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

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

66 reviews

olivia_piepmeier's review against another edition

informative tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Lo just knows how to tell a good story, so with that and the LGBTQ historical fiction topic AND it's Vermont Reads pick of the year, I wanted to at least give it a try. She does a great job describing the world Lily lives in. San Francisco feels like a character within itself. The little blips of experiences of her family were interestingly used to frame the reader on where Lily is coming from based on the experiences of her family. Particularly when this "don't say gay" mess is going around, this seems like a very timely book.

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xjr's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative medium-paced

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

4.0

If you're buying this I'd read some of the author's notes about language before starting since it may come off offensively.

Anyway, this historical sapphic love story that takes place in the 1950s is both sweet, emotional and in a way empowering. Lily truly undergoes a transformation, and the lesbian yearning is strong.

I simply wish some of the other subplots were elaborated on to make it feel a bit more satisfactory. The romance itself was well done and I enjoyed both characters, their interactions and their adorkable dream sharing.

The author's notes at the end are also all super interesting and I recommend all to read it for some history lessons and interesting anecdotes from sapphic Asian Americans that experienced the 1950s-1970s USA.

Removed details of my issues since I can't get the spoiler button to work and they're very minor issues so can't explain without spoiling lol rip.

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megelizabeth's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

I completely adored this book. Lily and Kath are characters who I know will stay with me forever, and there's so much to love about their story: the beautiful, tender depictions of queer awakenings; the vividness with which 1950s San Francisco is captured; the complex family relationships and friendships that are explored; the seamless interweaving of discussions of race, gender, sexuality, and Cold War politics. This wasn't quite a 5* for me only because I found the ending to be ever so slightly unsatisfying and because there's a very brief mention of student-teacher 'relationships' which didn't sit right with me, but on the whole I just loved this book, its quiet, haunting, timeless depiction of queer love and community in an unsafe world, and everything else it comprises.

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sprucewillow's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

I really loved this book. Great look into 1930-1950's Chinatown/San Francisco gay scene, as well as the life of Chinese families before and during WWII. I have never read a queer book like this. I have learned so much (thanks to the author for including more historical details at the end!) and am incredibly grateful LGBT has advanced so much that the homophobia Lily had to cope with is less nowadays, at least in the US.

Ending was a bit lackluster but I can forgive that.

This is how I like historical fiction.

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morenowagain's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring 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

4.5

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sovner736's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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linnea1801's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad 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

4.75

This book was painful. It was gay though… The flashbacks were a bit boring but overall it was really good!!!

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emilynied's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

Malinda Lo was able to transport me into a different world as I was reading. I'm now convinced she's my new favorite author and I've only read one of her books. From the prologue and the very first pages of the book with young Lily and Shirley watching the "Miss Chinatown" pageant and prancing around the stage themselves to the epilogue and the glimpse into her adult life, I was enamored. Lo manages to describe San Francisco in the 1950s so vividly and colorfully and makes this historical fiction book so incredibly wonderful to read. The Telegraph Club is such an amazing setting to read about and be immersed in.

I feel kind of honored to have read the story of Lily and the forgotten story of many queer Chinese Americans during the 1900's, as Lo wrote in the Author's Note and Acknowledgments. Lily feels like a character that any queer person can relate to. She describes the quiet moments in her childhood were she felt weird or ashamed, and the moments of young adulthood where she came to the realization and fear of being different. I could see myself in her and I could see moments of my "coming of age" in her as well. That was perhaps the best part of the book - even though I'm a white American living on the East Coast in the 2000's, I can still see myself in Lily. She is such a thoughtful yet brave character and she took small and huge leaps that I as the reader cheered her on for throughout the entire story.

The end of the story felt like I was being ripped from San Francisco along with Lily. She finally accepts herself enough just for it all to go away - in a very realistic sense to, as stories like this were common for the time period - queer pride and joy being mistaken for "grooming" and "vulgarity." I honestly thought that Lily and Shirley would reconcile after their first fight but it turns out I was deceived just as Lily was...to have a friend betray you like that is devastating. The familial interactions went from comforting and homely to timid and uneasy.

I feel like the end felt inadequate after the whole story was told, but unfortunately, it's realistic. Lily couldn't have stayed without endangering herself and her family and that's the truth of being queer and Chinese in 1950s America. I'm glad Lo didn't compromise the integrity and truthfulness of the time for a "happy" ending. Overall, this was an amazing story and I'm so glad I read it.

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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

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rinku's review against another edition

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emotional informative 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

4.0

It was nice that with Last Night at the Telegraph Club, we got a book that combines historical and queer elements. There was just something missing for me to give it five stars, but it’s nevertheless a great read.

I don’t have too much to say about the story itself since it’s more centred around its main character. We follow Lily, a Chinese American girl in the 1950s, discovering that she’s a lesbian and having to deal with all the prejudices that people have towards her identity. In the course of this discovery process, she meets Kath and visits with her the Telegraph Club. These coming-of-age elements of this novel were written so well and realistic. Furthermore, the time period that the story is set in is interesting as well and I had the feeling that I’ve learnt something about it. I knew the term red scare and that the government acted racist against Asian people in these times, but I didn’t know how extreme it was which is so terrible. The only critique I have towards the way the story was told is that I didn’t like the other POV’s chapter which were not really necessary in my opinion.

From the beginning, you just have the feeling that something bad will happen at one point – and what happens is so sad and spoilered in the German synopsis, thanks for nothing lmao. After this event,

Spoiler

everything happening is just terrible and my heart ached so much for Lily; it’s so sad how homophobic everyone is and that not even her aunt accepts her

. The ending itself is

Spoiler

quite open and still sad in my opinion because Lily and Kath still have to hide their relationship. Considering the time period, I expected no happy ending from the beginning but still, it’s so sad

I often have my problems with romances but this one was really good. It’s relative slow burn which I always like but some moments between Kath and Lily were a bit too coincidental and hence felt constructed. Together, they were so cute from the beginning, especially their bounding through their love for STEM. Lily was a great main character in general and it’s so intense how she slowly discovers her sexuality and gender identity, just like how she’s caught between her different identities. She has such a tough life and at many moments in the story, I just wanted to hug her. Besides her, I loved the other female characters from the Club as well and the strong solidarity between them.

All in all, Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a great book for both learning about the red scare period and for experiencing an emotional coming-of-age story together with Lily.

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