A review by thewordsdevourer
Luster by Raven Leilani

challenging reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

i like this enough - chronicling a few significant months of a black woman in her twenties, luster is peppered througout w/ acerbic, stark observations abt race, sex, and class; the depiction of quarter-life crisis painful yet realistic; and nyc is both disgustingly and longingly familar here. the story is unsentimentally and detachedly told, w/ the gradual unraveling of edie's family backstory providing effective character context, and the moments of clarity are striking. 

overall, an interesting novel abt a peculiar marital and living arrangement that also deals w/ heady, uneasy issues.
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