Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Luster by Raven Leilani

129 reviews

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

toofondofbooks_'s review

dark emotional funny 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

4.25

The first thing I absolutely have to say about this book is that the writing is beautiful. There is a sense of realism to every page of the book that really makes the story believable. Edie is a painfully raw and real protagonist with a strong narrative voice that I thoroughly enjoyed, I just wish that she, as a character, loved herself as much as I love her. The book follows her as she tries to navigate her life and relationship with a married older man. A relationship that only becomes more complicated when Edie loses her job and is invited into his home by her paramour's wife. Another character that I really enjoyed apart from Edie was Akila, her lover's adopted daughter.

As for drawbacks to this book, I think that more could have happened in the second half and I'm surprised that it didn't. There was a stretch of pages where it seemed like not much of anything was happening, and though I was never *bored* exactly, I was waiting for the pace to pick up.

Overall, this was a really great, quick read, and if you've been thinking about picking it up, here's your sign!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infertility, Murder, Vomit, and War

Minor: Religious bigotry

culown's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Infidelity, Medical content, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

carodonahue's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

Extremely well written, with a character who refuses to conform to tropes, which makes the story that much more human. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Miscarriage

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

Minor: Animal death and Suicide

1414's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Self harm, and Vomit

elikoch's review

challenging emotional tense 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Racism, Police brutality, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Medical content, Infidelity, Infertility, Gun violence, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, and Abortion

gabyaponte's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.75

Honestly, while it was a decent and interesting enough read, I'm not sure why it has been so highly praised. I just felt like many of the character's actions, other than Edie's, required a lot more explanation or insight. Eric and Rebecca's characters just felt odd and much of the way they acted went either completely or insufficiently explained. On a positive note, the discussions of race and the implications of being a black daughter to white parents was very captivating and I would have liked to see a lot more of that and a lot less of the awkward and honestly unnecessary sexual interactions between Edie and Eric. Overall, it was a good read but nothing too extraordinary or worth revisiting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Racism

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcoholism and Police brutality

tenten's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

5.0

Luster might be one of my favorite reads of the year. recommended to me by both a partner and friend because of a few similarities to a short story i'm working on, i was hesitant to read Luster at first. when a book gets a lot of hype (or when i hype it up a lot in my mind) sometimes i get scared to read it because i'm afraid it won't meet my expectations. sometimes, they don't. other times...

other times, i read a book like Luster: a book that makes me laugh out loud, cringe with secondhand embarrassment, nod in recognition. a book that makes me really feel, really emote. a book with characters that feel real, that feel like people i know personally. and damn did i know Edie.

a 23-year old black girl who paints and lives a kinda pathetic but surprisingly typical life, Edie enters into a sexual relationship with a married white man who is twice her age. Edie is representation for us hot girls with IBS (see this TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kcunderc0v3r/video/6968468583047351558?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1) Edie is amazing in all her Gen Z glory—and yes, i'm claiming her as Gen Z because the story takes place as early as 2018 and as late as 2019, which makes her around my age—she's broke, she's lacking direction, she's sarcastic and sad and painfully relatable. 

when i say her life is kinda pathetic, this is what i mean: after getting fired from her bottom-tier publishing position and replaced by the Other Black Girl in the office, she applies for just about any job she can, including a proofreading position for a gun magazine based in Staten Island and a secretarial one at a clown school in New Jersey. yup, clown school. she considers a dermatologist who has ads all over certain subway lines to be a 'famous person.' she's a hot mess.

i engage in a lot of conversations about black art and its audience. one criticism that people have of some black art —and art by people of color in general—is that some of it can feel like it's written in a way that explains things to folks (read: white people) who wouldn't get it. like, slang is used but also explained when it shouldn't have to be, or a character becomes a mouthpiece for a social issue that real life Black people deal with, or there is a hesitance to portray Black characters in a way that might make them look bad, thus "reinforcing stereotypes." Leilani doesn't seem worried about this.

Edie is not likable. she's nosy, she can be mean and jealous, she's even stalked someone, and trespassed in someone else's home. she has no impulse control. she starts problems. she is the definition of chaotic energy. i have read and wanted to fall in love with far too many stories of Black protagonists who are just too nice, too perfect, too rule-following, too flat, whose lives feel less like lives and more like plot devices. Edie has a life, a sucky one at that. her interactions with others are realistic. the people around her are real, too, not just stock characters that only exist to prove a point. all of the main characters are complex and messy in their own ways and i lived for it.

i also loved the writing style, the stream-of-conscious quality to the narration, the imagery. in my reviews, i tend to focus less on how something is written (style, structure, etc) and more on what is being written about, but Leilani didn't disappoint on either front. i'm looking forward to reading this book again and again again. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Suicide

leah_alexandra's review

challenging emotional reflective 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

5.0

I got this from the library, and was so stunned by it that I might just go out and buy a copy to keep. I thought this was a 4-star book for the first third or so, and then it just ramps right up. The writing is phenomenal, the characters are believable, the emotions are acute. Everything is rendered so finely. Leilani writes sentences that are unique and clearly her own, that a lesser writer would have struggled to make come off so naturally. Nothing felt forced, everything is felt deeply. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Alcoholism, Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

Minor: Animal death, Car accident, Racial slurs, and Infidelity