Reviews with content warning for Racism - Luster

The writing is beautiful and thought provoking. I loved the relationship between Edie and Akilah. It was interesting watching Edie’s relationships with Eric and Rebecca change as the story went on.

The only reason I didn’t rate it 5 stars was that the ending felt a bit anticlimactic. That was probably the author’s intention, but I just can’t understand why Rebecca ran away after seeing Edie’s painting. I really thought the draw they felt for each other would culminate into something more.

Side note: Can you believe Rebecca shot that dog??

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chelstell's review against another edition

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dark reflective 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

4.5

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thebechdelbitch's review against another edition

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reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Wonderful and sad. My digital copy is full of highlights. The prose is excellent.

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candournat's review

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reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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abmochapman's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective 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

3.5

If Luster is the portrait of a woman, then it is one with so many conflicting strokes that it is not easy to make out, to see it all together as one whole. At twenty-three, Edie is entirely unsure of herself and what she wants. Her life feels out of control so she just lets it happen to her, seeming to relish the moments when it inches closer to an end. There is no neat plot. She is directionless. It is difficult to read but also difficult to look away.

As a main character, Edie is dizzying. Her decisions, and the decisions of the people around her, are very frequently erratic and inexplicable. This makes a lot of sense for where she is in her life (that is, stumbling around) but it feels kind of strange for the older couple in whose relationship she has become entangled. There’s also so much fruitless internal monologue. The author’s generous use of metaphors and run-on-sentences is sometimes striking and poetic but oftentimes pretentious and incomprehensible.

At the end of the book, I feel like the narrative has barely moved forward. Maybe that’s just the reality of such a situation. This is a the story of a young woman struggling to get anywhere. The moments Edie shares with the wife, Rebecca, and the daughter, Akila, feel the most meaningful but I almost feel like they are still not fully developed. With such a slow build-up to an abrupt end, I am left wanting much more.

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shaharazade's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

2.0

There was so much about the writing that I loved about this book - one-liners that cut to the chase, raw observations that hit home, a lot of saying the “quiet parts out loud,” but the plot was slow, sticky, and lacked a clear narrative. It fizzled out towards the end and overall it wasn’t all that enjoyable.

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