Raven Leilani

Razor-sharp, provocatively page-turning and surprisingly tender, Luster is a painfully funny coming-of-age story told by a fresh new voice.

Luster

Sharp, comic, disruptive, tender, Raven Leilani's debut novel, Luster, sees a young black woman fall into art and someone else's open marriage 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. Razor sharp, darkly comic, sexually charged, socially disruptive, Luster is a portrait of a young woman trying to make her sense of her life in a tumultuous era. It is also a haunting, aching description of how hard it is to believe in your own talent and the unexpected influences that bring us into ourselves along the way.

A Novel

Nat Wong

If I'm honest, all my relationships have been like this, parsing the intent of the jaws that lock around my head. Like, is he kidding, or is he hungry? In other words, all of it, even the love, is a violence.

It’s not that I want exactly this, to have a husband or home security system that, for the length of our marriage, never goes off. It’s that there are gray, anonymous hours like this. Hours when I am desperate, when I am ravenous, when I know how a star becomes a void.

Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize 2021 Longlisted for the Women's Prize For Fiction 2021 The Sunday Times Bestseller 'A book of pure fineness, exceptional.' Diana Evans, Guardian 'A giddy joy, crafted with mischievous perfection.' Mail on Sunday Edie is just trying to survive. She’s messing up in her dead-end admin job in her all-white office, is sleeping with all the wrong men, and has failed at the only thing that meant anything to her, painting. No one seems to care that she doesn’t really know what she’s doing with her life beyond looking for her next hook-up. And then she meets Eric, a white, middle-aged archivist with a suburban family, including a wife who has sort-of-agreed to an open marriage and an adopted black daughter who doesn’t have a single person in her life who can show her how to do her hair. As if navigating the constantly shifting landscape of sexual and racial politics as a young black woman wasn’t already hard enough, with nowhere else left to go, Edie finds herself falling head-first into Eric’s home and family. Razor sharp, provocatively page-turning and surprisingly tender, Luster by Raven Leilani is a painfully funny debut about what it means to be young now. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Guardian, New York Times, New Yorker, Boston Globe, Literary Hub, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times, Glamour, Time, Good Housekeeping, InStyle, NPR, O Magazine, Buzzfeed, Electric Literature, Town & Country, Wired, New Statesman, Vox, Shelf Awareness, i-D, BookPage and more. One of Barack Obama’s Favourite Books of 2020 Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award.

Longlisted for the Women's Prize For Fiction 2021

Laura Dobie

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, O Magazine, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times, Glamour, Shondaland, The New York Times Book Review, Boston Globe, Buzzfeed, Kirkus, Time, Good Housekeeping, InStyle, The Guardian, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, Self, The New York Public Library, Town & Country, Wired, Boston.com, Happy Mag, New Statesman, Vox, Shelf Awareness, Chatelaine, The Undefeated, Apartment Therapy, Brooklyn Based, The End of the World Review, Exile in Bookville, Lit Reactor, BookPage, i-D A FAVORITE BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, Barack Obama A BEST BOOK FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS: AV Club, Chicago Tribune, New York Magazine/The Strategist, The Rumpus WINNER of the Kirkus Prize and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER * LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER * WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER "So delicious that it feels illicit . . . Raven Leilani’s first novel reads like summer: sentences like ice that crackle or melt into a languorous drip; plot suddenly, wildly flying forward like a bike down a hill." —Jazmine Hughes, The New York Times Book Review “An irreverent intergenerational tale of race and class that’s blisteringly smart and fan-yourself sexy.” —Michelle Hart, O: The Oprah Magazine No one wants what no one wants. And how do we even know what we want? How do we know we’re ready to take it? 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 is also haltingly, fitfully giving heat and air to the art that simmers inside her. 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 invited into Eric’s home—though not by Eric. She becomes a hesitant ally to his wife and a de facto role model to his adopted daughter. Edie may be the only Black woman young Akila knows. Irresistibly unruly and strikingly beautiful, razor-sharp and slyly comic, sexually charged and utterly absorbing, Raven Leilani’s Luster is a portrait of a young woman trying to make sense of her life—her hunger, her anger—in a tumultuous era. It is also a haunting, aching description of how hard it is to believe in your own talent, and the unexpected influences that bring us into ourselves along the way.

Nina

'A taut, sharp, funny book about being young now. It's brutal-and brilliant.' Zadie Smith WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE FOR FICTION 2020 LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2021 Meet Edie. Edie is not okay. She's messing up in her dead-end admin job in her all white office, is sleeping with all the wrong men, and has failed at the only thing that meant anything to her, painting. No one seems to care that she doesn't really know what she's doing with her life beyond looking for her next hook-up. And then she meets Eric, a white, middle-aged archivist with a suburban family, including a wife who has sort-of-agreed to an open marriage and an adopted black daughter who doesn't have a single person in her life who can show her how to do her hair. As if navigating the constantly shifting landscape of sexual and racial politics as a young, black woman wasn't already hard enough, with nowhere else left to go, Edie finds herself falling headfirst into Eric's home and family. Razor sharp. provocatively page-turning and surprisingly tender, Luster is a painfully funny coming-of-age story told by a fresh new voice. ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2020 PRAISE FOR LUSTER 'Remarkable, the most delicious novel I've read.' Candice Carty-Williams, bestselling author of Queenie 'Raven Leilani is a writer of unusual daring, with a voice that is unique and fully formed. There is humor, intelligence, emotion, and power in her work. I cannot think of a writer better suited to capture our contemporary moment.' Katie Kitamura, author of A Separation 'Among the most exciting releases of 2020-a lively, unforgettable coming-of-age story . . . Leilani brings painterly precision to each stunning sentence, making for an exacting, darkly comic story of a gifted yet wayward young woman learning to believe in her own talent.' Esquire 'Narrated with fresh and wry jadedness, Edie's every disappointment [is] rendered with a comic twist . . . Edie's life is a mess, her past is filled with sorrow, she's wasting her precious youth, and yet, reading about it all is a whole lot of fun.' Vogue 'Darkly funny with wicked insight . . . This keenly observed, dynamic debut is so cutting, it almost stings.' Elle 'I was blown away by this debut novel . . . It is exquisite.' Dolly Alderton, bestselling author of Everything I Know About Love 'Smart and satirical about everything from the gig economy to racism in publishing to the inner politics of families' Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room and The Pull of the Stars

Faith

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, O Magazine, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times, Glamour, Shondaland, The New York Times Book Review, Boston Globe, Buzzfeed, Kirkus, Time, Good Housekeeping, InStyle, The Guardian, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, Self, The New York Public Library, Town & Country, Wired, Boston.com, Happy Mag, New Statesman, Vox, Shelf Awareness, Chatelaine, The Undefeated, Apartment Therapy, Brooklyn Based, The End of the World Review, Exile in Bookville, Lit Reactor, BookPage, i-D A FAVORITE BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, Barack Obama A BEST BOOK FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS: AV Club, Chicago Tribune, New York Magazine/The Strategist, The Rumpus WINNER of the NBCC John Leonard Prize, the Kirkus Prize, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and the Dylan Thomas Prize AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER * LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER * WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER "So delicious that it feels illicit . . . Raven Leilani’s first novel reads like summer: sentences like ice that crackle or melt into a languorous drip; plot suddenly, wildly flying forward like a bike down a hill." —Jazmine Hughes, The New York Times Book Review “An irreverent intergenerational tale of race and class that’s blisteringly smart and fan-yourself sexy.” —Michelle Hart, O: The Oprah Magazine No one wants what no one wants. And how do we even know what we want? How do we know we’re ready to take it? 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 is also haltingly, fitfully giving heat and air to the art that simmers inside her. 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 invited into Eric’s home—though not by Eric. She becomes a hesitant ally to his wife and a de facto role model to his adopted daughter. Edie may be the only Black woman young Akila knows. Irresistibly unruly and strikingly beautiful, razor-sharp and slyly comic, sexually charged and utterly absorbing, Raven Leilani’s Luster is a portrait of a young woman trying to make sense of her life—her hunger, her anger—in a tumultuous era. It is also a haunting, aching description of how hard it is to believe in your own talent, and the unexpected influences that bring us into ourselves along the way.

Sarah Christine Gill

raw and ugly, the way our 20’s actually often seem to be

took longer to finish than expected,,, reminded me of fleabag, but book form

raw and ugly, the way our 20’s actually often seem to be

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took longer to finish than expected,,, reminded me of fleabag, but book form

Tabea Lüth

Well-written, candid, darkly comic and touching in places.

Angelyn Francis

Jotting this down long after reading, so what I remember is Raven writes like a titan and it's a treat in this book of unlikeable characters where not much happens except MESS.

Abbie Duggan

For me, this was a complicated read.

Our narrator, Edie, is highly unlikeable. She is not nice and she is cold. Her life is miserable, and a lot of it is a mess of her own making. She is sexually promiscuous, but not in an empowering female way, it’s more like she sleeps around just to have something to do, someone to touch.

But Edie is a contradiction. Beneath her cold exterior she is intelligent, an artist, confident and also insecure. She wants to be loved, and never has been. She is deeply lonely.

This recipe is generally the perfect setup for me to fall in love with a book. Unlikeable and isolated narrator, check. Struggling with self-identity, check. Messy backstory, check. Trying to find her way in the world and making a mess of things, check. I truly wanted to like this book. 

Halfway through, however, the story changes. The plot gets complicated and I couldn’t help but feel it pushed the bounds of reality. Scenes jumped around, main characters shifted, things got soft, and sharper at the same time. By the last quarter of the book, the story stops making sense.

Two and a half stars for me, rounded down. Beautiful, raw, vivid writing with a plot that just couldn’t hold up.

Very tiring read, great prose but ultimately couldn’t get enough motivation to get to the happy ending (if there was one)

Rachel

what an insane read! so complex and beautiful, finished it so quickly. the writing is gorgeous and intense, and draws you right into the story

camille paradis

JoAnna

Meandering and beautiful! It took some time to get into this, but once I learned how to read it, it read like water. The semi-fragmented structure of the paragraphs worked really well for me because there was still so much continuity between segments. There isn’t really any plot, but Edie’s thoughts and observations are engaging enough that I didn’t feel it needed one. This is a really great exploration of what it means to be 23. Raven Leilani makes some really astute observations about modern life and our digital integration. I also really enjoyed the strength and complexities of Edie and Akila’s relationship.

Kendall McClain

Very complex book and I loved how the author dived into serious topics while creating an atmosphere of compassion. The man of this book truly irks me. I cannot stand him but I think that was done on purpose. I love all the women though, especially Alkia, her and Edie’s relationship was so wholesome. The ending was a bit rushed but I enjoyed it.

Amulya Garimella

camille peiffer

Laura Layden

was so good i’m just not smart enough to understand most the imagery in it lol xoxox

Hannah

“imagine living life so carefully there are no signs you’ve lived at all” 
this book is top tier it’s so odd and compelling. it’s just a really weird book that’s really well written. ranking it as one of my all time favs because honestly I couldn’t put it down. it’s so so weird but I love it’s absurdity really well done and well written. Will be buying this book I need to own.it’s grotesque and odd and contemplative would rec

Mia Caven

I have a super conflicted bunch of thoughts about this book. I picked it up having heard good things and quite excited to look more into the genre of female mental health and hysteria and kind of came out bored. Some parts are written so well and beautifully and the ending wasn’t at all flat like I definitely thought it would be when I started the book. However… it kind of felt like it went nowhere. It felt like sometimes it was fake deep, and other times, not at all fake deep. i think the whole point is to be uncomfortable in a sense, but that really is not for me. it’s written well, and if u like books where nothing happens, this is for you. it’s a good written book but defo not at all for me. I didn’t enjoy reading it at all

luca

“I’m an open book,” I say, thinking of all the men who have found it illegible. I made mistakes with these men. I dove for their legs as they tried to leave my house. I chased them down the hall with a bottle of Listerine, saying, I can be a beach read, I can get rid of all these clauses, please, I’ll just revise.”

charisa

uhhhHHHHH miss girl, are you ok??? i believe free food for millionaires has now been dethroned for messiest, self-sabotaging characters! huge! also, sorry i think leilani’s long-winded writing would work so wonderfully as poetry, but as prose it felt something like drowning for 30 pages at a time. realizing i’m bad with these achingly spiritless books; they feel kinda like waking up from a really bad nap all depressed and disoriented.

heleen de boever

Extremely sharp, at times acerbic in its observations, and just genuinely masterful on a sentence level, as well as hitting a perfect balance between being plot- and character-driven. It's nice to read a book and know that you're reading it at exactly the right time - a couple of years younger or older and it wouldn't have resonated so acutely. For readers wanting a more modern (and race- & class-sensitive) I Love Dick.

Morgan Thomas

An interesting read, that proved to be deeply anxiety inducing. It broke the bounds of normal marital relationships which bothered me. But even as it did, I found myself enjoying the book. Until I got to the end and was disappointed by what I felt was a disservice to the character of Rebecca. As I read the book I was aware that the main character had more meanigful relationships with the wife and daughter of the man she was seeing. But what exactly was Rebecca looking for in her relationship with this young woman? What was she missing in her marriage? We understood her lonelilness, but how deep did it go? What were her thoughts on an open marriage? Did she want to see anyone? I wish we had a bit more character depth into a person who could have given us more.

Lynn

2 ⭐️. This kind of missed the mark for me. The writing is definitely a unique tone of voice that is incredible noteworthy for a debut novel. Yet for me, the novel felt very detached, sentences ran on for far too long and as it’s very character driven, I didn’t really see the lesson or point here. I didn’t grow fond of any characters and although some of the dynamics were… interesting to say the least. I didn’t actually care how they progressed because the writing style doesn’t allow us to feel any closeness to the characters. The bizarre “plot”, unlikeable mc and desperately long winded sentences just pushed me over the edge here. I didn’t look forward to picking this up and don’t really feel like I take anything away from this book. I know some people who’d adore this and the book definitely crosses paths with some undeniably relevant themes. I just felt it didn’t really highlight some and could have explored more. Quite disappointed with this to be honest.

Sarah Pino

"'I'm an open book,' I say, thinking of all the men who have found it illegible."

I found this too deep for my current mood. I might reread this in the future to give it a more accurate rating. But this will do.

finishing the last bits of this book was like saying a final bye to a friend who i didn’t expect to like that much. raven leilani has a certain way with words that kept me on my toes.

parker

Abdullah

The best thing about Luster is that it does not hold back. It shows you the ugly in the ugliest of ways and it doesn't hide from anything. It's genuine and possibly the most "real" book I've read. The writing is stark with an engaging plot led by an even more engaging protagonist who's anything but boring. 

 my favourite quotes that don't really give anything away from the book: 

- “It’s not that I want exactly this, to have a husband or home security system that, for the length of our marriage, never goes off. It’s that there are gray, anonymous hours like this. Hours when I am desperate, when I am ravenous, when I know how a star becomes a void.”

-“I’m good, but not good enough, which is worse than simply being bad.”

brianna

Ana Hein

3.5 The first half is spectacular. The second half I felt dragged, but I also interrupted my reading of this a lot and fell into a slump in the middle of it, so it may have just been my personal experience. But the writing is soooooo fantastic. Would love to read more from Raven Leilani for sure!!!!!

Luster

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