Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Luster by Raven Leilani

127 reviews

jaealey's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

kierathorne's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

Often the languid descriptions would detract from what was going on in the story. Sometimes I just didn't know what was going on at all. Sometimes it fit so well though and I wish it was always like that.
Overall I think I went in with the expectation of romance or erotica but it was nothing of the sort.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Police brutality, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Death of parent, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Murder

heademptybookcasefull's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

evonna's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

I wanted to love this book so bad. I really did. However, as a reader, I was situated in an inner monologue that I could barely decipher without a dictionary by my side. Many of the metaphors went over my head. As a result, I was not able to empathize with our protagonist, Edie, as much I would have wanted to. Her motivations throughout the novel were foreign to me for the majority of the narrative. 

Simply put, the writing style is just not for me. While others have described this as humorous, ain’t shit funny to me. This book is absolutely devastating. Poetically so. Despite my less-than-stunning review, I most definitely intend on rereading Luster because I cannot stop thinking about it, that's for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicide

leduyhxxng's review

challenging slow-paced

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

2.0

Verbose and needlessly detailed—There are many instances of prose in Luster that can easily be trimmed, and which would enhance its overall pacing as well as the reading experience. Whilst the ambiguous atmosphere feels intentional in how it's written in clips of prose that often shift focus, this changing landscape never had a chance to fully settle because of the excruciatingly detailed writing. Two chapters in, and it became a chore to see comprehensive descriptions of random radio shows or video games that have no ramifications on the story whatsoever when as a reader, I want to learn more about our main character, Edie, and her relationship with the wife, Rebecca, and daughter, Akila. Apparently, I don't like reading about unlikable characters, especially when they come bundled with obtuse writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Police brutality

Moderate: Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Racism

juanita's review

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, and Racism

bxs's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Stalking

lreads's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, and Racism

Minor: Police brutality

anygivenmemory's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

This book has a unique writing style. It's like you never quite get into Edie's emotions or thoughts, but rather are told only what she does; leaving her feelings up to you to speculate on. Some of the metaphors and descriptions in this book were unusual and refreshing, so I look forward to seeing what the author can do in the future. However, since we didn't get that emotional component, I felt somewhat disconnected from the characters.

The characters are all flawed. This is not a plot heavy book but rather a character study of both the characters themselves and their relationships with each other. I felt that some aspects of the little plot there was were not addressed and so you weren't quite sure what exactly transpired. For example,

did Rebecca shoot the neighbor's dog with the gun? Did the attack by the police cause Edie's miscarriage? Is anyone ever going to address Eric's drug/alcohol abuse and his desire for violence towards women?

I kept hoping we would see more growth from Edie...that she would realize she deserved better...but I guess true growth is slow and filled with misteps and falling into old habits.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Abortion, Addiction, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

literarylion's review

dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.5

Pros:

• Absolutely staggeringly gorgeous writing
• Rich social commentary that is not didactic or patronizing
• Vivid rendering of characters 

Cons:

• Plot weaved around a bit, not really cohering, but that is to be expected from a character study like this

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage and Racism

Minor: Abortion, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Medical content, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Suicide