Review – Luster by Raven Leilani (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Length: 240 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: August 4, 2020
ISBN-13 : 978-0374194321
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Edie is stumbling her way through her twenties—sharing a subpar apartment in Bushwick, clocking in and out of her admin job, making a series of inappropriate sexual choices. She is also haltingly, fitfully giving heat and air to the art that simmers inside her. And then she meets Eric, a digital archivist with a family in New Jersey, including an autopsist wife who has agreed to an open marriage—with rules.
As if navigating the constantly shifting landscapes of contemporary sexual manners and racial politics weren’t hard enough, Edie finds herself unemployed and invited into Eric’s home—though not by Eric. She becomes a hesitant ally to his wife and a de facto role model to his adopted daughter. Edie may be the only Black woman young Akila knows.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book that I borrowed from the library.
Story (4/5): This is an interesting look into an aimless 20 something black woman’s life. We see a lot of her daily trials and tribulations and the relationship she forms with a family (who she originally meets by dating the husband/father in an open marriage sort of arrangement). The careless way Edie treats her body and the careless way she is treated by law enforcement is impactful. However, ultimately the story felt weirdly unsatisfying, like I am not sure what the point was. Even though I read this quickly and pretty much devoured it…I will forget it quickly too.
Characters (4/5): Edie seems ambivalent about everything or maybe just beat down. In fact all of the characters (even the young girl Akila) have a very tired and depressed feeling to them. As a result of this ambivalence it’s hard to engage with her or anyone else in the story…they are held at a distance and feel so alien. I did find the way that Edie just kind of flows from one situation to the next intriguing. In fact all of these characters are intriguing portraits of rather unhappy people. I didn’t really like them or enjoy reading about them, but they were fascinating and made me wonder how many people live this way.
Setting (4/5): This is set in New York City but the setting could really be any really big city around the world. People struggle to make a living and apartments are small and dirty. It was a good setting for this story and contrasts nicely with Eric’s (the man Edie is dating) sprawling suburban home.
Writing Style (4/5): This was more engaging than I expected and I enjoyed the writing style, which is both beautifully descriptive and strangely ambivalent. Maybe the weird unfinished and unsatisfying feeling the story has is supposed to reflect the main character’s own dis-satisfaction with her life; either way it left me feeling empty and wanting to move onto something else. However, I did read it quickly and it kept me engaged up until the end. The writing style was visceral and unique, it just felt unfinished.
My Summary (4/5): Overall while this is not something I would re-read I am glad I read it once. The writing style is artistically interesting and the characters are intriguing in how ambivalent ,yet impulsive they are about their lives. This definitely isn’t a “feel good” read, but it’s an interesting look into these characters’ decisions (and lack of decisions) and lives.
