While she has to hide one part of her identity because what are gay rights in the 1950’s, she also has to live in fear of deportation because of the Red-Scare threatening her family’s safety and her father’s citizenship. I really loved Lily as a character – as a Chinese-American lesbian girl, she’s living in a time that proves to be really difficult for her. To Lily, a girl questioning her identity and her sexuality, the club serves as a beacon of light summoning her forward, offering her the answers she’s been looking for.Malinda Lo effortlessly merges the two central themes of the novel: being Chinese and a lesbian in a time when neither were well-received in America. Living in a time where being queer is dangerous, the neon lights of a lesbian bar known as the Telegraph Club offer a haven to those in need of it. Last Night at the Telegraph Club follows seventeen-year-old Lily Hu, a Chinese-American girl growing up in 1950’s Chinatown, balancing between her newfound feelings for Kath, a white girl, and being ‘a good Chinese girl’. When I first saw the cover of this book on a ‘Most Anticipated Releases of 2021’ list somewhere on the Internet, I was instantly pulled in and when I later read ‘queer Chinese historical fiction in 1950’s San Francisco’ I was absolutely sold and quickly ordered it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |