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readingwithathena96 's review for:
Luster
by Raven Leilani
Alright, folks, I have now read this book four times. Which feels like a lot. It's certainly more than I've re-read most other books, the only exception being my favorite book of all time (A Place for Us). I don't know why I'm so frequently drawn back to Edie's story; all I know is that my rating is back at a 4 (listening to this on Audiobook while binge-playing the Sims did me no favors).
I truly believe that Raven Leilani is one of the sharpest writers of the 2020s. Her prose is so quick and devastatingly funny that it's basically 200 pages of emotional whiplash.
Raven Leilani, please come back with a new book, and I won't read this for a 5th time in 2026.
(2024 Re-Read ⬇️)
On my third re-read, I don't know if I got anything new from the text other than a stronger admiration for Leilani's writing. I can understand why others might dislike it, but this is still one of my favorite pieces of millennial mess fiction.
(2022 Re-Read ⬇️)
This was a reread that I liked more this time, especially since I wasn't reading it in tandem with the cluster headache known as Midnight Sun. Luster is about Edie, a Black artist who finds herself in an awkward relationship with a white couple and their adopted Black daughter. As her circumstances change for the worse, Edie's entanglement with the family becomes increasingly complicated.
I found the writing sharper and funnier the second time around. I cringed while reading Edie's (mostly bad) decisions, and sat stunned as she casually describes the traumas of her past. This book wasn't perfect, but Leilani's writing beautifully and painfully describes being an awkward young adult whose unhealed trauma bleeds into every corner of their life.
I truly believe that Raven Leilani is one of the sharpest writers of the 2020s. Her prose is so quick and devastatingly funny that it's basically 200 pages of emotional whiplash.
Raven Leilani, please come back with a new book, and I won't read this for a 5th time in 2026.
(2024 Re-Read ⬇️)
On my third re-read, I don't know if I got anything new from the text other than a stronger admiration for Leilani's writing. I can understand why others might dislike it, but this is still one of my favorite pieces of millennial mess fiction.
(2022 Re-Read ⬇️)
This was a reread that I liked more this time, especially since I wasn't reading it in tandem with the cluster headache known as Midnight Sun. Luster is about Edie, a Black artist who finds herself in an awkward relationship with a white couple and their adopted Black daughter. As her circumstances change for the worse, Edie's entanglement with the family becomes increasingly complicated.
I found the writing sharper and funnier the second time around. I cringed while reading Edie's (mostly bad) decisions, and sat stunned as she casually describes the traumas of her past. This book wasn't perfect, but Leilani's writing beautifully and painfully describes being an awkward young adult whose unhealed trauma bleeds into every corner of their life.