Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Luster by Raven Leilani

82 reviews

chloebethx_'s review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

I was conflicted going into this because I had read many mixed reviews of the harsh and sometimes vulgar ways in which Raven Leilani describes the life of Evie, but, I completely disagree! This story felt real, honest and appropriately sobering, the main characters graphic language was used at appropriate times and it all served to make Evie feel like a well-formed and fully developed character! I loved this book and the only reason for it not to have the full five stars is because some chapters felt too long and drawn out, but still engaging along the way so I couldn’t deduct too much!  A new favourite for sure

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Excrement, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

blackloreuk's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Raven work is brilliant here! We get into generational trauma, the adultisation of young black girls, and the affects of slut shaming. 

I didn’t really like the fact that Eric was white but raven may have done that to present the racial and gender power dynamics. 

Raven gives a backstory to every aspect and helps us understand Edie thought process in everything she does. She doesn’t justify or try and make her character a victim she simply talks about it. Helps the reader really understand what is happening in the book!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, and Medical trauma

biancaaabrown's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense 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

I think this book was definitely a challenging read, not lexically at all but semantically. It hurts to see a somewhat innocent woman in pain, especially when black. Raven Leilani writes raw, and doesn’t hold back and almost prods too sharply into your own wounds as a young black woman. Leilani frames city life as fearsome, love as hopeless and unrequited on all ends, and sadness as an inevitable border around all of the above. The fiction of this text is its own hope in my life at least, but a distant cry goes out to those for which this is less fictional.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Classism, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Infidelity, Addiction, Abortion, Violence, Police brutality, Miscarriage, and Drug use

macknificent's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

The description for this book makes it sound like a thriller, if that is what you are looking for you will be disappointed. 

This is a story about black girls, in white suburbs, who grew up on Tumblr and surrounded by trauma. We are shown who those girls become when they refuse to wear the mask of The Strong Black Woman because it is too restricting and nobody showed them how to adjust for their own measurements. 

I loved this book, it was refreshing to see a black woman in the role of Sad Girl and the writing was beautiful. Leilani deserves her flowers on this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Suicide, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Blood, Abortion, Infidelity, Racism, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Drug use, Fatphobia, and Forced institutionalization

alsalts's review against another edition

dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Leilani's unusual, often broken up, writing is fascinating in that it gives us a direct insight into what her main character finds noteworthy or significant and, equally, what is just a part of another day among many. Most interesting is the fact that some of the moments which are skipped over could easily form entire novels in someone else's  hands. Here they show us Edie's turmoil, her lived experience and above all her desire to be seen and loved and remembered. Sharing a real person in an all too real world, Luster burns with sexual tension and never turns away from trauma, but it has a quiet beauty too, found in the moments between the novel's women, all lost in their own way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Racism

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Physical abuse

sib_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Medical content, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Rape, Infertility, Addiction, Grief, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, and Physical abuse

flossiepalmer's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Luster is beautifully written and beautifully complex in its depiction of both romantic and platonic relationships. The protagonist and her flaws is the focal point of the book, her insecurities driving her to make impulsive, destructive decisions which continue to leave you hanging at the turn of every page. As the story develops, you as a reader are left not entirely sure what to expect, and the atmosphere within the book is tense, teetering on the edge of complete disaster. This really was a page-turner and a perfect read for those who enjoy complex relationships, miscommunication and character-driven plots.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, and Abortion

Minor: Blood

meowkira's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Miscarriage, Medical content, Drug use, Death of parent, and Death

anxiousnachos's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

4.5 stars. Apparently messed up twenty somethings who have no idea what they’re doing is my brand of contemporary, strange coincidence don’t you think…

This was so fucking good! The writing hurt in all the best ways, it was written so well to wring me out emotionally as much as I could possibly be. It brilliantly examines sex and desire and race and mental health through the eyes of Edie, a young, Black, bi/pan woman as she loses her job in publishing and is taken in by the family of the married man she is sleeping with. It is an insightful and brutal look at what it means to be a twenty something right now as capitalism is destroying the world around you. Stunning! 

Content warnings: abortion, miscarriage, suicide, police brutality, racism, racial slurs, toxic relationship, infidelity, violence during sex (consensual? I think?) alcoholism, drug use, adult/minor relationship (in part, described in few scenes), animal death (off page, non graphic, results in the police brutality) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Drug use, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Animal death

evonna's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-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

3.5

I wanted to love this book so bad. I really did. However, as a reader, I was situated in an inner monologue that I could barely decipher without a dictionary by my side. Many of the metaphors went over my head. As a result, I was not able to empathize with our protagonist, Edie, as much I would have wanted to. Her motivations throughout the novel were foreign to me for the majority of the narrative. 

Simply put, the writing style is just not for me. While others have described this as humorous, ain’t shit funny to me. This book is absolutely devastating. Poetically so. Despite my less-than-stunning review, I most definitely intend on rereading Luster because I cannot stop thinking about it, that's for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicide