AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A New York Times Notable Book of the Year WINNER of the NBCC John Leonard Prize, the Kirkus Prize, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2020 A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, The New York Times Book Review, O Magazine, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times, Glamour, Shondaland, Boston Globe, and many more! "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 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. “An irreverent intergenerational tale of race and class that’s blisteringly smart and fan-yourself sexy.” —Michelle Hart, O: The Oprah Magazine

Everyone immediately agreed that Leilani is a great writer. The quality of the language and the quick and detailed descriptions won everyone's praise, even though some of found the constant metaphors got a bit exhausting by the end. Given that this is Leilani's first novel, almost all of us would absolutely look at her next book. In terms of the story, Leilani follows her protagonist Edie in what is a clearly a crazy moment in her life: recently fired and a lover of a married man in an open marriage. Edie's self-destructiveness is believable and compelling. The novel focuses on her perspective, and her initial lack of criticality about her life decisions and her subtle observations about her Black identity make her a very sympathetic figure. But the best feature is Edie's expression of desire. Edie has a wonderfully true combination of lust and potential disgust, and her consumated relationship with Eric and her clear attraction for Eric's wife Rebecca are all rendered in ways we found believable and relatable. We were particularly happy that the novel does not make Eric and Rebecca's open relationship broken or a sign of dysfunction. Instead, Edie's arrival just lets us see what an interestingly powerful and weird person Rebecca is. Leilani makes a terrific choice on only look at the story's from Edie's perspective, which means the reader has just as much mystery about what Rebecca wants or how she feels, or what Eric and Rebecca's Black adopted daughter Akila is feeling. Most of us really enjoyed stumbling through the house with Edie, trying to figure out when this clearly temporary relationship will end and how. That said, there were some issues. There's a sub-plot with Edie's painting that doesn't quite work -- she never shows any real talent in the novel, which makes the plot arc seem unnecessary. Also, the end of the novel could have been stronger. We didn't mind it, but Edie does not go through that much growth. Of course, this is a novel about very intense and self-destructive people. They are unflinchingly portrayed in their flawed ways, and they do fall apart in avoidable ways you can predict. If watching people blunder through young, sloppy mistakes is not your cup of tea, you will hate this book, as one of us very much did. But Leilani can certainly write, and as a work about the complexities of desire and wanting and identity, it's a good read if you're into all that.