Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Luster by Raven Leilani

48 reviews

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

avocadotoastbee's review against another edition

funny reflective tense fast-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

3.5

Luster by Raven Leilani was not at all what I expected.
Edie, a 23-year-old black woman living and finding her way in New York, tries to fill the void left by her loneliness with sex.
The title "Luster" makes sense in this regard. However, the novel wasn't just about sex and lust. For most of the time, the novel depicts the pain and anguish of each character.

Edie: loneliness, loss of her job and apartment, living with her (much older) lover's family, daddy issues, childhood trauma
Rebecca: marital problems, dealing with her husband's younger lover, not wanting to be a mother but having a child
Eric: substance abuse, marital problems, infertility
Akila: childhood trauma, abandonment issues due to multiple adoptive families, the only black kid in the neighborhood, disordered eating

In some ways I hated all the characters and didn't find them likable, but I could also identify with small parts of each character.
While I loved how Raven Leilani described the dynamics between the characters and Edie's thought processes, I didn't like how stuffed with "internet wisdom" the book was. It felt to me like Leilani was trying to sprinkle a little self-help book vibe into the story.
Also, the power dynamic that results from the massive age difference in Edie and Eric's relationship wasn't romanticized, but it also wasn't portrayed for what it really is. Throughout the book, everyone blamed Edie, but really Edie is a victim of Eric.
At least by the end of the novel, Edie admits this.

"He is the most obvious thing that has ever happened to me, and all around the city it is happening to other silly, half-formed women excited by men who've simply met the prerequisite of living a little more life, a terribly unspecial thing that is just what happens when you keep on getting up and brushing your teeth and going to work and ignoring the whisper that comes to you at night and tells you it would be easier to be dead."

Overall, Luster was a good debut novel that deals with important issues and the life experiences of young black women. I can't wait to see where Raven Leilani is going.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Mental illness

Moderate: Blood, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Police brutality, Animal death, Abandonment, Eating disorder, Infertility, Abortion, Classism, and Drug abuse

vrcreads's review

dark emotional 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Racism, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, Blood, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Police brutality, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death of parent, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Drug use, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

writtenontheflyleaves's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

 Luster by Raven Leilani 🏠
🌟🌟🌟🌟

🏠 The plot: Edie is just scraping by. She's coasting in a dead-end job at an all-white office, having unfulfilling encounters with men, and she's barely doing the thing she really loves, painting. Starting an affair with an older man soon takes an unexpected turn as she moves in with his family: his (kind of intense) wife and adopted black daughter.

I went into this read knowing that it has a divisive main character, and I can kind of see why. Edie's narration is depressive and one-note for much of the novel, especially in the first half, and she is wilfully self-destructive in her relationships. Reading it directly after another book with a mentally struggling main character, I did find it very heavy reading at times.

However, as the novel unfolded I thought the style of narration was very clever, and I found that the connection I formed to Edie was more interesting because of her more complex motives. Particularly as she developed a friendship with her lover's adoptive daughter - and tried to teach her things that her white parents had neglected to - I thought the way she opened up to the reader was really powerful.

To be honest, I suspect a lot of the discomfort around this book - mainly, it has to be said, from white reviewers - comes from the fact that Edie is scathing of white spaces and the behaviour demanded from her to assimilate into them. The book also draws a clear connection between this generalised hostility and police violence. It's a really powerful novel, especially for a debut(!!) so don't let the "unlikeable narrator" label from many reviews put you off!

🏠 Read it if you liked My Year of Rest and Relaxation or if you like unflinching portrayals of difficult relationships, grief, racism, and depression.

🚫 Avoid it if you're avoiding scenes of police violence, sexual violence, and workplace discrimination.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Police brutality, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Mental illness

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, and Addiction

dingakaa's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Racism, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Physical abuse and Blood

Minor: Abortion and Animal death

snavehannah's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

suchsweetsorrow89's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria

Moderate: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Medical content, Death, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Infertility, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Racism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Miscarriage

Minor: Gun violence and Abandonment

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

angel_kiiss's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Medical content, Alcoholism, Blood, Dysphoria, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Medical trauma

Minor: Animal death, Racism, and Mental illness

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