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greyreadsbooks 's review for:
Last Night at the Telegraph Club
by Malinda Lo
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was provided with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
4.25☆
Characters-
The characters in this book were so adorable and real. Set mostly in the 1950s, I thought the author did a really great job keeping the characters and their relationships in this book accurate to the time. The struggles the main character Lily faced were not only realistic to the 50s, but realistic in present times. Many teens still aren't educated on different sexualities, so when they start questioning their own they feel a sense of isolation and wrongness. This shouldn't be the case, but I loved how the author explored this. The romance between Lily and Kath was also very adorable and cute. I felt it represented their ages well unlike other books I've read.
Plot-
The plot of this book was not as enjoyable as I wanted it to be. The pacing was definitely off, and this made the book hard to get through at some points. It started out good, got very slow and almost boring in the middle, and then 100 things started happening at once towards the very end. This was kind of jarring and took me out of the reading experience at various points in Last Night at the Telegraph Club.
Writing-
Although it wasn't extraordinary or anything super special, the author's writing style and skill is good. I specifically liked how she included Cantonese and Mandarin characters when characters spoke these languages and then had footnotes giving their English translations. I thought this was really cool and a great inclusion, so I applaud her for that.
Overall, I did really enjoy this book. The characters were great and the writing was good, but the pacing and the plot didn't click with me which is why I gave the book a little above 4 stars.
4.25☆
Characters-
The characters in this book were so adorable and real. Set mostly in the 1950s, I thought the author did a really great job keeping the characters and their relationships in this book accurate to the time. The struggles the main character Lily faced were not only realistic to the 50s, but realistic in present times. Many teens still aren't educated on different sexualities, so when they start questioning their own they feel a sense of isolation and wrongness. This shouldn't be the case, but I loved how the author explored this. The romance between Lily and Kath was also very adorable and cute. I felt it represented their ages well unlike other books I've read.
Plot-
The plot of this book was not as enjoyable as I wanted it to be. The pacing was definitely off, and this made the book hard to get through at some points. It started out good, got very slow and almost boring in the middle, and then 100 things started happening at once towards the very end. This was kind of jarring and took me out of the reading experience at various points in Last Night at the Telegraph Club.
Writing-
Although it wasn't extraordinary or anything super special, the author's writing style and skill is good. I specifically liked how she included Cantonese and Mandarin characters when characters spoke these languages and then had footnotes giving their English translations. I thought this was really cool and a great inclusion, so I applaud her for that.
Overall, I did really enjoy this book. The characters were great and the writing was good, but the pacing and the plot didn't click with me which is why I gave the book a little above 4 stars.