This is so enjoyably chaotic. Raven Leilani’s debut is a novel I could not put down, and one that refuses to go down easily. I cannot count the number of times I screamed out of laughter, surprise, or pure discomfort due to the brilliantly rendered secondhand embarrassment.

I think Leilani rolls Edie’s identity as a painter into this narrative so well. Her main character is an observational genius on and off the canvas, which allows readers to see into other characters' minds without leaving Edie’s inner thoughts. This quasi-omniscience is sooo cool to read on the page, and I think it helps us connect to Edie. Others have discussed not being able to relate to her, and while I definitely couldn’t understand all of her choices, the way she becomes a guide to the other people in this story allows me to trust her narrative, even in those moments when I didn’t “get it.”

Beyond this trust, because of my age and tomfoolery, I actually *did* relate to Edie. The depiction of the “black hole weekends” that Edie spends unable to get out of bed is very similar to my depressive periods, and there is a comforting precision to Edie’s workday passion for online window shopping “as a purely theoretical exercise.” This is a character who, like many of us, alternates between coping mechanisms that will numb her and coping mechanisms that will give her a startling jolt out of this numbness. If you couldn’t tell, Raven Leilani writes about the loneliness of this pattern like nobody’s business:

“During this time, I couldn’t tell if I liked being alone, or if I only enjoyed it because I knew I had no choice... this was the contradiction that would define me for years, my attempt to secure undiluted solitude and my swift betrayal of this effort once in the spotlight of an interested man. I was pretending not to worry about the consequences of my isolation. But whenever I talked to anyone, I found myself overcompensating for the atrophy of my social muscles.”

I docked a star because I may be one of the few people who preferred Luster *before* Edie was in the house. Despite enjoying the cringeworthy moments in Jersey, after meeting Rebecca, the plot just felt too contrived for me to fully buy in. Like, I had major “this would not be happening except for the fact that your book requires this to happen” vibes with this story, which is a problem I encounter quite often with these “prestige novels” of late.

I also wanted to understand the sexual component more--it seemed like the only thing Raven Leilani couldn’t masterfully convey to us was the attraction between Edie and the white man (I genuinely forgot his name and don’t feel like getting my book to look it up. Perfect summary of how unmemorable he was.) Sometimes, I felt like the sex scenes were bizzarely detached and mostly there for shock value, or to illustrate the poor decisions our main character was making due to her traumatic childhood and bleak adulthood. Even when Edie is describing how much she enjoys sex, I didn’t feel this enjoyment--this is surprising because I felt everything else in the book so viscerally. She uses a notoriously cringeworthy word for his penis, and runs down a list of various sexcapades with her coworkers, but none of this feels nearly as embodied as her descriptions of Rebecca at work or the inanimate objects of her guest home.

Despite all this, I cannot downplay my visceral reaction to this book. I have never read so many lines that caused me to audibly groan! The cover said Luster was “irresistibly unruly” and that’s exactly it—I stopped working in the middle of multiple tasks to read this because I could not look away to save my life, LOL. I would definitely recommend it for everyone who enjoys them a good chunk of MESS!!!

****************Finally, here’s this book’s meme corner:

Meme 1: Call records before Edie’s recent dating trajectory

Meme 2: Artistic rendering of Edie and Rebecca's bonding sessions in a morgue and mosh pit

Meme 3: alternate cover for the second edition (cause why the HELL was everybody smoking in this book?!?)