Last Night at the Telegraph Club

by Malinda Lo

Paperback, 2021

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Publication

Dutton Books for Young Readers (2021), 432 pages

Description

Romance. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. LGBTQIA+ (Fiction.) HTML: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 fatherâ??despite his hard-won citizenshipâ??Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day. *This audiobook includes a PDF of the bibliography and acknowledgments from the book… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member EdGoldberg
It is 1954 and Lily is a 16 year old Chinese American living in Chinatown, San Francisco. Her sexuality is making her unsure of herself because she is interested in girls. An ad for a male impersonator performance at the Telegraph Club in a not-so-good part of town, catches her eye and she is dying
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to go.

Enter Katherine (Kath) Miller a girl who has been in her class since elementary school, a girl with a 'reputation'. Never close friends, all of the sudden in senior year, befriend each other. Kath has been to the Telegraph Club and the two make plans to go. Lily has to sneak out of her apartment to go, but she does...several times.

Malinda Lo has written an engrossing book combining a history of the San Francisco lesbian community, lesbian Asian Americans, the Communist scare and more. It almost has the feel of the 1950s pulp novels that she references in her book.

If you're a fan of the lesbian pulps and Robin Talley's book Pulp, then you'll be a fan of this.
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LibraryThing member fromthecomfychair
This historical fiction about a Chinese American teen living in 1950s San Francisco was interesting, but not wonderful. I think the story would have been improved by removing the short bios of other characters at the beginning of each section. It interfered with the flow of the story.
LibraryThing member krau0098
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a copy of this book from the library to read.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book a lot. It’s set in the 1950’s in San Francisco and there are a ton of interesting historical events in the background here. Lily is affected by Red-Scare
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paranoia and is trying to walk a fine line as a Chinese American. Women are starting to break away from the “norms” that have been set for them as well. In addition to all that, GLBT culture is starting to work its way out into the open in San Francisco. Then there is the intriguing popularity of female male impersonators.

Watching Lily and Kathleen attempt to navigate this changing world is fascinating. Aside from that this ends up being a very sweet love story between the two. The turmoil and acceptance (or not) of their families is intriguing, heartwarming, and heartbreaking all at once.

This story is incredibly well written with amazing description, a wonderfully intriguing setting, and very human characters. This book was incredibly hard to put down and I really loved it. Previous to reading this book I had also enjoyed “Ash” and “Huntress” by Lo; I was not a huge fan of her “Adaptation” series.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I absolutely loved this book. It blended together so many amazing elements. I loved the historical setting, the complex characters, and the amazing writing. This was one of the best books by Lo I have read in some time and I look forward to seeing what Lo comes up with next.
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LibraryThing member reader1009
audiobook; adult/teen historical fiction, coming of age/queer interest - 17 y.o. queer Chinese-American girl in 1950s San Francisco amidst the Red Scare, the threat of deportation (even for naturalized citizens like her parents), the raiding of gay bars by police, and the beginnings of the Cold
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War/space race.

It starts with a newspaper ad--Lily doesn't know at first why she is so drawn to the photo of male impersonator "Tommy Andrews" but she slyly tears it out and keeps it; the events that unfold afterward make for an interesting queer bildungsroman story. Lily's story is interspersed briefly with those of her parents' generation (less compelling but adds to the background, I guess). The author (known for her queer teen fantasy fiction) researched the period thoroughly while writing this story.
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LibraryThing member deslivres5
YA historical fiction set mainly in 1950's San Francisco in the Chinatown community.
Bildungsroman centered around 17-year old Lily and her coming to terms with her sexuality.
The story also has flashbacks to the lives of her parents and aunt as well.
The ending is very uplifting.
LibraryThing member bell7
Lily Hu is the daughter of Chinese immigrants living in Chinatown in 1954, who is interested in seeing a male impersonator at the nearby Telegraph Club. Through her friendship with Kath and visits to the club, she begins to realize and accept her queer sexuality.

San Francisco in the 1950s is not a
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time frame I'm familiar with, and it was fascinating to read about the experiences of both the lesbian underground and Chinese immigrant communities. Lo has clearly done her research, and made whole, complicated characters that live in that space. Most of the narrative is close third-person of Lily's experiences, but we also get vignettes of the past about her mother, father, and an aunt. I was personally less interested in the romance aspect, but the book overall is well-crafted and should find a wide audience.
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LibraryThing member oldandnewbooksmell
Trigger Warnings: racism, xenophobia, homophobia, underage drinking, mention of miscarriage

Lily Hu is your average Chinese American girl from San Francisco’s Chinatown. The only difference is she can’t really remember when she realized she wasn’t crushing on boys… but that girls were more
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attractive to her. When Kathleen Miller says she’ll go with Lily to the lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club, the question Lily may have had about her sexuality is answered as soon as they walked through the bar’s door.

But in 1954, being gay and in love is not safe, especially in a place like Chinatown where everyone has known Lily since she was born. The Red-Scare also threatens everyone and with deportation looming over her father for not lying about who’s a Communist, Lily risks everything to be with Kath.

I’ll admit, I slept on this book for too long. There was a ton of hype around it and I knew I wanted to read it, but my TBR list is out the door, around the corner, and halfway to the next town at this point. But, even if it took me so long to read it… the hype is real! What a well written, historical fiction with sapphic love and women in STEM! I deeply enjoyed this novel.

I loved the exploration of Lily and Kath’s relationship. Lily was so obviously to her own queerness, or rather, she tried to be, she would deny it or persuade herself the feeling weren’t real. But once Kath and Lily really started to talk to each other, especially after being the only two girls left in advanced math class, Lily began to embrace her feelings. Though the book was a bit slow at times, I never felt like it was unnecessary; Lily was figuring out her entire world and what she wanted to be when she grew up and who she wanted to be with. That stuff doesn’t happen overnight, and sometimes you only get through small pieces at a time. That’s all good!

I also really loved the mention of women in STEM and what people thought about space and exploration and such at that time. I just kept thinking, “You all are so close!”.

I do wish there was more to the epilogue though - more about what happened between Lily and her family and Kath’s story after the Telegraph Club. There were a lot of loose ends that were only briefly touched on and then not spoken about again.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. It’s interesting, well researched and informative on lesbian/gay culture and history that’s not always mentioned in the history books.
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LibraryThing member ewyatt
Lily is a senior in high school. When she sees an add in the paper for a male impersonator at a night club it captures her imagination in a ways she's not quite sure what to make of. The book has some timelines at the beginning of sections with family history and world events related to China
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embedded at the beginning of chapters. The main story takes place in 1954-1955. Lily's budding sexuality and attraction to a school friend, Kath, takes center stage. The couple spends many nights sneaking our to go to the Telegraph Club where they meet members of the lesbian community in San Francisco and start to explore their own feelings and relationship. The racism Lily faces is embedded throughout her encounters. Explores the growing up in San Fransisco as a Chinese American in the 1950s.
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LibraryThing member Gwendydd
This is the story of Lily, a Chinese-American teenager in San Francisco in the 1950s. Lily realizes that she isn't like other girls: she likes math and science fiction, and she wants nothing to do with boys. She becomes friends with another girl who shares her interests, and the two of them start
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sneaking out at night to go to The Telegraph Club, a lesbian bar where a drag king performs. The book explores Lily's realization that she is gay, her relationship with the Chinese immigrant community, and contrasts the political difficulties for Chinese immigrants during the Red Scare with their contributions to the American space program.

This book is well-researched and well-written, and the characters are complex and believable. For me, it didn't have the particular sparkle that it seems to have for other readers. It's good, but for me it didn't live up to all the hype.
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LibraryThing member SJGirl
Such a great romance in this one, I really liked how early on a connection is established between Lily and Kath through their interest in STEM (Kath loves planes, Lily’s interested in space), then there’s the slow burn pacing of their relationship which not only is the pace I prefer to read in
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romances, it also feels character appropriate given the stage both girls are at with their sexuality and dating experience.

I loved the attention to detail throughout this book, it’s very descriptive and not in an exhaustive info-dumping sort of way, but in a way where it’s woven in so well to the narrative, where you’re given this tremendous sense of place and time, and you can totally picture the clothing which is an essential element of Lily’s story. We’re all accustomed to books waxing poetic about pretty dresses but what’s special here is that the “traditionally masculine” styles some female characters wear in this book are just as celebrated, they’re described just as sensuously and glamorously, as they should be.

The segments focused on Lily’s parents and her aunt held my interest, however, I didn’t feel like there were enough of them nor did they delve deep enough to feel like they added as much to the story as maybe they could have. But that’s really the only very minor quibble I had here, overall this a fantastic read, the historical context of Lily’s Chinese heritage and sexuality and America, it’s touching, it’s infuriating, and every so often the drama of Lily’s situation gives way to some sweetly tentative romance.
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LibraryThing member suesbooks
The writing and much of the content of this book disappointed me. I am not a young adult, and maybe they would have appreciated the repetition and constant thoughts of the characters. I did not need more action, but I also did not need the reason everyone said what they did. I was also disappointed
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in the ending, which I did not find hopeful. The facts provided regarding the treatment of "others" in the 1930's-60's was illuminating, as were the details regarding the horrible Red Scare. I hope the book does not encourage readers to not share their questions and feelings.
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LibraryThing member BookConcierge
Digital audiobook performed by Emily Woo Zeller

From the book jacket 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.
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American 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 and her family.

My reaction
I really liked this YA work of historical fiction that focuses on the Chinese-American experience during the McCarthy Red-Scare period. Lily is a fairly typical teen of the era, especially one growing up in an insular culture and a protective family. She is pretty naïve about relationships, but then she has focused her energies to this point on science and being a good student. When she meets Kathleen it’s through their school work, and Kathleen is cautious about approaching Lily in any romantic way.

But Lily stumbles across a book that depicts a lesbian relationship and it puzzles her, though she is also intrigued and excited. And slowly she begins to realize that there is an entire community of women who share these feelings. Coming out in this time period was not easy and fraught with danger. Lily risked, at least, being ostracized by her family, and at worst being arrested and/or committed to an asylum to “cure her” of her “aberrant behavior.” Though she starts out naïve and unsure, she shows herself to be principled, compassionate, and willing to stand up for herself.

I really appreciated the historical setting for this coming-out story. It provided Lo with an opportunity to educate her readers about the realities of this era, especially on Chinese and other Asian Americans. She also detailed how San Francisco, a city now famously welcoming and open to its LBGTQ residents, was not so long ago a dangerous place for gays. I liked how she included an historical timeline every few chapters, detailing now only what is happening with the characters in the book, but the actual events of the period. And I loved the Author’s Note at the end, in which Lo provided much more information about the history depicted in the novel. When you read this book, do NOT skip this section.

The audiobook was narrated by Emily Woo Zeller who did a marvelous job. There are many female characters, and she was able to differentiate them sufficiently so I was never confused about who was speaking.
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LibraryThing member quondame
I'm just not the perfect audience for this slow burn lesbian Chinese American in 1950s San Francisco coming of age romance. It's well told and moves steadily along creating the characters and situations and gives some of the ingrown claustrophobic oppression of a small community, and the actions
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are all consistent. If anything the expression of emotions is somewhat underplayed though not dismissed. And the clearness of the non-conventional feelings, though not crystal, is much more and much so and much less denied than I find entirely realistic, especially for the time period and culture.
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LibraryThing member Micareads
Lily Hu is a 16 year old girl growing up in the Chinatown neighborhood in San Francisco during the Red Scare. She is a girl who has always done what she was told and met her parent's expectations. What she has never done is discover who she truly is.

After coming across an advertisement for a male
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impersonator, she finds herself wanting to visit The Telegraph Club despite knowing that it is a club for homosexuals. Lily finds a kindred soul in Kathleen Miller, the only other girl in her math class. After getting to know each other, Lily discovers that Kathleen has been to the Telegraph Club and she offers to take her.

Once she enters the club, Lily's world is never the same. She experiences what it is like to begin to understand who she is and who she loves. Once she has realized all of this, her whole worlds fall apart when her secret is no longer a secret and she must face those whose opinion matters the most.

The narrator, Emily Woo Zeller, was phenomenal. She truly brought each character to life and made you feel the pain of falling in love with someone unexpectedly. Her ability to bring each character, whether masculine or feminine, to life surpassed anything I would have expected.

Malinda Lo tells a beautiful, poignant story of a young girl coming of age and accepting that you are different than the people around you. I am so glad that I took the time to truly enjoy this story and learn all I could about Chinatown in the 1950s when the government was deporting people just on suspicion of being Communist. It truly reminds you how far we have come to love those we do and how much further we have yet to go.
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LibraryThing member Unkletom
Banned Books watch

This is an excellent historical fiction/coming-of-age novel set in San Francisco in the early 1950s. It tells the story of Lily Hu, a high school student who is coming to terms with her sexual identity in a place and time that made the decisions she faced not only difficult, but
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dangerous. Not only did she face challenges from repressive civil statutes targeting the gay community and McCarthyistic paranoia from federal authorities, she also had to deal with intense pressure to conform from her own traditional Chinese family. Author Malinda Lo has done a magnificent job of using fictional characters to tell a story that accurately describes events that took place in our not too recent past.

It is a shame that many school libraries will not stock this National Book Award winning title for fear that many young people might learn that they are not alone out there.
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LibraryThing member fionaanne
Theoretically this sounded great but it failed to deliver. The characters were not believable, the plot not compelling enough to make finishing worth my time. I feel like Malindo Lo wanted to write something set in a particular time and place but lacked a good story to bring it to life.
LibraryThing member electrascaife
Lily Hu is a high school girl growing up in San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1950s. Her parents have worries about the McCarthy atmosphere, and meanwhile Lily is trying to come to terms with her new and strange feelings surrounding Tommy Andrews, sneaking out to the lesbian bar Andrews performs at,
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and Kath, the girl she sneaks out at night to go to the bar with. When the Telegraph Club gets raided one night while Lily and Kath are there, Lily faces the consequences of being Asian and gay in the '50s.

A fantastic read. The chilly, damp setting of San Francisco in January seeks into your bones, much like Lily's anxiety over her growing awareness of her sexuality. It's not the sunshiny-est book out there, but it's also not without hope and love, and in fact, it balances the two nicely. Definitely recommended.
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LibraryThing member librarianlion
Phenomenal piece of historical fiction that challenges misconceptions of the period and tells a riveting, meaningful story of the intersection of Chinese-American and lesbian identity of Lily Hu, the teenage daughter of academic immigrants living in Chinatown in San Fransisco in the 1950s. This
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book highlights the culture of McCarthyism and paranoia prevalent in the era while also illuminating how individuals and communities resisted compulsive conformity.
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LibraryThing member caedocyon
Tried really hard to be literary and just managed to be slooooow. The timelines around the flashbacks were awkward. I get that Lo did a lot of history research, but sometimes one can't cram it all into a single book without detracting from the story.
LibraryThing member franoscar
I liked this book.
I borrowed it from the library without realizing it is a YA title, but it is for older teens and held my interest. I felt the mother was a very interesting character when her story was told, but she became somewhat 2-dimensional after she had children. It was interesting to read
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about the time period and social currents in San Francisco.
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Awards

National Book Award (Finalist — Young People's Literature — 2021)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Young Adult Literature — 2021)
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (Fiction — 2021)
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Young Adult — 2023)
Stonewall Book Award (Winner — 2022)
Green Mountain Book Award (Nominee — 2023)
Nevada Young Readers' Award (Nominee — Young Adult — 2024)
Thumbs Up! Award (Top Ten — 2022)
Oregon Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — 2024)
Grand Canyon Reader Award (Recommended — 2023)
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (Winner — Young Adult — 2022)
NCSLMA Battle of the Books (High School — 2023)
Kids' Book Choice Awards (Finalist — 2022)
Printz Award (Honor — 2022)
Flicker Tale Award (Nominee — Older Readers — 2023)
Massachusetts Book Award (Honor Book — 2022)
John and Patricia Beatty Award (Young Adult — 2022)
ALA Rainbow Book List (Selection — 2022)
North Star YA Award (Nominee — 2023)
New England Book Award (Finalist — Young Adult — 2021)
Nerdy Book Award (Young Adult Literature — 2021)
Penn GSE's Best Books for Young Readers (Selection — Young Adult — 2021)
New York Public Library Best Books: For Teens (Top Ten — Fiction — 2021)

Physical description

432 p.; 8.31 inches

ISBN

0525555277 / 9780525555278
Page: 4.9033 seconds