From the Bookshelf of Online Reading Challenge…

Last Night at the Telegraph Club

Malinda Lo

Start date: May 1, 2024

Finish date: May 31, 2024

Why we're reading this: ORC 2024 May pick: 1950s & 1960s
[close] ORC 2024 May pick: 1950s & 1960s

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Apr 09, 2024 Emily rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-reads, read-with-pride, fiction, audiobooks

I enjoyed myself, until the ending.

In this book we're following Lily, a 17 year old Chinese American girl in her senior year of high school in the 1950s, question who she really is and what she wants. All her life Lily has been "the good Chinese daughter" to her immigrant parents. She's followed the rules, had the same best friend since she was a child, never made waves or caused trouble. Suddenly, she's forced to confront who she actually wants to be after seeing an ad in the paper highlighting I enjoyed myself, until the ending.

In this book we're following Lily, a 17 year old Chinese American girl in her senior year of high school in the 1950s, question who she really is and what she wants. All her life Lily has been "the good Chinese daughter" to her immigrant parents. She's followed the rules, had the same best friend since she was a child, never made waves or caused trouble. Suddenly, she's forced to confront who she actually wants to be after seeing an ad in the paper highlighting the performance of a male impersonator at the Telegraph Club and the formation of a new friendship that could mean so much more.

I loved watching the relationship between Lily and Kath unfold. The friendship between them slowly becoming more. The shyness and tentativeness of quick glances and accidental touches. Their bond growing and their connection deepening was so endearing to watch. I enjoyed watching Lily's journey as she became more sure of who she was as a person.

However, I felt like there was this ever present sense of dread. There was always this urgency, the "oh no, we might get caught, we might be seen, no one can know." Which yes, that is very real. The problem is that this urgency was created so early on that by the time the major conflict did happen, I felt almost desensitized to it. It was almost a relief because at first, I was holding my breath every time Lily snuck out or met with Kath secretly, but when you're 70% of the way through and nothing bad has happened, I quit holding my breath. The urgency in those later scenes was no longer there for me.

I always felt like the ending came way too quickly. Everything happened suddenly and all at once. We spent all of the book leading up to this point just to be smacked with the major conflict and then left wondering if that was it. Then the book ends abruptly. It felt like it came out of nowhere.

I wish some of the other character POVs/flashbacks had been removed and we had been given a more in-depth ending with the events after the train ride instead. ...more

Like · see review