Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Luster by Raven Leilani

107 reviews

kvokolek's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, and Suicide

Minor: Drug use

alisonfaith426's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Addiction, Infidelity, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Body horror, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Medical content

Moderate: Abortion, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Car accident and Animal death

india_g's review

dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Sexual content, Addiction, Blood, Chronic illness, Animal death, Medical content, Miscarriage, Abortion, Police brutality, Death of parent, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, and Sexual content

Moderate: Police brutality, Miscarriage, Abortion, Racism, and Drug use

Minor: Animal death and Racism

novella42's review

challenging dark reflective sad 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

4.0

I noticed this book at my library because of its gorgeous cover, and I took it home because I am polyamorous and the blurb mentioned "an open marriage—with rules."

I just need to say... Please don't take this book's depiction of non-monogamy as representative of how to do an ethically open marriage. Holy hell. I feel at a loss to list all the ways Edie and Eric and Rebecca torture each other needlessly. It's a fascinating train wreck to watch, and I found myself looking at my own polycule with renewed gratitude and affection. Leilani doesn't let any of the characters off the hook, and if a lot of their behaviors seem inexplicable to you, well, you won't be alone. 

As to the book itself, I appreciated the lyrical, almost psychadelic writing. (If you don't like pose poetry or stream-of-consciousness writing, maybe pass on this one.) Leilani revels in dark Millennial existential dread that kept shocking laughter out of me. She's fantastic at descriptive phrases that catch you off-guard with their originality. I marveled at some of them, their poetic pacing and expansive assumptions, so much I started collecting a list:

"I am suspended in a lurid hypnagogic loop."

"It is impossible to see another black woman on her way up, impossible to see that meticulous, polyglottal origami and not, as a black woman yourself, fall a little bit in love."

"A sudden and swiftly contained conniption."

"Hooked into peripheral intuition." 

"The city's breakneck, multilingual carousel."

"Some inconceivable boss-level of concentrated loneliness."

"The bike lanes in Manhattan already terrifying at 11:00 a.m., filled with delivery boys and girls who jet into traffic with fried rice and no reason to live, along with the sentient abdominals who do this for fun."

"The lawn buzzed and alkaline, the vinegar in the wine and carnage in the dew, everywhere the perfume of things that want to live."

I can't imagine what it's like to narrate this as an audiobook, because the rhythm of the words is beautiful and also relentless. Leilani is skilled at pulling you deep into the bewildering internal labyrinth of mental illness and immersive, uncomfortable experiences. 

If you carry any traumas, I recommend browsing the full list of content tags. I almost couldn't make it through the scenes with gore and body horror, though Edie's dissociative skills and the eye of an artist made it slightly more bearable. I'm glad I got it in hardcopy instead of audio, so I could skim over difficult dark passages. There were lots of those. I'm not sure why I kept reading, except that I was fascinated. It was hard to look away.

One last thing, a recommendation for anyone who likes disco. I genuinely think one reason I enjoyed this book as much as I did was that in the first 15 pages, Edie references her connection to Idris Muhammad's 1977 song "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This." On a whim, I made a Spotify station out of it and I have to say, it complimented the book and let me surrender to the undertow.

Beautiful writing about broken people living a surreal, twisted story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Dysphoria, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, Addiction, Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Medical content, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Violence, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Car accident, Gun violence, and Vomit

Minor: Rape, Cancer, Abandonment, Excrement, and Stalking

pasearlibros's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Abortion

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Eating disorder

sarafinley's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Police brutality, and Racism

Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, Abortion, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

tulilipz's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Racism

Moderate: Eating disorder, Abortion, and Police brutality

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, Animal death, and Drug use

gummifrog's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This was the first book I wanted to annotate in a long time. The prose was so beautiful, I wanted to savor every second of it. This book explores themes of life and death, creation (in both art and life), intimacy and love of all kinds, and an artist's view of the world. I really fell in love with the characters and although the story was more of a thoughtful reverie as the narrator moved through a period of a few months in which she moved in with the family of the man she was seeing. I ended up loving her relationship with the wife most - that strange jealousy and deep understanding, the push and pull of a person who creates and a person who deconstructs. Anyway, I highly recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Abortion, Blood, Miscarriage, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Medical content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Excrement, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Infertility, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Alcoholism, and Murder

Minor: Vomit, Gun violence, Car accident, and Animal death

julianicolls's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

I really enjoyed the authors writing at times for this book. And it found it to be engaging. I think i would have liked it less if there was less stream of conscious going on. Definitely a lot of overt vs. covert messaging and writing. I liked the exploration of race, generational trauma, human relationships, and how interpersonal relationships affect sexual desires. I just didn’t find the overall storyline to be very compelling and gripping. Going to do some research and literary analysis and potentially update my review

ADDED: changing from 3.5 to 3.75 stars after doing some analysis and reflecting more on the characters. Would have rated higher if I liked the style of writing 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Abortion, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Drug use and Suicide