Last Night at the Telegraph Club

while this book had its faults, it featured three things that matter so much to me: 1) queer coming of age 2) discussions centering immigrants/asian-americans vs. the american government 3) san francisco, my lovely little hometown

i was hooked by the setting alone, partially because i'm homesick but also partially because how can you not be romantic about roaming the streets of san francisco (even on a windy day)? but the story pulled me in, with all of its rich layers and the main character, lily, not only having to grapple with being chinese-american during the 1950s, but also being queer and a girl who thinks in equations and the laws of physics. lily's entire existence is “non-traditional” and seeing her confront this throughout the book hit close to home but also felt like a warm hug. 70 years later, it's still kind of scary to be a queer asian girl in america for many reasons, but to see lily (& kath!) persevere was wonderful