Luster

This was another mystery Literati arrival, and a title that I certainly don’t think that I would have picked out for myself. It took me longer than was expected to finish reading this because I was continually trying to figure out if I should give up and put the book down, or if I should continue reading and see it through to the end; ultimately, I did finish reading, but this book left me with a rather lackluster satisfaction. At first glance, this book has everything that I love to read: drama, romance, scandal, complicated relationships, and a search for a sense of belonging, but for me it just never delivered.

“Luster,” Raven Leilani’s debut novel, tells the story of Edie, your average twenty-something living in New York City who finds herself making her way through life in an unsatisfied rut with both her job and her love life. A lifetime of trauma and an unstable family dynamic don’t help Edie as she attempts to navigate what it means to be an artist and truly accept what you are on the inside. After meeting Eric, a middle aged man who seemed to ignite a spark in her, albeit a flickering one, Edie realizes that she is entering into a relationship with a man in an open marriage.

As the relationship between Eric and Edie continues to develop, it soon becomes apparent that the caveats and conditions that started initially as excitement are almost becoming too much to handle. After losing her job, losing her apartment, and losing the small shred of normalcy and routine that she had in life, Edie has an untimely run-in with Rebecca, Eric’s wife, and the two women begin their own relationship dynamic as Edie begin occupying the guest bedroom in Eric and Rebecca’s house outside the city in the suburbs of New Jersey.

As the two women size each other up and begin creating their routines, conditions, and relationship with one another, Edie is introduced to Eric and Rebecca’s adopted daughter, Akila. Immediately, Edie and Akila realize that they share a racial identity, and Edie lightly steps into the shoes of becoming Akila’s mentor at embracing what it means to be Black. Edie shares her own vulnerability--and creates a space where Akila can share hers--as she shares her stories of her upbringing and teaches Akila some of the cornerstone lesson that every Black woman should know: representation in the media and arts, acknowledgement of the stereotypes inherently placed upon you, and relationships to authority.

As the book reaches a close, the massive web of relationship drama falls to pieces, but each person has seemed to walk away with some sort of closure, some sort of personal growth for the better, that orients them to whatever may be coming in the future.

There were parts of this book that were engaging, parts that were juicy and exciting and kept me turning pages, but I often found myself just wondering when the chapter would come to an end. It seemed as though the action never really took off, and nothing ever seemed to peak to create the sense of satisfaction.

I thought that the characters were beautifully written, and I was able to see the development in each, see the inner workings and observations of how each of these people occupied their own space within the convoluted household. I found the struggling artist trope assigned to Edie to be a little predictable, but overall it didn’t leave a negative mark on the character.

Although I personally didn’t find this book at the top of my list, I believe that Leilani has written a story that covers topics and conversations that aren’t typically present in literature, and I am thankful that she wrote a book that can open the door to conversation.

If you are looking for a complicated, indie, multiracial, polyamorous lovestory about navigating cultural identities and discovering the inner workings of human fascination all bound together with a dry, dark sense of humor, then “Luster” may be just the book for you.

2 out of 5 stars.