Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Luster by Raven Leilani

122 reviews

taliatalksbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Luster by Raven Leilani wasn’t my favorite contemporary novel, but I did like the tension it built throughout. The atmosphere versus the subject matter developed in interesting ways, but still felt true to real life experiences. I wasn’t a fan of the characters in this book, however. None of them felt interested me and I didn’t find myself rooting for any of them. This novel continually made me feel uncomfortable with what I was reading, but it didn’t feel like it was in a productive way. I appreciate books that make me feel uncomfortable as a learning mechanism, but this didn’t feel like it was trying to teach me anything, and if it was it wasn’t clear what the lesson should be. While I liked the writing style, the content of the novel didn’t feel like it was focused. It jumped around a lot and skipped over things that felt like they should be important for others that were maybe not as much. Overall this was a short novel, but it did feel longer than it was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

tanwe's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Abortion, and Death of parent

Moderate: Racial slurs and Suicide

lilyblum's review against another edition

3.0

This book was nothing like how I had imagined it to be. I thought it was going to be spicey, steamy and chaotic, however, it was depressing, messy and tense. 
I felt so sorry for Edie and I would not have been able to handle her life circumstances. So in a sense this book was written so well that it made me feel a lot, even if negative emotions. Edie reminded me of that one woman in Cleopatra and Frankenstein and the dreamlike story telling of the one in Hot Milk. Messy, flawed and broken female characters seem to be on my radar lately. I despised Eric and felt ambiguous about Rebecca -as you are supposed to probably- but felt so much gentleness for Akila. 
A short and confusing read, not sure if I’d recommend it but definitely look up trigger warnings in advance!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Pregnancy

risqkae's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There wasn’t too much to the plot, but you wouldn’t really notice because the author’s writing in the book was beautiful and easy to get through. Being only a year older than Edie at the time of me reading this book and also being an African-American woman, it was refreshing to see someone who looks like me so nicely crafted, even with the traumatic and dark parts to her personality and life. Nuanced representation is still hard to come by. It didn’t feel like any of the  heavy topics that were brought up were being forced into the book either, just made it more interesting to read. I’ve read some reviews where they said that the  plot of the book in general was unrealistic, but I would have to disagree. You hear out of pocket crazy stories all the time on the news and on social media so a 20 something black woman ending up in her white lover’s house with his equally white wife and adopted black child actually doesn’t seem too far-fetched in this day and age. Each character was distinctly their own person and their interaction with each other also felt very authentic. My only critique would be I wanted to see if Edie had more pockets of true happiness and joy and I don’t think we ever got that for real, it was always for one split second. I feel like everybody has the capacity for those moments even if their life is tragic. Overall, the book felt like one big intrusive thought and I loved that about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, and Abandonment

kerrence30's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Difficult to describe, but it feels so honest you can’t dislike it. The situation is regretful, and the main family of characters are distrustful yet likeable, and although the narrator is honest to a fault, she is somewhat of an antihero. The important plot line is the different experiences of living in New York/ New Jersey for the black and white characters. It is intentionally unsubtle, and well delivered.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Eating disorder and Police brutality

Minor: Drug use, Infertility, and Suicide

bail33's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. I feel like I know the characters, and even though I didn’t particularly like Rebecca, I feel like I miss all of the characters now that I’m done reading because I had such a sense of being there. Leilani’s writing is just beyond incredible. She uses many words to explain things that could be summed up in just a few, which imo goes against the trend in literary writing right now, but because of it I know and love and understand her setting and cast more. There were so many passages that I have highlighted because how how much they inspire me to write. Such a beautiful and meaningful novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide, Police brutality, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Medical content, and Car accident

stellahadz's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I wanted to like this book, but I think the writing style and characterization didn't really resonate with me. Most of the characters felt very flat, which may have been a deliberate choice by the author, but it didn't engage me as much as I would have liked. Still, I think Raven Leilani writes well and if she wrote another novel I would definitely give it a chance.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical content, Abortion, and Death of parent

Minor: Eating disorder

kikireads1232's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I just... why? Whyy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Racism, Toxic relationship, and Police brutality

pikkumarja's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Aluksi suhtauduin kirjaan varauksella; ensimmäinen virke ei saavuttanut sitä shokkiarvoa, jota se ehkä tavoitteli. Kirja muistuttaa kummallisella tavalla Akwaeke Emezin Hölmöä rakkautta.

Kirjasta muotoutui kuitenkin erittäin ansiokas ja tarkkanäköinen tutkielma Ediestä ja hänen suhteistaan Rebeccaan, Akilaan ja Ericiin. Tarinassa käsitellään limittäin rakenteellista rasismia, fanitusta, hyväksikäyttöä ja lohtua ja se muodostaa erittäin erityisen kokonaisuuden.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Racism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Abortion

Moderate: Death, Blood, Police brutality, and Medical content

Minor: Mental illness, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

al_davies's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol