Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Melinda Lo was a beautifully-written young adult novel about self-discovery in the 1950’s, a time where certain identities were not generally accepted by society. The protagonist, Lily, is a seventeen year old girl growing up in San Francisco’s Chinatown. At seventeen, she is experiencing a lot of the typical teen girl worries such as school dances, babysitting siblings, and applying to college. However, on top of those, she is preoccupied with the pressing concern of Communism in the U.S. as an Asian woman, whose Chinese family has been directly affected by U.S. nationalism and fear of communism and Asian individuals. She is also trying to figure out if she likes girls (and what to do about it if she does).
Lily becomes close with another girl at school, Kathleen, who she suspects is like her. They take to sneaking out at night to visit the Telegraph Club, a space for queer women in San Francisco that is mostly safe from public disproval. At this club, the two girls meet a group of friends older than them that welcome them into this new community. All the while, Lily grapples with hiding the truth from her family, worrying about their safety, and trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life next year after graduating. Not only was this a lovely story about teenage identity, but I learned a lot about the U.S. in the 1950’s and just how big an effect the “red scare” had on Asian communities at the time. I felt I got an inside look at what it was growing up in a tight-knit cultural community such as Chinatown, and the pressures that those Chinese children faced. I feel this was more so a historical fiction novel with a love story woven in, rather than the other way around.
Though I very much enjoyed this novel, I felt that it was over before tying up some loose ends. Some of the relationship arcs felt rushed and unfinished to me- specifically the friendships between Lily and the older girls that took her in when she needed help. I also felt that Lily’s troubles with her parents were left unresolved, which bugged me. Despite these small frustrations, I would still recommend this book.
Rating: 4/5 scoops of ginger ice cream
xx, Lauren