Review of Luster by Raven Leilani

LUSTER by Raven Leilani 

"He wants me to be myself like a leopard might be herself in a city zoo. Inert, waiting to be fed. Not out in the wild, with tendon in her teeth." p 14

Wow. Just wow. this book was something else and I can already tell it's something I'll be recommending for the rest of the year. It was hilarious, cringe-worthy, and beautifully sad. There was something that forces you to see how this all ends and if anything is actually learned from these characters. I'd honestly describe it as watching a car accident and needing to see what happens next. This is a complicated and frankly strange story about Edie a down on her luck young adult trying to figure out where she fits, more or less. Edie meets the charming, married, and older man, Eric, and becomes weirdly involved with him and his dysfunctional family.  This is a coming-of-age novel about love, relationships, sex, violence, and race. This book really had me laughing out loud while also cringing for everyone involved. 

Edie is such a relatable character and then she is also frustrating and you just want to help her and hug her. But Leilani does such a great job getting inside of her head and that really where we live for 90% of the novel. There is a grand description of what Edie is seeing and feeling and very little dialogue between her at the family. The great thing with this (because I don't know if it's just me) is there are a number of breaks within each chapter that make reading this a breeze. What I love is that at some point, we are all Edie in our twenties. confused about where and what we want to do for a living, dating the wrong guy, struggling mentally. This story, though very strange in some parts, is a very relatable and freeing story. That you'll be wishing to read more by the end just to know how everyone is fairing down the road.

Trigger: there are some triggers I'd warn about sex(aggressive and disassociated) and pregnancy. 

Stand out quote: 

"I think of how keenly I've been wrong. I think of all the gods I have made of feeble men." p192

Some questions to ponder: 

1. What comments does this make about Blackness, with companies, families, and self? 
2. What effect does Edie have on the family? What effect does the family have on Edie? 
3. Do you think Edie has grown by the end of the novel? 
4. How do you interrupt the last lines of the novel? 

Thanks for stopping by! 

-MDB