Artwork by Ella Sun
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo is a heartwarming novel that takes place in the 1950s. The story follows the experiences of Lily Hu, a 17-year-old girl who undergoes self-discovery and acceptance, despite living in a period of time that was significantly less accepting in terms of identity. As she begins to struggle more with her identity, Lily finds herself enraptured by a nightclub called the Telegraph Club.
The plot starts with Lily encountering a fellow classmate – Kath, who she realizes she is attracted to. Through struggling with the feelings she has for Kath, Lily undergoes and attempts to explore her identity further as an individual living in an unaccepting society. When her friend, Shirley, suggests to Lily that she stay away from Kath, she realizes the biases and expectations of the society around her. While trying to navigate her identity as a person that is a part of the LGBTQ+ community, Lily must also face the expectations set for her by her Chinese family. When Shirley witnesses Lily leaving the Telegraph Club, both she and Lily’s mother believe that it is a mere mistake and that Lily’s sexuality is something that can be “fixed.”
As she dives deeper into the world of social justice, she comes to realize the discrimination she encounters and how it affects members of the community. After Lily’s father refuses to say that one of his patients is a Communist, his citizenship is revoked by the FBI. Later on in the novel, Kath is arrested after being seen in the Telegraph Club. Both of these situations highlight the horrifying lengths and effects societal pressures can have on a person, which reflects the novel’s emphasis on stereotypes towards marginalized groups of people. Lily’s identity as a lesbian Chinese woman highlights the intersectionality of identity, and how that creates a unique experience of oppression as a queer person of color.
Lo successfully executes a beautiful, yet adventurous story through her usage of imagery, as well as thoughtful diction to describe each and every intricate moment that Lily experiences. To see the exploration of her resistance in a heterosexual-dominated world is inspiring and interesting to read. By providing an introspective and insightful perspective to her writing, Lo centers on the complex journey behind discovering and finding oneself both culturally and in society. While on her path of discovering herself, she weaves her way through the stigma placed on LGBTQ+ people and at the same time, balance conforming to the “norm.”
Lily’s experience demonstrates something that many queer people, especially queer youth, go through – navigating identity and coming to terms with self-awareness and self-acceptance. Diving deeper into Last Night at the Telegraph Club, readers may come to realize the harsh, yet accurate reality Lily lives in. As the novel continues, she goes farther into a world she has never experienced – one filled with fear, but also a surprising feeling of belonging.