Title- Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Author- Malinda Lo
Series- N/A
Published- 2021
Page Count- 394 pages
Publishing House- Dutton Books for Young Readers
Genre- YA Contemporary, LGBT, Historical Fiction
Rating- 3/5 stars
About the Author
Malinda Lo is the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of several young adult novels, including Last Night at the Telegraph Club, which received eight starred reviews. Her debut novel Ash, a lesbian retelling of Cinderella, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and was a Kirkus Best Book for Children and Teens. She has been a three-time finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Malinda’s short fiction and nonfiction has been published by The New York Times, NPR, Autostraddle, The Horn Book, and multiple anthologies. She lives in Massachusetts with her partner and their dog. She writes the biweekly newsletter Lo & Behold on writing and culture, and she can be found on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Her website is malindalo.com.
Taken from Malinda's website.
Plot
Acclaimed author of Ash Malinda Lo returns with her most personal and ambitious novel yet, a gripping story of love and duty set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the Red Scare.
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.
America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.
"Lo's writing, restrained yet luscious, shimmers with the thrills of youthful desire. A lovely, memorable novel about listening to the whispers of a wayward heart and claiming a place in the world."—Sarah Waters, bestselling and award winning author of Tipping the Velvet and The Night Watch
Taken from Goodreads.
Opinions
Last Night at the Telegraph Club was a book I had been really excited for. I had heard a lot of good things about it. It sounded like a book I would enjoy. A YA historical LGBT book? Definitely something I would read. I had heard good things about Malinda Lo as a writer, particularly her Ash series. I always like to support LGBT and POC writers, so I decided to get this book. However, I ended up not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. It started out strong, but ended up letting me down. I've now seen a couple of reviews that have similar thoughts to mine.
While I didn't enjoy it, I did find this book an easy read. I could read a 100 pages a day quite easily. The information was easy to absorb. I did quite like that it wasn't too dense as I was in the mood for something a bit lighter and fun. However, the pacing was all over the place. I wanted to see Kath and Lily's relationship develop a bit quicker than it did as this was a slow burn romance. It wasn't until the last 100 pages that there was an indication that they were in a relationship. Given that this book, well the main story line, covers from September 1954 to January 1955, it took a long time to get to the heart of the action.
A lot of people have commented on this, but I have to say that I really didn't like the random other perspectives we would get at the end of each section. They didn't really add anything to the story. I feel like they could have been removed and the story would have been fine. It felt like an odd creative decision to have five other POV moments that didn't add to the central story.
I think the main let down of this book was that it tried to pull the reader in too many directions. The main plot was about Lily learning about the LGBT community in a time when it wasn't widely accepted. I found that the most interesting plot line, especially with some of the side characters. We then also had the communist plot line, which was interesting but took away from the main plot line. Then there were also information about the space race and a beauty competition. All of these together just felt a bit much. I think I would have liked a stronger focus on the LGBT community and Lily's passion for science. Those were the plot lines I had the most interest in.
Despite this, I have a feeling I would read from Malinda Lo again. I am interested in reading her Ash series. I think for LGBT and POC rep, then these books are strong, but plot and character wise, this one was a bit of a let down.
What did you think of Last Night at the Telegraph Club?
