Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - Luster

Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Luster by Raven Leilani

242 reviews

tanwe's review against another edition

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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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kellylynnthomas's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

What a gorgeous novel! Leilani's prose has teeth. Although the book is light on traditional plot, it reads like a thriller. The relationships in this book are so fraught that I found myself holding my breath more than once, waiting to see what would happen next.

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whoisrois's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

It grew on me once we meet Rebecca. Overall very well written but I think the pop culture references already date it a little bit

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its_hanya's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

It took me a minute to get into the book fully, but once I got aquainted with the writing style, I enjoyed the strange yet incredible scenes the writer cooked up. Exploring dark themes such as loneliness, desire and racism in a detached and sometimes funny style, Edie our narrator paints a powerful picture.

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maddiechristine15's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I purchased a copy of this book at a library book sale.
"Luster" follows a young twenty-something Edie as she tries to make it in her life. Edie's life seems to be crashing down around her as she is trying to build a name for herself. The only good part of her day is painting, and the married man she has just started seeing, Eric. Eric has an open marriage with his wife and has a teenage daughter. When Edie really hits rock bottom and moves in temporarily with Eric's family while he is on a business trip, her life really becomes wild.
This novel eloquently explores the difficulties women face, especially black women, when they are first starting out in their life. Edie just does not seem to be able to catch a break, and she does not want to rely on Eric or his family, but she really does not have many options.
One aspect of the book I really enjoyed was Edie's relationship with Eric's daughter. Eric's daughter was adopted and is a black girl being raised by white parents. Although Eric and his wife love their daughter, there are just things they do not know, and it is difficult for them to always care for her in the best ways. Edie really steps up as an almost guide and helps the girl come into her own and embrace her blackness. I think this was great to see as a character growth, but I think this also helped Edie with her own life.
Edie is ruthless in her attempts to make it on her own. For example, when she needs to find a new job and nothing is panning out, she gets a bike and delivers food to people. She knows how to scrap by and hustle, but she also knows how to practice self-care and not run herself into the ground. Painting is her release, and she continues to allow herself to indulge in this to maintain her sanity.
I think this is an exceptional debut that explores how difficult it can be to start out in life. I definitely recommend this to anyone struggling to find who they are and who they want to be.

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bookishpip's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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charliedon's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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fluffy1st's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

jkreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

It's been a while since I last felt FED by a book, but this one felt like a whole meal. The prose was so lush, it was such a pleasure to consume. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was great.

Raven Leilani has such an exquisite way of describing the mundane - something as ordinary and dare I say, cliche, as a twenty-something living in a crappy roach and mouse infested apartment in New York is recounted in a way that almost adds a layer of magic and whimsy to it.

Don't get me wrong, nothing about it is glamourised, it's bleakly realistic, but the language used is just so divine.

I'm not usually a litfic girlie, I tend to get bored, but I was HOOKED by Luster literally straight away. I anticipated that I would get bored halfway through like I usually do during anything that isn't a fantasy or a romance, but I was pleasantly surprised that Luster kept me hooked from start to finish. Everything about this book felt cliched or inevitable, which it leaned into, but it's really a testament to Leilani's writing that the story was so captivating because in my opinion this is not something that's easy to pull off. I can't wait to read more by this author in the future!

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