Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Luster by Raven Leilani

39 reviews

itsbumley's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Abortion, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Drug use, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Racism, and Sexual content

mekaylynn's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Violence, Drug use, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Infertility, Eating disorder, Suicide, Infidelity, Cursing, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

readingotaku's review

Honestly this book was boring and the main character Edie is so unlikabke. Also why is every other page these awkward, clunky, super explicit sex scenes. Read the synopsis and it honestly didn’t sound like it really went anywhere. I got a third of the book out of the way, and it still felt like I was on the first page. It just was much too slow for my reading tastes.

I also hated how Edie slept with everyone in her office, went on porn sites on her work computer, and generally was just a sex addict insecure childish lady instead of making this a story about her challenged relationship and her learning why she didn’t need a man. Also found it strange to highlight blacks white literally every page. Now I’m very pro Black but the way it was done in this book was so mediocre and cringey.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Physical abuse, Infidelity, and Infertility

arys_library's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

Such an incredible debut novel. In this book we follow a 23 year old black woman named Edie as she joins an open relationship with an older white couple. During her visits and experiences with the couple, she notices that have an adopted black daughter that Edie is immediately drawn to. Edie realizes that she may be the only black figure in this girls life and wants to help navigate her through the world, even though at times, Edie seems to need help doing that herself. 

I absolutely loved the narration throughout this book. It’s scattered, insecure, and inadvertently funny. The way she thinks reminds me of parts of myself, which is why it felt so familiar and how I read it in one sitting. 

The beginning of the book was funny and sexual and the relationships that were formed bordered on unhinged. It was so easy to get through. The ending half could have easily been a different story, and I mean that in a good way. The ending focuses on Edie and her relationship with herself and the family she inserted herself into. 

I loved the ending half of the book even more than the beginning. It was a bit tiring though. The writing style is beautiful, and requires you to read it slowly to absorb the information. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Racism, Sexual violence, and Abortion

Minor: Death of parent, Drug use, Infertility, Body shaming, Police brutality, Vomit, and Toxic relationship

p0wrpff's review

dark reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I was so excited to read this and it got off to a promising start, but it soon became a drag when the plot took unbelievable turns and didn’t back it up with plausible character development. Some of the writing is really good, but it’s so inconsistent. Some of the stylistic choices such as page long sentences with no comma or full stop took me out of the pacing entirely 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Abortion, Drug use, Infertility, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, and Miscarriage

joanaprneves's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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

3.75

This is a compulsive read. Which I honestly am starting to question. Is that a good thing? The book is very well written to the point where I felt it was almost too well written. I associate this book with Taddeo’s Animal where the writer’s virtuosic writing is too present and thus performative. Sometimes the descriptive somersaults are spot on, and a lot of the times they seem to be there for effect. Same with the plot and the characters. Of course the wife works at the morgue and many scenes will develop there; of course the husband is an archivist, talking on the phone about weird specimens, of course there is

a pregnancy and its inevitable miscarriage.
All this while there is very little character development and no real incursion into the characters and their behaviour. The middle-aged characters have the most movie-cliche middle-age crisis, whereas the young twenty-something is critiqued for the instant-validation typical of her generation. Of course

the character’s weird behaviour is explained as a journey into becoming an artist. I felt that this was an excuse that prevented a real excursion into trauma, aspirations, sexual desire and  the hardships of working terrible jobs.
Just like in Animal, this seems like a very well produced hit song lacking the depth of an indie first album.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Addiction, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Infertility

Minor: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

ashleybeereads's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Blood, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Alcohol, Body shaming, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, Car accident, Death of parent, and Infertility

Minor: Vomit and Abortion

madelynfrank's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

4.0

Writing was gorgeous. Grimy. Other reviews said “sexy” and it’s def M. But sexy doesn’t quite describe. Some really soft and heartbreaking moments. I felt satisfied with the choice of ending. Also check TWs if there’s stuff you look out for, felt like I was checking a lot of boxes.

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Content Warnings

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

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

i like this enough - chronicling a few significant months of a black woman in her twenties, luster is peppered througout w/ acerbic, stark observations abt race, sex, and class; the depiction of quarter-life crisis painful yet realistic; and nyc is both disgustingly and longingly familar here. the story is unsentimentally and detachedly told, w/ the gradual unraveling of edie's family backstory providing effective character context, and the moments of clarity are striking. 

overall, an interesting novel abt a peculiar marital and living arrangement that also deals w/ heady, uneasy issues.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Police brutality, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, and Sexual content

Minor: Abortion, Animal death, Death, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racial slurs

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