For about a month, I have been reading a book called Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. I have really been enjoying this book, as representation of lesbians in the 1950s is one that you don’t see too often. I’m not too far into the book yet, but so far, there are a couple major queer characters. One of them is Lily, a Chinese girl, and the other is Kath, who’s white. Lily is the main character of the book, and her thoughts are shared, though it’s still told in third person. As readers see in the book, Lily is still coming to terms with her sexuality, as she hasn’t seen or heard of people like her anywhere else. Honestly, I can’t imagine what this must be like. I am gay, so I do understand that aspect, but I had definitely heard of other queer people before I realized I was gay. However, Lily wasn't exposed to that, so her coming out was infinitely more difficult.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club Cover
Quite early in the story, Lily finds a lesbian pulp novel at a drug store near her home and her school. After talking about how and where she finds it, the book reads “An electric thrill went through Lily. She glanced around the edge of the book rack, sharply conscious that she was still in public…” (Lo 40). Between the vivid description in the book and my own experiences, I can certainly experience what Lily was feeling. I remember before I came out, and even for the first couple months after I came out, I was unable to say the word “lesbian,” as saying it would not only make it real but also out me to the entire world. I think that this section of the book is an excellent part, since Malinda Lo truly captures the feeling Lily would have felt.
I mentioned this before, but Lily discovers homosexuality with women through a pulp novel. Last year, for Ms. Rodems’ banned book project, I read and wrote about the first lesbian pulp novel, Women’s Barracks by Tereska Torres. That book was not nearly as lesbian as I was expecting it to be (though that’s on me, I shouldn’t have expected much), but it was still exceptionally queer for the time it was written (1951). When I saw that Lily had found a lesbian pulp novel, I immediately thought of Women’s Barracks, and how I would have felt for that to be the only representation I have. In the book, there are some very stereotypical queer characters, but some of them are talked about like they’re actually humans; their sexuality isn’t all that defines them. Now, the pulp novel in Last Night at the Telegraph Club is fictional, but all lesbian pulps are similar, and Lily would have encountered something like Women’s Barracks, a book that shows lesbians as actual people who have feelings. It was really interesting to me to think about Lily’s experiences with the knowledge of a lesbian pulp in mind. I felt like I had some extra insight into the book, and that was a nice feeling.
Women's Barracks Cover
I read a lot of gay books. It is entirely possible that every book I’ve read in the past 18 months centers around gay characters. So, I am willing to admit that I might be biased towards this book because of the sexuality of the main character. However, I will say that I’m quite fond of this book so far and look forward to finishing it. I’d recommend it for anyone who likes historical fiction, or really anyone who’s just looking to sit down with a good book.
–– Ivy
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