Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Luster

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Luster by Raven Leilani

115 reviews

dingakaa's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective 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

I have only ever thought one book was perfect (Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro). This is now the second. You should read it immediately and don't spoil it with skimming reviews or summaries. Just go.

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bookishcookiemonster's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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

3.0

When I was reccomend this book, i wasn't given too many details and I'm glad for that.
Where it started and where it ended, not at all what I was expecting.
I love messy characters and this book is FULL of messy characters.
Made me reflect on how we really don't know what is happening in the lives of people around us.

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suchsweetsorrow89's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

the only reason why i picked up this book was that my friend constantly raves about it. i can see exactly why she loves it so much. this book, as most reviews probably say, is a weird and strange book. i hate to compare books because I believe that an author's work should be taken as is, but this book highlights and mirrors similar themes that you will find in my year of rest and relaxation and the bell jar. this story follows edie, a black woman in her 20s that is struggling with her relationships to men and her parents, how to live life in general, and how to make money when suddenly caught in between jobs. the main character, through her random and sometimes absurd thoughts and motives, takes us on a journey even though the plot is somewhat generic. i love books where the main plot is a bit generic because it highlights the inherent struggle one faces in their everyday lives when not working or really given any sense of who they are, where they come from, and what they could be (and also what it requires to be that thing/person). while this book is absurd in a way similar to my year of rest and relaxation, what separates the two is clear as day: one is absurd, and one is just strange. being 'strange' means it's realistic and human, just not entirely normal in the way that one would imagine. i think this book has many beautiful lines, and while the language is a bit confusing at times, i also think it symbolizes and emphasizes that edie, while lost in life, is smart. though she cannot see it (and the book is written in a way that we can feel that lost feeling she feels), we intrinsically know that she is smart enough to move through life and move through the world-- she just quite literally has no clue on where to go. personally,

i love that we do not get this 'happy ending'. as someone who loves the odyssey and the Iliad, the themes of wanting memorialization in some way or another-- not necessarily to prove that she was great-- but that for a moment in this big phenomenon called life-- she was at least there. ending on this note of striving and some level of understanding between herself and the world but still not quite figuring it out was an unconditional route in these types of books and hence why i love it so much

. raven breaks from the traditional 'tragically beautiful sad girl' narrative in a way that's beautiful. all this being said, this book is much sadder than those other books so please be aware. i certainly can tell i will be in a slump after this because it is heavier than you'd expect, and so there is a chance that you might too.

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itsbumley's review against another edition

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emotional 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

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ulmaridae's review against another edition

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"God is not for women, he is for the Fruit. He makes you want and he makes you wicked, and while you sleep he plants a seed in your womb that will be born just to die."

"All the raw materials that are gathered and processed into shadow and light, the pigment drawn from sand and canterbury bells, the carbon black drawn from fire and spread onto slick cave walls. A way is always made to document how we manage to survive. Or in some cases, how we don't. So I've tried to reproduce an inscrutable thing: I've made my own hunger into a practice. Made everyone who passes through my life subject to a close and inappropriate reading that occasionally finds its way, often insufficiently, into paint. And when I am alone with myself, this is what I am waiting for someone to do to me. With merciless, deliberate hands, to put me down onto the canvas so that when I'm gone, there will be a record. Proof that I was here."

Though the subject matter of this book was sad and often uncomfortable, the writing was absolutely breathtaking and almost trance-like.

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jenniferpalmblad's review against another edition

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challenging 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

4.25

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angel_kiiss's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

Now I understand what people mean when they feel seen by another human being. This woman is both the girl I hate and my best friend. A girl who probably hates me but I do anything I can to impress her.
Out of all the “unhinged” women I’ve read, Edie feels the most real; she’s layered and complex, a nice girl and sometimes horrible person, she’s lovable but that is hidden beneath her antagonistic flaws.

Who hasn’t found themselves in love with someone before they realize it wasn’t ever really love. Who hasn’t been struck by the reality of a person only after you’ve dug yourself six feet for them.

I can’t believe this was a debit novel. Very few books have moved me this much, and even fewer gripped me like this from beginning to end.

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lilawsahar's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

3.25

This book is about a young woman discovering herself in NY. I would say she finds herself through the women that support her even though they should be the last people on earth to do so. It was strange but I kept wanting to read it.

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smalika's review against another edition

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dark funny 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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mair_ad's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad fast-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

Super interesting and unique book. The prose was simultaneously sparse and evocative; it had beautiful, lyrical turns of phrase but was also straightforward in its own a way. The format/structure of the book reflected the narrator Edie very well. It was also very quick to read (not long and not dense or overly complicated prose).

I'd heard recommendations for this book that focused on Edie's involvement in Eric and Rebecca's marriage, on her position as a "mistress" (which is misleading given the marriage is/was open). I think, though, that Edie's involvement with Akila--how Akila knows Edie is her dad's gf and how that affects their relationship, how Eric, Rebecca, and their community each view Black women and think about anti-Black racism, how Edie navigates

her own pregnancy after growing to care for Akila

--is much more interesting. A bit less flashy than "woman moves into her married boyfriend's home", perhaps.

I think that sometimes the author pushed the limit of credibility of Edie's actions. There were times when Edie did something and I was just like, what the fuck? Not just because she did something weird, but because it didn't seem in character to me. Also, the body image, disordered eating, Akika-is-counting-calories issues were left where they lay, and I think would have benefitted from _more_. I would also have loved more about Edie's parents, not necessarily because the book needs it but because they were some of my favorite parts. So, so evocative and effective without giving much away. The retelling felt very true to Edie.

I have to say, I don't exactly know why I didn't *love* this book. It was beautifully written and a complex, interesting topic, and I feel like I should love it, but it came off dispassionate and removed, despite the apparent depth of the narrator's emotions.

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