Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Winner of the National Book Award
A New York Times Bestseller
A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Century
One of Rolling Stone's 20 Best Queer Romances of All Time
"The queer romance we’ve been waiting for.”—Ms. Magazine
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.
A New York Times Bestseller
A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Century
One of Rolling Stone's 20 Best Queer Romances of All Time
"The queer romance we’ve been waiting for.”—Ms. Magazine
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.
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Community Reviews
I picked this up for bookclub. I wasn't sure I would enjoy it at first, but as I read more and more, I realized how much I did enjoy it.
There isn't much fiction published about the Chinese population of San Francisco during the 1950's, and this helped fill that hole. It also included information on the LGBT community during this time period. Also, it was an interesting story and the characters were well-written. I wanted to learn more about them. I heard rumor of the two main characters having a spinoff book, but it turned out that they only had cameo appearance in that book.
I would recommend this book to others. It was a fantastic read.
There isn't much fiction published about the Chinese population of San Francisco during the 1950's, and this helped fill that hole. It also included information on the LGBT community during this time period. Also, it was an interesting story and the characters were well-written. I wanted to learn more about them. I heard rumor of the two main characters having a spinoff book, but it turned out that they only had cameo appearance in that book.
I would recommend this book to others. It was a fantastic read.
the themes and the writing is amazing i accidentally think that this is just not the right genre for me
This book was a slow read for me, probably because it required a bigger brain shift to enter the narrative world. Was very good, very compelling. It helped that I already knew a decent amount about JPL and early rocket study, and also about Chinatown in SanFran.
4.5 - I loved the descriptions of the cultural and social settings of this book and the portrayals of Chinese American and lesbian experiences in the 1950s so much, what an eye opening and heartwarming read :( I do wish there had been a bit more character focus - as another reviewer pointed out, the focus on setting the scene in describing the cityscapes and period specific aspects kind of drowned out the character-centric aspect and I didn't feel like I knew anyone but Lily too well and couldn't get attached to them. But for the story that this book wanted to tell, it certainly delivered very well.
This was such a great read. Vivid characters, great tension, wonderful historical details. Must read.
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