Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Luster by Raven Leilani

32 reviews

thesawyerbean's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.75

The last third of this book saved it from getting a lower rating. While I can appreciate the poetry and extended metaphors in Leilani’s writing, I can’t help but feeling it comes across as rather constipated and convoluted in parts. I quite often found myself completely lost and having to reread to regather the thread of the prose.

The actual premise was intriguing - the commencing few chapters were not particularly enthralling, but the pace did pick up later on in the novel. The portrayal of nihilistic self-destructive sex was raw and ugly, knitted together in a web of nuanced discussions on race, sexuality, feminism and capitalism which I found very interesting and affecting. These are the parts that dragged this book up in its rating.

However, I overall found this to be quite a slog to get through. I powered through the final half in one sitting, and the concluding chapters were immaculately done. But in the end I wasn’t particularly enthralled or interested in Edie as a character.

I stand by my appreciation for Leilani’s prose, and I finish my review with this quote that I found powerful:

I am inclined to pray, but on principle, I don’t. 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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Fatphobia, Grief, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Vomit, and Addiction

kylajaynebooks's review

dark emotional reflective tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Body shaming, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Abortion, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

elatedbooks's review against another edition

Weird glorification of abusive and exploitatory relationships.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

dorsetreader's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Self harm, Medical content, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Addiction, Mental illness, Infertility, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Abortion, Alcoholism, Animal death, Classism, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, and Toxic friendship

harrirebekah's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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? Yes

2.5

2.5 ⭐️ A confusing one. Really enjoyed the start of this book, but for something so relatively short this took me so long to finish the last 80 pages.

I’m not gonna lie I was completely lost after the 110 page mark, I felt like I slipped a chapter. I also really didn’t vibe with the Eric of Rebecca at all, I felt conflicted about Edie and just miserable for Akila.

Idk I thought there were some interesting themes around being a twenty-something who is lost post-graduation, dealing with a lot of built up trauma and an honest and witty take on sex and relationships. But, I just didn’t love it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Drug use, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

bouebooks's review

challenging 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: Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Racism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Blood

biancaaabrown's review

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

nialiversuch's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

saffista's review

dark emotional 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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body shaming, Classism, and Emotional abuse