Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Luster by Raven Leilani

9 reviews

al_davies_jones's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Slavery, Animal death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Vomit, Mental illness, Medical content, Physical abuse, Blood, Infidelity, Addiction, Sexism, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Drug use, and Grief

geesammy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Captivating, like watching a fatal car crash in slow motion.  Spare and sharp.  Some brilliantly written lines.  Not enjoyable through as the subject matter is rough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Abortion, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Eating disorder

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

jules44's review

dark emotional funny reflective sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Sexism

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

thevioletfoxbookshop's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

4.0

 Somewhere between poetry, an essay, a biography, contemporary, and erotic fiction, you'll find Luster by Raven Leilani.

On the surface, Luster is about a young black woman struggling as an artist in New York who ends up entering into the open marriage of a privileged white couple. But even more than that, it's a raw glimpse of one woman's life, struggles, her art, her sexual desires, career ambitions, passions, fears, thoughts, and feelings. 

The main character is so honest, it's both terrifying and beautiful all at once. Luster is her confessional, where she readily shares things that most of us would be hesitant to admit to even ourselves. She is often contradictory in the way humans often are - lonely yet introverted, starving yet can't or won't eat, ambitious but struggles to find motivation, loves herself but is insecure, hates but desires men. Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's painful to watch her try to navigate the contradictions within herself and in the world around her. 

More than anything, I think Luster is about loneliness. The loneliness of what it's like to be a black woman in the United States, of being an artist, of being a parent, of being a child without their parent, of dealing with generational trauma, and of our modern world. Edie, like all of us, wants to be seen and understood, but the way that she, and we, connect with others are often unusual and unexpected.

This book was more feelings and vibes than plot, for me. It's like if you could vomit up all of your emotions that feel inexplicable and they settled into words on a page, but in the most beautiful and poetic way. 

Content warnings include physical abuse, sexual content, racism, sexism, self-harm, suicide, miscarriage, abortion, drug addiction, police brutality. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Police brutality

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexism, and Drug use

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

emilykthelin's review

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Medical content

Moderate: Blood, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pregnancy, Abortion, Miscarriage, Police brutality, and Racism

Minor: Grief, Sexism, Suicide, and Vomit

travelseatsreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It is so hard to imagine that Luster is a debut novel. I listened to this as audio and was honestly blown away by the writing style and use of language. At first glance you could be forgiven for thinking this is a pretentious over hyped book but there are so many layers waiting for you to unwrap.  

It's a no holds-barred, unrestrained, raw, fresh and feisty look at race, sex and modern loneliness. This completely captivated me and if this is what Leilani's debut is like I cannot wait to see what's to come.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, and Sexism

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism