Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Luster by Raven Leilani

135 reviews

jkreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

It's been a while since I last felt FED by a book, but this one felt like a whole meal. The prose was so lush, it was such a pleasure to consume. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was great.

Raven Leilani has such an exquisite way of describing the mundane - something as ordinary and dare I say, cliche, as a twenty-something living in a crappy roach and mouse infested apartment in New York is recounted in a way that almost adds a layer of magic and whimsy to it.

Don't get me wrong, nothing about it is glamourised, it's bleakly realistic, but the language used is just so divine.

I'm not usually a litfic girlie, I tend to get bored, but I was HOOKED by Luster literally straight away. I anticipated that I would get bored halfway through like I usually do during anything that isn't a fantasy or a romance, but I was pleasantly surprised that Luster kept me hooked from start to finish. Everything about this book felt cliched or inevitable, which it leaned into, but it's really a testament to Leilani's writing that the story was so captivating because in my opinion this is not something that's easy to pull off. I can't wait to read more by this author in the future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Mental illness, Police brutality, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Medical content

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual content, Abandonment, Abortion, and Blood

stellahadz's review

dark medium-paced

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

3.5

I wanted to like this book, but I think the writing style and characterization didn't really resonate with me. Most of the characters felt very flat, which may have been a deliberate choice by the author, but it didn't engage me as much as I would have liked. Still, I think Raven Leilani writes well and if she wrote another novel I would definitely give it a chance.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality, Medical content, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Abortion, Death of parent, and Drug use

Minor: Eating disorder

thatsssorachael's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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 and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Racial slurs, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Abortion, Racism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, and Police brutality

lay_kone's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Abortion, Miscarriage, Medical content, and Racial slurs

kjofalltrades's review

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Medical content, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Abortion, and Police brutality

Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

esmem's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Sexual violence and Abortion

poenaestante's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny 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 book hooked me in from the very first page. I had no clue what this book was about when I picked it up from ny neighbor's community library box, and I'm rarely a fiction reader but I do have time for black authors. This book was so novel and arresting that I can't wait to see what the author does next

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racial slurs, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Police brutality

bowelhaus's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Racial slurs, and Sexual content

Moderate: Police brutality, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Racism

scarroll178's review

challenging emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

The writing is beautiful and thought provoking. I loved the relationship between Edie and Akilah. It was interesting watching Edie’s relationships with Eric and Rebecca change as the story went on. 

The only reason I didn’t rate it 5 stars was that the ending felt a bit anticlimactic. That was probably the author’s intention, but I just can’t understand why Rebecca ran away after seeing Edie’s painting. I really thought the draw they felt for each other would culminate into something more. 

Side note: Can you believe Rebecca shot that dog??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Animal death, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, and Miscarriage

abmochapman's review

challenging funny reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

If Luster is the portrait of a woman, then it is one with so many conflicting strokes that it is not easy to make out, to see it all together as one whole. At twenty-three, Edie is entirely unsure of herself and what she wants. Her life feels out of control so she just lets it happen to her, seeming to relish the moments when it inches closer to an end. There is no neat plot. She is directionless. It is difficult to read but also difficult to look away. 

As a main character, Edie is dizzying. Her decisions, and the decisions of the people around her, are very frequently erratic and inexplicable. This makes a lot of sense for where she is in her life (that is, stumbling around) but it feels kind of strange for the older couple in whose relationship she has become entangled. There’s also so much fruitless internal monologue. The author’s generous use of metaphors and run-on-sentences is sometimes striking and poetic but oftentimes pretentious and incomprehensible. 

At the end of the book, I feel like the narrative has barely moved forward. Maybe that’s just the reality of such a situation. This is a the story of a young woman struggling to get anywhere. The moments Edie shares with the wife, Rebecca, and the daughter, Akila, feel the most meaningful but I almost feel like they are still not fully developed. With such a slow build-up to an abrupt end, I am left wanting much more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, and Infidelity

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Self harm

Minor: Animal death