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the_true_monroe's review against another edition
- 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
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a coming of age novel surrounding a Chinese American child of an immigrant, living in 1950s San Francisco, who realizes she is attracted to women and that there are many others like her. With McCarthyism brings both The Red Scare and the Lavender Scare to a time where racist and homophobic sentiments were already through the roof. Lily and her family and friend’s experiences portray very multifaceted and underrepresented stories in a way that readers can easily follow and become connected to the characters.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Body shaming, Drug use, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Medical content, Sexual harassment, War, and Deportation
gilnean's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
Moderate: Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, War, and Classism
wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
trips's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This story covers the red scare, the lavender scare, and growing up as a Chinese American discovering her identity in the 1950's. I found the plot to move at a steady pace although it does ultimately revolve around the main character Lily and her thoughts, feelings and how she grapples with her internal realizations in her own coming-of-age period. I liked Lily a lot and I appreciate seeing a coming-out story from a perspective often forgotten in history.
However, I thought the flashbacks within the book were overall unnecessary (although I liked 1 of them a lot) and I would have preferred to see a couple switches to Kath's perspective. Kath is a quiet person so all we really know about her is that she good at math, likes airplanes, and is queer. But I understand the authors choice not to do this because it is a story about Chinese Americans, not white children realizing their queerness.
So yeah, I enjoyed this! I'd easily recommend it to many.
Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Toxic friendship
Minor: Medical content and War
clemrain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The ambition of talking about Chinese immigrants as well as the butch/queer scene of America as well as communism and America all in one novel was high. These three big ideas can coexist but in this novel they were not fully realized. There was too much going on and majority of it had no time to truly be resolved.
The ending was too rushed. The first half of the book took a while to ramp up. But I enjoyed it. It was so deeply researched and written. The intimate and realistic depiction of Lily learning about her queerness accompanied by the harsh reality of being Asian was gorgeous and relatable. But what was set up so carefully in the first part of the book did not pay off with such detail and satisfaction in the last part of the book.
Graphic: Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Outing, and Classism
Minor: Racial slurs, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and War
kappafrog's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Blood, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Deportation
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content
zoiejanelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
if i had been reading this alone (instead of in the car on a roadtrip with my family) i would be bawling. LNATTC is a honest, insightful, and hopeful peek into what life must have been like as a Chinese-American lesbian in the 1950s.
Lily’s perspective was so vivid and real that it made me nostalgic for an age i neger thought i’d miss. what a unique experience to be seventeen and for the first time really, honestly, truly understanding who you are. who you will become. her yearning, for truth and progress and love, was so heartfelt. through Lo’s unforgettable, spare (yet still lush) writing, Lily’s warmth and desire leapt off the page and struck me square in the chest. her thoughts will resonate with me for many years to come.
though this book is unmistakably about Lily—her coming-of-age, her identity, her wants, her world—it was also about how each person’s life is more than just one story. the glimpses into Lily’s family’s lives and the lush imagery of 1954 San Francisco bring the reader to the startling understanding that we are all part of something bigger, and despite this we still deserve the freedom to be ourselves. though we get to know Grace and Joseph and Judy and are shown their own struggles, we don’t have to agree with their decisions regarding Lily. we can understand them, though, which makes them cut much deeper. the chapters of their POVs were so interesting and enlightening and unexpected. i haven’t read a book quite like this before.
the details of The Telegraph Club and its patrons were just so REAL. reading about women like me in a time that feels so distant and so dark lit my soul on fire with love and pride. how proud i am of Lily—and Kath, and Lana, and Tommy, and Paula, and Rhonda, and Claire, and Jean… how proud i am to be reading this book and feel like i am among friends in this other world. i felt like i could reach through the pages and hold their hands, smell their cigarettes, and laugh at this jokes.
LNATTC is not a tragedy, though tragic things do happen, but a triumph. despite the realism and the heartbreak toward the end (see trigger warnings), the ending inspires hope for a future Lily and Kath don’t yet know. for a future we have the privilege to live today.
if i could give this book 6 stars, i would. i will hold Lily and Kath gently in my heart forever. i can’t wait to read A SCATTER OF LIGHT.
Graphic: Homophobia and Racial slurs
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Alcohol, and Deportation
Minor: Cursing, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, War, and Classism
hannahrogers's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, Grief, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Deportation
erinwolf1997's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol
Moderate: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Outing, Toxic friendship, and War
Minor: Forced institutionalization
nirellis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I definitely see myself coming back to this book.
Moderate: Miscarriage, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, and War
Minor: Sexual content