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fluffy1st's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Medical content, and Death of parent
Moderate: Infertility, Police brutality, and Abortion
Minor: Suicide and Vomit
kerrence30's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Eating disorder and Police brutality
Minor: Drug use, Infertility, and Suicide
victorsbookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Drug use, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Police brutality, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Abortion, and War
al_davies's review against another edition
- 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
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
taviarz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Racism
Moderate: Abortion
gummifrog's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, and Death of parent
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Infertility, Excrement, and Murder
Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Vomit, and Car accident
avocadotoastbee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Edie, a 23-year-old black woman living and finding her way in New York, tries to fill the void left by her loneliness with sex.
The title "Luster" makes sense in this regard. However, the novel wasn't just about sex and lust. For most of the time, the novel depicts the pain and anguish of each character.
Edie: loneliness, loss of her job and apartment, living with her (much older) lover's family, daddy issues, childhood trauma
Rebecca: marital problems, dealing with her husband's younger lover, not wanting to be a mother but having a child
Eric: substance abuse, marital problems, infertility
Akila: childhood trauma, abandonment issues due to multiple adoptive families, the only black kid in the neighborhood, disordered eating
In some ways I hated all the characters and didn't find them likable, but I could also identify with small parts of each character.
While I loved how Raven Leilani described the dynamics between the characters and Edie's thought processes, I didn't like how stuffed with "internet wisdom" the book was. It felt to me like Leilani was trying to sprinkle a little self-help book vibe into the story.
Also, the power dynamic that results from the massive age difference in Edie and Eric's relationship wasn't romanticized, but it also wasn't portrayed for what it really is. Throughout the book, everyone blamed Edie, but really Edie is a victim of Eric.
At least by the end of the novel, Edie admits this.
"He is the most obvious thing that has ever happened to me, and all around the city it is happening to other silly, half-formed women excited by men who've simply met the prerequisite of living a little more life, a terribly unspecial thing that is just what happens when you keep on getting up and brushing your teeth and going to work and ignoring the whisper that comes to you at night and tells you it would be easier to be dead."
Overall, Luster was a good debut novel that deals with important issues and the life experiences of young black women. I can't wait to see where Raven Leilani is going.
Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Abortion, Abandonment, and Classism
tenderbench's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Medical content
Moderate: Miscarriage, Blood, Police brutality, and Abortion
Minor: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infertility, and Grief
bookishcookiemonster's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.0
Where it started and where it ended, not at all what I was expecting.
I love messy characters and this book is FULL of messy characters.
Made me reflect on how we really don't know what is happening in the lives of people around us.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Police brutality, Abortion, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol
Minor: Gun violence and Suicidal thoughts
suchsweetsorrow89's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Dysphoria
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical content, and Death of parent
Minor: Gun violence and Abandonment