Book Review
Title: Luster by Raven Leilani
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 4 Stars
I didn’t know much about Luster and it wasn’t originally on my radar until I read the synopsis. From what I understand it is following Edie, a young 20 something as she navigates her life including an open relationship with a married couple, colour me intrigued. We are introduced to Edie, a 23 year old working desperately to survive while paying off her student loans, she also has an artistic streak that she has allowed to die over the past two years before she meets Eric. Eric is a married man whose wife has agreed to an open relationship and after a month of speaking online they finally decide to meet. This first meeting is interesting as we know, Edie is trying her hardest to impress while not seemingly overly interested while Eric is at a stage in his life where he can be completely honest and she immediately notes how the 23 year age gap between them is both a huge and minuscule thing. There is also a huge amount of sexual tension between this pair but it doesn’t come to anything yet as they arrange another date but after this Edie paints for the first time in two years to recreate Eric’s face which shows the impact he has had on her even in this short time.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Eric and Edie continue to go on dates and eventually they have to conversation where they go over the rules that have been set down for this relationship mainly by his wife, Rebecca. It is clear to see from the list of rules and how Rebecca constantly changes them that she isn’t happy with the fact that her husband of 14 years is sleeping with someone else. However, we do see early on that Edie has a bad history with sex starting with an abortion when she was only 16 and it never got better from there as she was always seeking some kind of approval. The first time she and Eric actually have sex it is clear that something else sparked the way Eric is acting that night and why he takes her back to his home and have sex with her in the bed he shares with his wife. For a long period after that she doesn’t hear from Eric or see him so she decides to go to his house and finds it open but this leads to a face to face interaction with Rebecca which Edie doesn’t want but she also doesn’t want to leave either as she knows Eric is going to be there. It turns out that this is the couple’s 14th anniversary party but what intrigues Edie the most is the small black girl she sees around the house who later turns out to be Eric and Rebecca’s adopted daughter, Akila. So far, the premise of this relationship is very interesting especially now the wife is involved but I don’t know where it is going to go from here as the relationship didn’t really seem to be going anywhere in the first place.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Edie tries to not be noticed at the party and at the same time she wants to be noticed by everyone but she seems to sense a strange bond between her and Rebecca but can’t identify what it is. Once Eric becomes aware that Edie is there and has met both his wife and daughter he is justifiably furious and takes her home where they briefly discuss it. Eric at this point clearly says he is angry enough to hit her and Edie encourages him to do it more than once leaving her with a bruised cheek but the most interesting thing about this is that Rebecca left a voicemail on Edie’s phone asking to meet her again which doesn’t really make sense as she was quite rude to Edie. While she ponders on this it is quickly lost in the fact she has been fired from her job in publishing meaning she has no income now as she was already struggling to survive which Eric saw clearly. Edie has no idea what she is going to do but she believes it was one of her many office flings that got her fired and she takes great pride in slicing her hand open with his katana and staining the carpet of his office. On her way out she briefly speaks to the only other black girl working there who is going to be given her job and they discuss why they were never friends when they could have been. Edie is the kind of person who doesn’t want to do anything unless it is her idea and being told to do something makes her resistant to actually doing it whereas the other girl tries her hardest to fit into whatever shape or box other demand of her which highlights the differences between them. Edie is a very tortured person as I am coming to see and she does really find anything wrong in letting men use her, whether it is for sex or pain and sometimes like with Mark a combination of the two.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Edie’s life takes a major downturn after losing her job. Edie does some delivery work while searching for others but she quickly loses her apartment after her roommate moves out and her rent goes up. Eventually one of her deliveries leads her to Rebecca and after telling her about losing her job and home, Rebecca takes her back to their home and gives her place to stay. During this time Eric is away and has been texting Edie but she doesn’t respond to him knowing that in a few days he is going to arrive home and find her there. Despite Rebecca asking Edie to cut things off with Eric she doesn’t really want to and Eric hasn’t mentioned it either. With this pair it always seems like they are walking the line between ager and something else. Akila is also aware of Edie’s role as her father’s girlfriend and Edie does try to help the girl out with things that only another black person can understand but she is your typical moody teenager and wants nothing to do with Edie. Despite the way Edie is constantly being looked down upon by Rebecca she doesn’t really want to leave the house as she feels something there that she hasn’t felt in long time. The more we learn about Edie the more I feel sorry for her as she has fallen on hard times and does things no sane person would do if it meant getting a bit more money and surviving a little bit longer and Eric is the one thing that has made her happy in a long time and she refuses to give him up even though she isn’t really investing much in him right now.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Edie spends most of the next few days observing Rebecca and Akila and trying to figure out whether she fits into this life and doesn’t really see a place where she can. However, there are brief moments during these first few days where Edie seems to form genuine connections with both Rebecca and Akila but she is worried about Eric coming home the following day as he has been talking about leaving Rebecca which Edie can’t understand. That evening Rebecca takes her to an impromptu concert where they end up leaving battered and bruised from the mosh pit to find Eric has returned home early and I don’t know how he is going to take the news that Edie is living temporarily in his house as she hasn’t mentioned that fact she lost her job or home to Eric at all. This book really seems to be character driven but I am still unsure what the motivations of the characters are especially for Edie’s as she doesn’t have any motivation at all except when it comes to sex and then she is greatly motivated. I am torn about how this book is going to end, it could be tragic with Eric and Edie’s relationship falling apart because it was never going to work or it could end up being a situation where the relationship extends to involve Rebecca as well as Edie together rather than separately and I can see Edie becoming a good influence and possible role model to Akila who needs one right now. We see this in her reaction after Edie compliments her artwork and fanfiction stories, like she has never received a compliment before on these things. Edie is also the one to inform Rebecca that Akila’s math tutor, a boy named Pardeep, is being slightly racist towards her comparing her intelligence to that of a monkey and Rebecca deals with accordingly even if she didn’t want to admit at first that the boy was being racist. I liked the fact she acted on Edie’s word alone and didn’t ask for details until after because even though she is very cold Rebecca understood that Edie would be able to understand and spot racist comments better than herself.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Eric has returned home and for a time his return destroys the balance that Rebecca, Edie and Akila manages to achieve in the house and they must now work to create it all over again. This prove harder than Edie first thought as Eric does his best to ignore her presence in his home and she notices that both Rebecca and Akila seems duller and less vibrant when Eric is around although she doesn’t know why since they have so much to be grateful for. Eide is also beginning to throw herself into her art once more intent of capturing a self-portrait something she has never been able to do while helping as much as she can around the house without being in the way. Around this time money keeps appearing in her room and she doesn’t know who it is from but she suspects it is Rebecca and she is coming to notice the differences between her relationship with Eric and Rebecca’s relationship with him and how she will never get what they have even if they don’t appreciate it. The biggest change during this time is the relationship between Edie and Akila who have become quite good friend as Edie shows her how to care for her hair and helps her find new hairstyles. Akila teaches Edie how to play videogames and they watch anime together while preparing for comic con and this domestic bliss is a juxtaposition to the reality Edie can see all around her. Eventually Edie and Eric fall into their familiar sexual patterns but it is often rough, dirty and violent and nothing like the sweet, familiar sex she has witnessed between Eric and Rebecca and it is something that she unconsciously craves.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, I had no idea how the novel was going to end but I was interested in seeing it play out since everything up until now has been an emotionally roller-coaster. This way of living continues for a while but Rebecca reaches the point where she asks Edie to leave in a month’s time, this is obviously hard for Akila who has made her first real friend in Edie but it seems that the relationship with Eric has run its natural course. However, this is made more difficult when Edie realises that she is pregnant with Eric’s child and although she doesn’t tell him about it she makes no moves to have an abortion even coming to terms with the idea of being a mother. This doesn’t happen as she has a miscarriage where Rebecca has to take her to the hospital and together they seem to bond over the fact that neither of them really wanted to become mothers but Edie is angry when she finds herself speaking to a child that no longer exists. In the final couple of scenes, we see Edie separate from Eric’s family moving into her own apartment and having a new job and a renewed love of art as she is finally able to capture Rebecca on canvas in a way she hasn’t before and Rebecca’s reaction is enough to tell us Edie is working towards her dream of being an artist. While Luster was an incredibly human story focusing on the characters, their flaws and how they did and didn’t work together it deal feel like it was a lacking a motivator, something to drive it forward. I personally believe that while the ending is realistic something a bit more optimistic or light would have provided a contrast to a lot of the dark themes and moments that are presented throughout the novel. This is a solid 4 star read I just felt something was missing from the experience overall.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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