Have you ever been to a lesbian nightclub in 1950s San Francisco? Me neither, but my last read sure made me curious about them.
Malinda Lo’s “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” tells the story of 17-year-old Lily Hu, who has lived in Chinatown her whole life and is unaware of the world outside it. Her senior year of high school brings huge shifts to Lily’s life, things she never expected. She begins by fighting with her best friend since childhood, Shirley, befriending a white girl at school named Kath and sneaking out late at night to go to nightclubs full of beer and cigarettes. She isn’t acting like the “good Chinese girl” her mother imagines her to be.
Let’s start from the beginning: Lily and Kath get put in a group together for a class, and a connection between them quickly forms: They are the only girls in the advanced math class. Lily listens to Kath talk about her passion of becoming a pilot while Kath admires Lily’s dreams of going to space. They share shy conversations at school until, eventually, Kath introduces Lily to the Telegraph Club, a lesbian nightclub.
Watching Kath and Lily’s romance grow felt so innocent and youthful, a throwback to an age before I knew anything about life, love or betrayal. Lily’s slow realization that she has feelings for Kath was so heartwarming. I couldn’t help but grin and kick my feet back and forth when Kath gave Lily the science magazine she thought she’d like, they passed secret notes through their lockers or when Lily blurted out her feelings in the dark and unfamiliar streets of the city.
Despite the obvious romantic arc, I spent a good portion of the book expecting Shirley to be Lily’s love interest. While her subtle homophobia made me doubt it, the glimpses into their friendship showed that their love for each other ran deep.
However, it quickly became clear Shirley wasn’t a very good friend. She’s always the one calling the shots and disregards Lily’s feelings. Often, she’d string an unwilling Lily along, never apologizing for anything.
What irked me most was seeing Shirley so disgusted at Lily’s queerness. I sat in my bed reading, waiting expectantly for Shirley to comfort her distressed friend. My disappointment was immeasurable when I realized she’d do no more than berate Lily.
Returning to Lily, it was enthralling yet painful to watch her struggle between her worlds. The author, Lo, does an exceptional job contrasting the world containing Chinatown, Lily’s family, and all she’s ever known against the new intoxicating world where girls can dress like boys and kiss other girls. The former is familiar and comfortable, but it also means living a lie — something Lily must confront, for better or worse. The latter is exciting and opens the door to so many possibilities, yet it also means she is constantly being asked if she speaks English and being called “China doll” and “oriental.”
It hurt me to see Lily unable to belong in either life completely. It seems that no matter where she goes, she will never be fully accepted, always marked as the only Chinese girl in a queer space or the only gay girl in a Chinese space.
At the end of the book, Shirley and Lily’s parents find out that she has been going to the Telegraph Club. Her mother is furious, and Lily ends up sleeping on someone’s couch that night. This had me biting my nails and pacing. I grew quite attached to Lily while reading, and I was scared for her — scared for her to lose her family, her childhood best friend, her (sort of) girlfriend and even her home. I wasn’t sure I could bear another tragic queer love story, in which two girls slowly fall in love until, at the end, they are ripped apart and can never be together — an upsettingly common trope. Lily is forced to move away from Kath, but I was happily surprised to see them reunited a year later. Despite the time that has passed, their connection is still visible and they both still have hope.
I had only one issue with this book: the rare chapters from other characters’ perspectives. Interludes from Lily’s mom, dad and aunt’s points of view attempted to contextualize and explain underdeveloped characters. We see her parents meeting, as well as her dad moving from California to Shanghai. Although the backstory was nice, I felt I didn’t spend enough time with their characters to understand their perspectives.
It seemed Lo tried to cater to both sides, but ultimately never actually committed to one.
“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” did a great job placing me directly into Chinatown in 1954, successfully infusing historical fiction into the story.
“I felt like I was walking down Broadway with Lily — right now, I can almost see the neon Telegraph Club sign living in my mind. ”
I enjoyed the romance and both of the characters involved — something rare for me in romance novels. Malinda Lo gave us a love story that refuses to be tragic, a history that refuses to be forgotten and a heroine who refuses to disappear. For those reasons, I’d say “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” is worth your time!
Kassia Zabetakis PZ ’28 loves speeding through romance novels in only days, but usually ends up hating them after she’s done.