenny's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

This book was amazing !! If you’re into historical fiction and into queer discovery then I’d recommend this !! Also I’d recommend to read the Authors Note because it gives out some inspiring and informative information and history about what is like to be queer, Asian America, and most especially lesbian in the 1950s plus nineteen century. Please read this book. It is outstanding and  beautiful. 5 stars.  ⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Miscarriage

I was so happy that Kath and Lily found each other at the end in the Epilogue !! I’m so happy for them :)

teawitchontravel's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, and War

Minor: Misogyny, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

ottercorg's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

It always feels strange for me to call a book that wrenches my heart "a delight" but that's what this was. From beginning to end, I delighted in getting to know Lily through the pages and see her grow into herself, no matter the cost. Young love, finding one's identity, taking risks, figuring out who your friends are - it's something we all have to go through, but the circumstances make it all the more difficult for our main character.

I truly love Lo's writing style, especially the callbacks to earlier moments via parentheses between text. It's a simple detail that I just ate up. I admire Lo for her commitment to research in writing this book, and then for sharing her findings after her story ended. I think I'll definitely find myself reading more of her books in the future.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Deportation

infusedchai's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

i’ve been on the search for more queer love stories and this was phenomenal. such a complex yet interesting story and watching lily and kath fall in love was so sweet. truly was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

creolelitbelle's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

My rating greatly differs from the masses, but the slowness of this book had me consider DNFing multiple times throughout it. The audio narration is greatly done, but very little happened. Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a solid queer awakening story. It simultaneously fails at trying to be more while also needing to be more dedicated to that purpose and needing to develop more facets that are only flimsily introduced and barely dived into. Lily learns of her own lesbianism and deals with the closedmindedness of her friends and family during an umaccepting time period for anyone LGBTQIA. The snippets of history connections and family pasts of Lily's relatives that are offered could be beneficial somehow, but as written those pieces felt distracting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

duod3cima's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

Slightly disappointed in myself that it took me this long to get to reading this because I LOVED it! Really enjoyed reading a lesbian, Asian American story and I learned a lot about the history, too. Highly recommend :')

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Racial slurs and Toxic friendship

Minor: War

solarpunkopossum's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

Great book! I always appreciate a good lesbian historical fiction and it was a treat to learn a little about Chinese culture in 1960s San Francisco while I was at it. Great read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Outing

Moderate: Toxic friendship

Minor: Racism

ekgranstro's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Deportation

Moderate: Sexual content, War, and Injury/Injury detail