Luster by Raven Leilani – 240 pages

ARC from Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Blurb:

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’s also, secretly, haltingly figuring her way into life as an artist. 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 falling into Eric’s family life, his home. She becomes hesitant friend to his wife and a de facto role model to his adopted daughter. Edie is the only black woman young Akila may know.

My Review: 3.5 stars

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Luster was one of the most honest and raw books I’ve ever read. At times I thought it was brilliant and a times it was grossly disturbing. Edie’s ease and comfort with her own sexuality completely differed from her comfort in the real world.

From the start, learning that she knowingly goes out with a married man, Eric, was a turnoff. Their relationship was sexual, electric and full of racial tension, especially after Edie realizes that he and his wife had just adopted a black daughter. Was his intent in the relationship to understand black women better, considering Edie was 23 years his junior?

When Edie becomes a daily part of Eric’s home life, I was blown away by the awkwardness and by the connections slowly being made between Edie and Eric’s wife and daughter. There was something oddly satisfying when Rebecca, Eric’s wife, took Edie to watch her perform autopsies. It was odd, while suggestive at the same time. Edie, an amature artist, was absorbed by it.

Honestly, it was the writing that I most appreciated about this book. Leilani is an author to watch as she is a skilled wordsmith. For me, well, the story lacked some luster, as I recieved punches to the gut to shock and bewilder me. I just wanted more compassion and connection from this odd coupling. I’m certain book clubs will have lots to digest and discuss with this one! 

Quotes I liked:

I am good, but not good enough, which is worse than simply being bad. It is almost.”

“I think of how keenly I’ve been wrong. I think of all the gods I have made out of feeble men.”

“As a rule, I try to avoid popping that dusky cherry. I cannot be the first black girl a white man dates. I cannot endure the nervous renditions of backpacker rap, the conspicuous effort to be colloquial, or the smugness of pink men in kente cloth.”

“I think of my parents, not because I miss them, but because sometimes you see a black person above the age of fifty walking down the street, and you just know that they have seen some shit. You know that they are masters of the double consciousness, of the discreet management of fury under the tight surveillance and casual violence of the outside world. You know that they said thank you as they bled, and that despite the roaches and the instant oatmeal and the bruise on your face, you are still luckier than they have ever been, such that losing a bottom-tier job in publishing is not only ridiculous but offensive.”