Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Luster

the plot was hard to follow at times but the prose was absolutely incredible. i did struggle to finish this book due to its rambling narrative: it reminded me of (and i mean this with the utmost respect) a longform tumblr post, but less sophomoric. lots of angst, loneliness, melancholy. descriptions that were grotesque and ripe with body horror. despite the heaviness of the themes, i couldn’t stop reading.

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sl680's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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bentonnnn1's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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spaghettireads's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I’m glad that I picked it up, even going in with high expectations I thought that this book did well what it was trying to do in a relatively small number of pages.

Luster is told from the perspective of Edie, a Black 20-something living in New York, who gets involved with a married couple who have agreed to have an open marriage. The story goes further and deeper than just a messy marriage though, with discussions on race and misogyny included in Edie’s narrative.

I thought what Leilani did particularly well was the level of detail provided. The narrative jumps from event to event quickly, and often there are few details given. There is just enough detail given to get the story across, and make insightful observations, but few enough that sometimes the reader has to make assumptions and guess at what happened.

If you enjoy fiction about the millennial experience, I would recommend picking this up if you haven’t already. While parts of it are uncomfortable to read, I think that Leilani pulls the story together well.

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questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I feel like I've seen this book everywhere and luckily it pretty much lived up to the hype for me. I found Leilani's writing style so interesting. It's sharp and darkly funny, featuring very long sentences. The characters don't have many on page conversations and their behaviour often felt surreal, in part because of the way it's written. It's full of insightful observations about race and class and the characters were unlikeable but fascinating.
Edie is a very frustrating character, continuously making bad decisions. The narrative is also very focused in the present and there isn't much reflection on or analysis of her past, leaving you to piece together the possible reasons behind her self-destructive behaviour. I can definitely understand the comparisons to Queenie and Fleabag but I feel like both of those characters learnt and grew more than Edie did. This is more like a glimpse into her life and I still felt worried about her by the end. I just really wanted someone to genuinely be there for her.

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adoras's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Luster is a fascinating novel. It takes the general sort of character and premise that might feel over-done: a twenty-something Millenial-or-Gen-Z in New York City, broke and messy and making mistakes. But the plot and characters here are so specific, and the writing so deliberate and beautiful and funny that it feels entirely new and different. During the beginning especially, I feel like I highlighted at least once a page, because I was so in love with the effortless-feeling style. If the style doesn't work for you, and I can see why it might not, you won't like this book.

This left me feeling melancholy. This is one of those books I love but don't feel that I have a lot to say about, maybe because I need to let it sit with me for a while. I enjoyed going in not knowing too much, although I saw someone compare it to Fleabag and in a lot of ways I think that's perfect. For some reason, I can't quite bump my rating up to five stars, but I really enjoyed this, now want to own a physical copy, and am excited to read more by Raven Leilani.

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cheye13's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is a beautifully crafted novel. Every element – stynax, diction, plotline, pacing – is perfect and wholly of the piece itself. Which is why it's practically painful to admit that I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. My disappointments can be entirely contributed to my incorrect expectations. It was much darker, heavier, more melancholy than I was necessarily in the mood for or like to read in general.

My critiques, if implimented, would have ruined the book. There was no thread of whimsy to brighten it, which was intentional. The story didn't really kick off until the mid-point, but the depth of the opening was integral. I preferred reading about Rebecca and Akila and wished Eric were less present, but there would be no Rebecca or Akila in Edie's life without Eric.

This novel portrays the tragedy of Edie's reality in the most beautiful way possible, but the portrayal is too faithful to reality for me.

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