Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Lo’s lovely, realistic, and queer-positive tale is a slow burn, following Lily’s own gradual realization of her sexuality while she learns how to code-switch between being ostensibly heterosexual Chinatown Lily and lesbian Telegraph Bar Lily. A budding relationship develops with her first White friend, Kathleen, and together they sneak out to the Telegraph Club lesbian bar, where they begin to explore their sexuality as well as their relationship to each other. As she makes her way through her teen years in the 1950s, she starts growing apart from her childhood friends as her passion for rockets and space exploration grows-along with her curiosity about a few blocks in the city that her parents have warned her to avoid.

Lily Hu has spent all her life in San Francisco’s Chinatown, keeping mostly to her Chinese American community both in and out of school. Thinking of her mother’s statement “There are no homosexuals in this family,” Lily shares with Lana, “I don’t want to lie about it, but I can’t help thinking it would be easier if I did.Finally, the intersectional, lesbian, historical teen novel so many readers have been waiting for.What perspectives did Kath and Lily bring to each other? How did Lily’s self-perception change? Who are the people in your own life that get you to look closely at yourself and the world around you?.Do you think Lily is naïve? What is she naïve about? Why do you think it takes Lily as long as it does to realize she’s attracted to women?.

Questions for Discussion or Reflective Writing Set the mood for students to share their poems aloud with some soft music and lighting. Students should try writing sonnets, as that poetic form is historically associated with love. Students can write from their own experience or choose a character from the book and write their poem as that character. Have students write a poem from the point of view of someone who is exploring their feelings of love-for themselves, a family member, or for another person. Ask students to share what love means to them and the kinds of love they found in Last Night at the Telegraph Club. Also talk about the different forms love can take, such as self-love, parental love, family love, romantic love, etc. Have students explore their own feelings about love by writing a love poem.Īs a class, talk about love, attraction, and infatuation, and what the differences are. Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a coming-of-age novel with a love story.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo