Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Luster

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Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Luster by Raven Leilani

30 reviews

thevioletfoxbookshop's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Somewhere between poetry, an essay, a biography, contemporary, and erotic fiction, you'll find Luster by Raven Leilani.

On the surface, Luster is about a young black woman struggling as an artist in New York who ends up entering into the open marriage of a privileged white couple. But even more than that, it's a raw glimpse of one woman's life, struggles, her art, her sexual desires, career ambitions, passions, fears, thoughts, and feelings.

The main character is so honest, it's both terrifying and beautiful all at once. Luster is her confessional, where she readily shares things that most of us would be hesitant to admit to even ourselves. She is often contradictory in the way humans often are - lonely yet introverted, starving yet can't or won't eat, ambitious but struggles to find motivation, loves herself but is insecure, hates but desires men. Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's painful to watch her try to navigate the contradictions within herself and in the world around her.

More than anything, I think Luster is about loneliness. The loneliness of what it's like to be a black woman in the United States, of being an artist, of being a parent, of being a child without their parent, of dealing with generational trauma, and of our modern world. Edie, like all of us, wants to be seen and understood, but the way that she, and we, connect with others are often unusual and unexpected.

This book was more feelings and vibes than plot, for me. It's like if you could vomit up all of your emotions that feel inexplicable and they settled into words on a page, but in the most beautiful and poetic way.

Content warnings include physical abuse, sexual content, racism, sexism, self-harm, suicide, miscarriage, abortion, drug addiction, police brutality.

Content Warnings

clocrim's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

larkken's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

armontheroad's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

LUSTER was 240 pages of pure brilliance. I don’t think it’s possible for me to compile my thoughts on this book. This novel reminded me a lot of QUEENIE but in a US setting. If you’re interested in stories about young Black women making bad choices and just trying to get through life, I would highly recommend these two. LUSTER is a commentary on trauma. I do not suggest it lightly!! It being queer was also a pleasant surprise.

CWs/TWs: Sexual content, eating disorder behavior, calorie counting, racism, car accident, depression, abortion, ableist language, self-harm, childhood sexual assault, blood, police brutality, domestic abuse, fatphobia, sexual harassment, medical content, body gore, suicide, PTSD, racial slurs, body dysmorphia, TERF language, animal death, animal cruelty, miscarriage, blood, etc.

Content Warnings