Luster

This is not the kind of book I would normally read. I would not have an open marriage or want to be introduced to an open marriage, but often we find ourselves reading things that are very different from the life we live, and we learn from that.

Reading the synopses, I expected something very different from this book. The author delivered much more than what is exposed in the synopses. Raven Leilani is an expert at weaving words, sentences, and paragraphs together that hold so much, but deliver in a simple flowing way that you find yourself, turning the next page, arriving at the next chapter and then you’re just done and you have ridden this ride with Edie that you never really intended to stay on. I imagine that is how Edie felt as she went through life.

I personally thought Edie, the main character, made terrible choices and did not think enough of herself, but I suppose that is the point of the book. We all make mistakes, some big, some little, and whether you think her mistakes are big or little doesn’t really matter.

I didn’t really feel like I connected with any of the characters, but yet this was a very good read. I didn’t like any of the characters, and yet I felt sorry for all of them in their own way.

I surprisingly found the main focus of this book to be how people are accepting of other people’s flaws and mistakes. This was my take-a-way. Thank you, Raven Leilani.

I’m not sure if I will forget this book soon, or if it will continue to resonate with me for a while. We’ll see.

Thank you to Edelweiss, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Macmillan and to Raven Leilani, the author, for the digital advanced copy of her book in exchange for an honest review.

You can pre-order a copy here!