Name: Last Night at the Telegraph Club
ISBN: 9780525555254

Malinda Lo

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 1950s. "That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other." And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: "Have you ever heard of such a thing?" 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.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club

Valle Fernandez

Are you like the girls in the book too? Because I think I am.

Ember

léna 

Thea Sophie

Lily Hagen

She was light-headed and a little too warm, as of summer had bloomed inside the club and wrapped her in its lazy heat. She didn’t mind at all.

Lindsay

In her imagination, Tommy had been like a matinee idol— sweet- faced and tender. In reality, Tommy was a woman made of flesh and blood, and that frightened Lily most of all.

sofia rúbia 

And yet, she couldn't say the word the book had used to describe those kinds of girls: lesbian. The word felt dangerous and also powerful as if uttering it would summon someone or something

They looked at each other, Kath with her shy half smile and Lily with her earnestess and there was such an unexpected feeling of openness, as if they had lifted off from the ground right then and there. 

"You're not listening to me!" Lily cried. "I'm like them"

"She's having a hard time right now because you're not what she expected. But we're never what our parents expect. They have to learn that lesson"

Jasper

Now she laid the woman pilots on the bed next to Katharine Hepburn and Tommy Andrews and looked at them all in succession. She couldn't put into words why she had gathered these photos together, but she could feel it in herbones: a hot and restless urge to look- and, by looking, to know.

Lily didn't respond. She felt strangely disconnected from the moment, and yet she had never been so aware of the way Shirley's forehead wrinkled when she was upset.

She felt the rub of her mother's wedding ring against her skin, and her mother's face swam into focus, her brown eyed full of the sharp worry of love and Lily thought, You will never look at me like this again.

The more her mother insisted it was a mistake, the more certain Lily was that is wasn't. Perhaps that was the most perverse part of this: the inside-outness of everything, as if denial would make it go away, when it only made the pain in her chest tighten, when it only made her emotions clearer.

Julia Rutgers

It was like finding water after a drought. She couldn't drink enough, and her thirst made her ashamed, and the shame made her angry.

Lilly 

Lily turned to the mirror. She saw a Chinese girl in a characterless gray suit-blank faced, nothing special, even a little boring. Respectable. The word felt square, immovable, like a sturdy box with all four corners equally weighted. A respectable girl was easily categorized, her motivations clear. She wanted a college degree, and then a husband, and then a nice home and adorable children, in that order. 

Every face was turned toward the stage, where Tommy stood spotlighted, singing "Secret Love." Like every time before, there were a number of couples-men and women-seated close to the stage, the women somewhere between enthralled and embarrassed, the men wearing knowing smiles. Lily wondered what they thought they knew. She was pretty sure they were wrong.

🎠

Perhaps that was the most perverse part of this: the inside-outness of everything, as if denial would make it go away, when it only made the pain in her chest tighten, when it only made her emotions clearer.

"Rockets to the moon didn’t seem so far-fetched when Kath listened to her. She made previously unimaginable things seem possible."

 is a fascinating coming of age historical fiction showing the intersectionality of so many nuances, from immigrant experience, the convergence of culture, the threat of war and deportation, the fight for acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community, and the feelings associated to understanding your sexuality. Judy is second generation Chinese American in 1954, the threat of communism within China and the USSR, as well as factions in the US, is ever present, and she's dealing with all of the trials that come with being a teenager who is evolving into a young adult, falling in love, falling out of friendships, rebelling against parents etc. I thought this book was beautifully written, it gave me an insight into Chinese immigrant culture in the US, and the way it described the difficulties that come along with realising your sexuality, espeically when it deviates from the "norm", and especially in a time when homosexuality was at best tolerated and at worst illegal, was both heart breaking and heart warming. I truly felt for Lily, and all of the women in this story, even the straight ones.

This books involves a number of trigger warnings, so it's definitely important to check those before reading it, such as homophobia, misogyny, racism and xenophobia. It really was a very realistic slice of life from that time period, and it didn't hold back on showing just how cruel life was in the 50s and not just to gay people, but also to women and to immigrants. A lot of the themes in this story can also be compared to how people are treated in modern times too, especially in the US where a lot of the progress made in the 70 years since the time period in this book has started regressing with the rise in right-wing and sexist ideology. Lily was a fantastic main character, I was rooting for her throughout this book and my heart broke for her multiple times. The way she tries to balance her friendships with the people she's grown up with like Shirley who has been her best friend since they were very young, and Will who has started to develop a crush on her, as well as balancing the expectations of her family with the dreams she has for herself, them wanting her to find a husband, have a child and be a good Chinese girl, whereas she's excited by the nightlife and rougher sides to life despite her innocence and wants to design rockets to the moon or Mars, and then on top of that the realisation that she's attracted to women, especially masc presenting women, and wanting to explore that side of her too, and finding people who understand her journey. It was a wonderfully complex story juxtaposed against a very simple way of telling that story.

The simplicity of the way the story was told did sometimes slow me down a bit and I found some of the mundane aspects really dragged. There were a lot of scenes showing Lily's friendship with Shirley and I felt a lot of them were unneccessary to the plot and could've been shortened or cut completely. I wanted to see more of Lily and Kath, I wanted to know Kath on a deeper level but unfortunately felt like this book gave a bit of a shallow representation the love interest. I also wanted to experience more of that glitzy yet grimy feeling of going out to a club for the first time, the story touched on it a bit and I really enjoyed the scenes at the Telegraph Club and at Lana and Tommy's house because they bridged that difference between the innocence of childhood and the messiness of becoming an adult and being in your late teens into your early 20s. I think the pacing and the balance of the story was just slightly off to me. The flashbacks to Lily's family members was also interesting but slightly odd. The timeline of these flashbacks confused me a bit, and I didn't really feel like they added much to the story, especially the scenes like where we follow Lily's parents going on a date together. The little glimpses of history were great though, and I loved the actual timeline that was shown in between the parts.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and especially flew through the last third when things really started to ramp up in tension and action. I think, as a bi girl, that I got some of it but also feel like maybe this story was entirely for me but I do think it was beautifully written in many ways, I just couldn't get entirely on board with the some of the formatting, in the way which certain scenes were given more page time than others, and the pacing. I think the book ended very abruptly too, the epilogue was sweet but I think that tension of their long distance relationship told through letters and phone calls would've been more interesting to the overall plot than what was included, and I felt the open endedness of this story didn't feel quite a poignant as I think the author was hoping it would. I would love to know more of what happened with the communism angle of this story too, some of the thread that were picked up regarding this were never really mentioned again. I think this is a really interesting story if you want to know what life was like as a lesbian in the 50s, especially in that developing stage of life.

“My mother said there are no homosexuals in our family.”

“Maybe there aren’t, but there might be a lesbian.”

Genevieve 

"Rockets to the moon didn’t seem so far-fetched when Kath listened to her. She made previously unimaginable things seem possible."

4 ⭐

Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a fascinating coming of age historical fiction showing the intersectionality of so many nuances, from immigrant experience, the convergence of culture, the threat of war and deportation, the fight for acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community, and the feelings associated to understanding your sexuality. Judy is second generation Chinese American in 1954, the threat of communism within China and the USSR, as well as factions in the US, is ever present, and she's dealing with all of the trials that come with being a teenager who is evolving into a young adult, falling in love, falling out of friendships, rebelling against parents etc. I thought this book was beautifully written, it gave me an insight into Chinese immigrant culture in the US, and the way it described the difficulties that come along with realising your sexuality, espeically when it deviates from the "norm", and especially in a time when homosexuality was at best tolerated and at worst illegal, was both heart breaking and heart warming. I truly felt for Lily, and all of the women in this story, even the straight ones.

This books involves a number of trigger warnings, so it's definitely important to check those before reading it, such as homophobia, misogyny, racism and xenophobia. It really was a very realistic slice of life from that time period, and it didn't hold back on showing just how cruel life was in the 50s and not just to gay people, but also to women and to immigrants. A lot of the themes in this story can also be compared to how people are treated in modern times too, especially in the US where a lot of the progress made in the 70 years since the time period in this book has started regressing with the rise in right-wing and sexist ideology. Lily was a fantastic main character, I was rooting for her throughout this book and my heart broke for her multiple times. The way she tries to balance her friendships with the people she's grown up with like Shirley who has been her best friend since they were very young, and Will who has started to develop a crush on her, as well as balancing the expectations of her family with the dreams she has for herself, them wanting her to find a husband, have a child and be a good Chinese girl, whereas she's excited by the nightlife and rougher sides to life despite her innocence and wants to design rockets to the moon or Mars, and then on top of that the realisation that she's attracted to women, especially masc presenting women, and wanting to explore that side of her too, and finding people who understand her journey. It was a wonderfully complex story juxtaposed against a very simple way of telling that story.

The simplicity of the way the story was told did sometimes slow me down a bit and I found some of the mundane aspects really dragged. There were a lot of scenes showing Lily's friendship with Shirley and I felt a lot of them were unneccessary to the plot and could've been shortened or cut completely. I wanted to see more of Lily and Kath, I wanted to know Kath on a deeper level but unfortunately felt like this book gave a bit of a shallow representation the love interest. I also wanted to experience more of that glitzy yet grimy feeling of going out to a club for the first time, the story touched on it a bit and I really enjoyed the scenes at the Telegraph Club and at Lana and Tommy's house because they bridged that difference between the innocence of childhood and the messiness of becoming an adult and being in your late teens into your early 20s. I think the pacing and the balance of the story was just slightly off to me. The flashbacks to Lily's family members was also interesting but slightly odd. The timeline of these flashbacks confused me a bit, and I didn't really feel like they added much to the story, especially the scenes like where we follow Lily's parents going on a date together. The little glimpses of history were great though, and I loved the actual timeline that was shown in between the parts.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and especially flew through the last third when things really started to ramp up in tension and action. I think, as a bi girl, that I got some of it but also feel like maybe this story was entirely for me but I do think it was beautifully written in many ways, I just couldn't get entirely on board with the some of the formatting, in the way which certain scenes were given more page time than others, and the pacing. I think the book ended very abruptly too, the epilogue was sweet but I think that tension of their long distance relationship told through letters and phone calls would've been more interesting to the overall plot than what was included, and I felt the open endedness of this story didn't feel quite a poignant as I think the author was hoping it would. I would love to know more of what happened with the communism angle of this story too, some of the thread that were picked up regarding this were never really mentioned again. I think this is a really interesting story if you want to know what life was like as a lesbian in the 50s, especially in that developing stage of life.

“My mother said there are no homosexuals in our family.”
“Maybe there aren’t, but there might be a lesbian.”

I loved how authentic this book was. So emotional and insightful into what queerness looked like in the 1950s and how it has changed and stayed the same compared to now. I think it was written very well and I love the characters so much

Montana Langille

“She felt the rub of her mother's wedding ring against her skin, and her mother's face swam into focus, her brown eyes full of the sharp worry of love, and Lily thought, You will never look at me like this again.”

shen

 it was kinda slow at some parts but it was nice and kept me engaged. i thought it was a nice read of experiencing coming to terms with your sexuality. it was interesting watching lily coming to terms with it. i personally didn’t really go through that phase, so it was nice to see it from that pov. i had to keep reminding myself it was the 50s 😭. it was an amazing slow burn, the world building was great, i feel like the author did a good job in getting me attached to both lily and kath. i didn’t like the ending tho and i hate her family except for eddie and i hate shirley and i hate her older stupid boyfriend.

azaria

Anna 

tahle kniha mě měla hooked from the start till the end! velice originální příběh o lidech naschvál zapomenutých historií. bylo to strašně zajímavý, unikátní a heartbreaking. chci další díl jen o tetě Judy.
doporučuju všem queer and/or colored lidem!

Winner of the National Book Award "Proof of Malinda Lo's skill at creating darkly romantic tales of love in the face of danger."--O: The Oprah Magazine "The queer romance we've been waiting for."--Ms. Magazine "Restrained yet luscious."--Sarah Waters, bestselling author of Tipping the Velvet A National Bestseller Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the feeling took root--that desire to look, to move closer, to touch. Whenever it started growing, it definitely bloomed the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. Suddenly everything seemed possible. But 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.

Andrea Morales

hold up that was one hell of a ride I need to process this it's so good

update: 4.5 ☆'s, I throughly enjoyed the writing and the characters, and the romance was very heartwarming I loved kath and lily so much I would’ve loved at least 50 more pages of just them. yes just them existing. a must read historical wlw fiction.

Another book club read :) This is a stunning book. I was hesitant about the YA label because the premise seems so mature. I wasn't sure the genre could do it justice, but it proved me wrong. It's a beautiful, poignant, and unique story. I found Lily and Kath's relationship very tender and sweet and am so happy they got a happy-ish ending. This would make a great tv show! Made for a great book club discussion as well 

Liyah 🤎

kitty 

super immersive, super sapphic, and super well written. this book was so relatable in so many ways and i just loved it. i had nearly no qualms with this book, and finishing it just now i feel like i’ve come up for air from another world. definitely recommend!

kait

This book was so emotional that it made me sick to my stomach. 5 stars. This book follows Lily Hu as she grapples with what it means to grow up as a Chinese American who is questioning her sexuality. Having felt as though she had her sexuality figured out, Kathleen Miller shouldn't give her butterflies in her stomach. However, as her feelings for Kath grow stronger, she learns what it is like to fall in love differently than how it has been envisioned for her. This book is hard-hitting and especially emotional for those who can relate to the story. This book gave me insight into what it meant to be a Chinese American who is figuring themselves out and probably growing up differently that what is expected in a time where the threat of deportation threatens those closest to them. It reminded me of just how dangerous it can be for others who are not as privileged as me to come out. Being a lesbian and reading Last Night at the Telegraph Club, I saw myself represented here and I am especially grateful for that. I honestly think that everyone should read this book at least once to experience the kind of love that Lily and Kath have found in each other.

gripping story, beautifully written, very important read.

Bonnie

river

ahhh i loved it a lot even though i wish the ending was longer?? ):

'Lo's writing . . . shimmers with the thrills of youthful desire. A lovely, memorable novel' - Sarah Waters, author of Tipping the Velvet and The Night Watch. From the award winning author of Ash comes a gripping story of love and duty set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the 1950s. 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.

“She felt the rub of her mother’s wedding ring against her skin, and her mother’s face swam into focus, her brown eyes full of the sharp worry of love, and Lily thought, You will never look at me like this again.” 

reading this line had me feeling like screaming and throwing up

Beautiful Y A love story set in 1950’s Chinatown in San Francisco. A lot of interesting topics are tackled in this novel: Chinese immigrants stories and situation in the US since mid-19th century, double citizenship and culture to balance, roots, conflicts between generations, family ties and expectations, feeling different, “resistance” to conformism, out of comfort zone choices, first love…

I liked the history background, but I missed bit of details in this matter to get closer to  the bigger picture. I craved for it! So the explanations at the end help a lot to put things into perspective. 

Barbara

Beautiful Y A love story set in 1950’s Chinatown in San Francisco. A lot of interesting topics are tackled in this novel: Chinese immigrants stories and situation in the US since mid-19th century, double citizenship and culture to balance, roots, conflicts between generations, family ties and expectations, feeling different, “resistance” to conformism, out of comfort zone choices, first love…

I liked the history background, but I missed bit of details in this matter to get closer to  the bigger picture. I craved for it! So the explanations at the end help a lot to put things into perspective. 

Saffy

i actually would’ve preferred it to be less…. slow burn… 😭😭

allison chen

50s jazz clubs, chinese american history, and girls in love

Francesca Starecheski

I learned and I loved all within it's pages, and will not soon forget the magic of the Telegraph Club.

Love the vibe and the history and the rocket sciences and the forbidden love

Brenda 🌙

Amaaaazing

Love the vibe and the history and the rocket sciences and the forbidden love

i think about this book almost everyday now, i hope kath had a happy life i already miss her 

julia

Tatiana

Last Night at the Telegraph Club: 4.5/5

I read this book in one sitting. Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a young adult novel that takes place in 1950s China Town, Sanfransico. It is a coming of age novel for a young Chinese girl who is coming to terms with her queer identity in a world brimming with panic and homophobia. Within this time, a bar called The Telegraph club serves as a safe place for those who are queer or questioning, and Lily finds her own refuge here.

This novel is simply beautiful. As a child of a Chinese immigrant family, I found myself in this novel and really could see my thoughts, beliefs, and struggles within Lily's journey to find herself. This is one of many reasons I believe many people will connect with this book. I think it provides such a unique experience that so many people will identify with, which makes this book so important.

Malinda Lo's writing is extremely approachable and easy to follow. I'm someone who definitely struggles to remember characters, but I did not have this issue with this book. Malinda Lo beautifully painted these characters as flawed, beautiful, and extremely memorable. I fell in love with everyone I met because all the characters feel so real. Furthermore, Malinda Lo beautifully outlines an authentic lesbian experience as well as touching upon the struggles a young Chinese woman has to combat to accept this identity within herself and justify it to those around her. 

The only reason this has 4.5/5 stars is because there are some blatant plot holes and some topics that are brought up and not discussed again. The reader is led to believe some topics will introduce some kind of conflict and they never come back into the story. This really didnt hinder much of the experience reading this book though. Malinda Lo makes up for it with everything else, but I cant ignore it in my review.

I 100% recommend this book to anyone and everyone. In fact, please read it. Thanks.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more invested in a love story, mainly because this story isn’t just about love. Lily goes through a great deal throughout these books, from her father losing his citizenship papers, to constant friendship issues with Shirley, and her realisation throughout the book that she likes Kath. This book tackles queer love for a girl in 1954 so brilliantly and sensitively, whilst still conveying a compelling story. Everything about this book was perfect.

Charlotte Squire

alaysiah 

Chanh

3.5 actually. As an Asian queer, I really thought I
would have liked it better. Like, STEM-loving Chinese
American lesbian? What more could i ask for. The
background of the story is informative and well-
researched, which really made the ambiance of San
Francisco's queer culture and Chinese American
community come alive. Yet the writing style feels rather
distant, which might be the author's intention. Still,
because of that, i wasn't much invested emotionally in
the romance

Wawa

Finally finished this after 3 months of hanging in mid-air and as I type this, my laptop battery is only 13% the last time I checked and my eyes are BURNING. Okay so, LNATTC yeah. I would give 4 stars out of 5. I love Lily and Kath but I gotta admit I don't sense that much chemistry of them and I personally think the story is getting a bit boring when you get to the middle of the story. There are some of parts that I don't think is necessary to put in but as I think it over, maybe it's for us the readers to know more about the history of Chinese immigrants back there. It's still a good read though, I enjoyed it and I love the fact that I kinda recalled my Mandarin lesson from school through here.