A review by literaryelephant
Luster by Raven Leilani

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad 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

This is a worthy and necessary addition to the generally white-washed Disaster Women category of books, and I loved both Leilani's acerbic prose and the social commentary drawn out through her struggling narrator. And yet, while it makes sense for the plot of such a book to feel rather aimless, the lack of direction makes this a story too meandering and aloof for my personal taste. Happy to see this one getting some attention with the Women's Prize, and I like what it has to say on the whole, but didn't particularly enjoy the experience of reading it despite the incredible writing at the sentence level. 
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