In the Economist article: “The American Dream, RIP?”- an article about social mobility in America- its final paragraph opens with the line: “ Many voters remember a time when hard work was reliably rewarded with economic security. And when Lily realizes her classmate Kathleen Miller (Kath) has visited The Telegraph Club, her life changes completely. When Lily discovers an ad for a performer at the lesbian bar, The Telegraph Club, she feels the pull to go, an internal question she has yet to answer. Set in San Francisco in the 1950s, the book centers on 17-year-old Lily Hu, who begins questioning her sexuality at the same time the Red Scare sweeps through America- putting her Chinatown community, and parents, at risk for deportation.
“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” is a love letter to falling in love and growing up without any cloying nostalgia. Labeling Malinda Lo’s novel, “Last Night at the Telegraph Club”, as strictly YA does it a disservice- it is not only a story for everyone, but it’s the kind of book I wish I had found earlier. When it comes to reading reviews about YA novels, there seem to be a few groups: Those fully sharing their love for the genre, those attempting to validate it, and those who think the former are foolish (obviously other reactions exist, it’s a spectrum.) The relative divisiveness of YA is something I’ve come to find funny in the past couple months, mostly thanks to a report by The Publisher Weekly that shares the statistic that: 55% of people buying YA were 18 or older (and 78% of those shared that they were buying the book for themselves.) People can hate on YA all they want, but the market is thriving, and, more importantly, impactful, meaningful books are being published under the YA umbrella. My friends have been the audience to many a rant of mine about anything from pointless plotlines to original characters to problematic tropes however, they’ve also been witness to my vehement defense of YA when I feel someone has unfairly criticized it. My relationship with the young adult (YA) book genre is complicated. Febru“Last Night at the Telegraph Club”: Not only did Lo win the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” was the first novel featuring an LGBT female lead to do so.
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