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brotestantethic's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Gore, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Violence
novella42's review
- 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 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.
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
codecat's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Mental illness and Miscarriage
Moderate: Racism, Classism, Eating disorder, Gore, and Racial slurs
Minor: Abortion, Alcoholism, and Animal death
snavehannah's review
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Abortion, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Suicide, Gore, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Drug use
Minor: Animal death
thesawyerbean's review against another edition
- 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 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.
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
madelynfrank's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicide, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Car accident, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Racism, Body horror, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Classism, Cursing, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Addiction, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Toxic relationship, and Violence
nightfell's review
- 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
I am SHOCKED that this is Leilani's first book and I WILL be reading all her other books.
Luster is a book about a young woman named Edie who is struggling with her life. She gets into a relationship with a middle aged white man and the book goes into detail about the privilege, race, class, gender and many other themes that come as a result of their relationship as a black woman.
I related to this book too much.
The writing is phenomenal. It probably isn't for everyone as it requires the reader to pay rapt attention and digest every single word that is written, but that is why I love it so muc. There were sentences that were paragraphs long, which added to the tone and meanings which were perfectly conveyed. Each subsection was perfection, and after each one I felt the urge to out down the book, and stare at the wall, as each part is so packed with meaning, and intention and precision.
I'm not smart enough to put down in words how this book made me feel, and to unpack the multitude of the layers this book had, all I can say was that it is a one of a kind, and it was executed so well. PLEASE READ IT.
It took me over a month and it is just over 200 pages long. That's because I read it during a time where I was already depressed and at times the book got too real for me. Some times I would read it and have to make a choice to keep reading or prioritise my own happiness and wellbeing. But it communicates the type of depression that holds you tightly and is with you always. I don't know If this is making sense but just read it.
That fact that Raven Leilani sat down and wrote this masterpiece makes me genuinely angry, because how did she write this. More accurately: how can anyone write something this powerful. One of my best books of the year.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Infidelity
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Racism, Death, Dysphoria, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Classism, Police brutality, Mental illness, and Miscarriage
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Racial slurs, Car accident, Drug use, Abortion, Physical abuse, and Blood
cko's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Medical content, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, and Vomit
Moderate: Animal death
ifersinklings's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Abortion, Body shaming, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Infertility, and Police brutality
hagiasophia's review
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Abortion and Miscarriage
Moderate: Gore and Suicide