A review by onefineelephant
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

challenging reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

7/10. I've heard glowing reviews for this book and I don't really get the hype. I like the book well enough but I think it's far from being one of my favorites. One of my biggest criteria for if a book will get a 10/10 or be one of my favorites is if it makes me laugh and cry and this book unfortunately did neither for me.

The girls don't really get together/confess their feelings until more than half of the way through the book which is not my thing. Also, many of the flashback chapters seemed disjointed from the main story and it felt like they took away from the plot when I really wanted to know what was happening with Lily and Kath. I'm not sure if it was because of the historical fiction genre or the author's writing style, but it felt like all of the characters were at an emotional arm's length; there wasn't enough depth of emotion or communication as I personally am into. I enjoyed the exploration of queerness during this time period, especially with the added element of a person being in high school and being a non-white person.
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