Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Sumaitaah Alam, 10th Grade

"Every time she crossed Broadway (always during the day, of course) she'd look down the wide street toward the Bay Bridge in the distance, her graze lingering on those closed doorways, wondering what they hid from view."

Malinda Lo's Last Night at the Telegraph Club is centered less around the eponymous club than it is around our protagonist's yearning - her longing for the unique sort of freedom found behind locked doors, and her penchant for asking questions about why they must be locked.

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu, living in 1950s San Francisco, is on a journey to find who she is and who she wants to be. The novel takes place at the height of the Red Scare, rising fear and paranoia of Communist and associated Communist nations in the United States, which threatens Lily's family and Chinatown community with deportation. There is much to make Lily unusual: she dreams of building planes in a time when few women pursue the sciences; she's attracted to other women in a time when such love is seen as perverse. When she meets Kathleen Miller, her charming and confident classmate who takes her to a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club, Lily is caught between two aspects of her identity: her sexuality and her Chinese-American background, and unsure how to bridge the divide between them.

Lo creates powerful communities and highlights the impact that a branching support system can have on someone's personal growth and sense of acceptance. Lily feels like she doesn't belong in her Chinese-American community, due to her ambitions and sexuality; nor with the people she meets at the Telegraph Club, due to her race. But she finds support and comfort among both groups. I found it captivating watching Lily slowly carve a place for herself within these distinct communities, and refreshing to see her find ways to hold onto both, without having to sacrifice one community for another.

Lo is also particularly skilled with crafting realistic characters and interpersonal relationships. Lily forges close relationships with characters from both communities; they feel like real people who have other things going on that don't pertain to Lily, which makes the relationships and interactions they share feel genuine.

Though a very specific historical setting drives the action of the novel, there is a sense of timelessness to the book, which was slightly offputting. Though the descriptions of Lily's neighborhood in Chinatown and of the Telegraph Club are rich and vibrant, there is nothing setting them apart from any modern Chinatown or a modern bar. I could imagine myself walking alongside Lily through Chinatown or watching a performance at the Telegraph Club, tucked away in the back like Lily. When historical conflicts relating to the Red Scare appeared in the book, it caught me by surprise. I think the timelessness, though helpful, was unnecessary in making Lily feel like a relatable character to me; and it made for a strange experience to read about a historical conflict in an incongruently familiar setting.

But the biggest issue, for me, was Lo's pacing. The book starts out really slow, making it hard to become invested in the story right away. Lo's writing style felt very 'stop and start': grinding to a halt for some scenes, focusing in great detail on a particular moment, and then moving quickly through a wide range of events. I found myself skimming over some of the earlier parts, before Lily and Kathleen first visit the Telegraph Club and the plot begins to pick up somewhat. In the middle, too, there were moments where the progression of the story seemed to slow down and it became difficult to read.

Despite slight sluggishness of plot, I found Last Night at the Telegraph Club very heartwarming and memorable. It was a refreshing portrayal of young love, with high stakes and great insight into the oft-forgotten history of LGBTQ+ women of color.