Review of 'Last Night at the Telegraph Club' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Gay and beautiful all-around stem girlies at their best
CW: the pigs do more than squeal in this one.
English language
Published June 27, 2021 by Penguin Young Readers Group.
"Do you hear me? Everyone knows you're a good Chinese girl. This is just a mistake." For Lily Hu, "good Chinese girl" feels like a mask she's only recently discovered she's been wearing. Or worse, like a trap--one that finally sprung the night she walked through the door into the Telegraph Club with Kathleen Miller. She's known Kath since they were first in math together in junior high. Now they're the last two senior girls in advanced math, and Lily can't deny that what she feels with Kath is about much more than calculus. For most people, the Telegraph Club is only another dingy lesbian nightclub just beyond the border of Chinatown, but for Lily and Kath it might as well be another planet. Balancing her family's need to present an ideal American facade with her unmistakeable desire for Kath would never be easy, but with deportation suddenly looming over …
"Do you hear me? Everyone knows you're a good Chinese girl. This is just a mistake." For Lily Hu, "good Chinese girl" feels like a mask she's only recently discovered she's been wearing. Or worse, like a trap--one that finally sprung the night she walked through the door into the Telegraph Club with Kathleen Miller. She's known Kath since they were first in math together in junior high. Now they're the last two senior girls in advanced math, and Lily can't deny that what she feels with Kath is about much more than calculus. For most people, the Telegraph Club is only another dingy lesbian nightclub just beyond the border of Chinatown, but for Lily and Kath it might as well be another planet. Balancing her family's need to present an ideal American facade with her unmistakeable desire for Kath would never be easy, but with deportation suddenly looming over her her Chinese-born father--despite his hard-won citizenship--Lily's awakening to her true self seems doomed to be short-lived.
Gay and beautiful all-around stem girlies at their best
CW: the pigs do more than squeal in this one.
Great writing, fascinating multi-layered story. Excited to read the companion novel. Great for YA LGBTQ collection dev. Fuck the book burning censors.