Acclaimed author of Ash Malinda Lo returns with her most personal and ambitious novel yet, a gripping story of love and duty set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the Red Scare.
"That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other." And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: "Have you ever heard of such a thing?"
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.
America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.
My Review:
This book was a really amazing read! I really enjoyed the story of Lily, a Chinese girl at the time when opinions were starting to shift, what with the Red Scare. At at time where Lily is discovering that she is attracted to girls. And having to deal with all these societal pressures, well, I really enjoyed reading her story! I'm not a lesbian, so I don't know how authentic Lily's story is, but Malinda Lo is a lesbian, who is Chinese. So I'm guessing that it is pretty authentic, and I'm really glad, because we need more stories like this!
The main relationship that Lily had in this book was with Kath, and I really enjoyed watching them fall in love, going to visit the Telegraph Club. But there were also her relationships with her family, and with her friend, Shirley. They all were a part of Lily's life, a part of who she was.
I really enjoyed the way that this story was told, there were different parts, and each one had a little timeline, of what was happening in the world that was relevant to the plot, like the McCarthy resigning, as well as events in Lily's life. There were also some really interesting, different chapters that I don't want to spoil, but really added to the depth of the story, came together to inform who Lily was as a person!
Pretty much throughout this book, I felt anxious. After all, in the synopsis it says it isn't safe for them to fall in love, and that lack of safety, that fear of something going wrong because someone outs them or something, just plagued me! Honestly, when bad things happened (because it needs conflict, of course) it wasn't as bad as my detail-less black image of doom.
This book was really fantastic, I enjoyed it so much, and I really need to read more of Malinda Lo's books (I think A Line in the Dark is the only full length one I haven't read yet.) because she's a fantastic author!
Author: Malinda Lo
Read: August 15th, 2020
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Love her writing, and it's a Historical Fiction 2020 Book, SAC 2020 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Expected Publication: January 19th 2021
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
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