BOOK REVIEW: LUSTER by RAVEN LEILANI

Synopsis:

No one wants what no one wants.

And how do we even know what we want? How do we know we’re ready to take it?

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.

Irresistibly unruly and strikingly beautiful, razor-sharp and slyly comic, sexually charged and utterly absorbing, Raven Leilani’s Luster is a portrait of a young woman trying to make sense of her life—her hunger, her anger—in a tumultuous era. It is also a haunting, aching description of how hard it is to believe in your own talent, and the unexpected influences that bring us into ourselves along the way.

My thoughts 

 Luster by Raven Leilani

⭐⭐⭐

I needed a few days to recover from this story. No doubt a very well written work of Millennial Fiction but I must say this may not be everyone's cup of tea.

The story follows Edie a young twenty something year old black woman living in New York who is trying to deal with the challenges of her past and present life.

Edie becomes involved with the much older and more experienced Eric, who is white and in an open marriage and the father of a black teenager who is adopted. Circumstances led to Edie spending time with this family in their home and their interaction is unbelievable.

I loved the writing style of this book because the reader really is in the mind of Edie which I would imagine was quite difficult to execute.

While I liked and understood the story I didn't love it as I thought I would have. Luster is one of those books that I will maybe have to revisit again.

Great book for a book club discussion...