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Luster

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Luster

By: Raven Leilani
Narrated by: Ariel Blake
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About this listen

Razor sharp, provocatively thrilling and surprisingly tender, Luster by Raven Leilani is a painfully funny debut.

Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize 2021

Shortlisted for the British Book Awards Fiction Debut of the Year

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021

Edie is just trying to survive. She’s messing up in her dead-end admin job in her all-white office, is sleeping with all the wrong men and has failed at the only thing that meant anything to her, painting. No one seems to care that she doesn’t really know what she’s doing with her life beyond looking for her next hook-up. And then she meets Eric, a white, middle-aged archivist with a suburban family, including a wife who has sort-of-agreed to an open marriage and an adopted black daughter who doesn’t have a single person in her life who can show her how to do her hair. As if navigating the constantly shifting landscape of sexual and racial politics as a young Black woman wasn’t already hard enough, with nowhere else left to go, Edie finds herself falling head-first into Eric’s home and family.

A Best Book of the Year: Guardian, New York Times, New Yorker, Boston Globe, Literary Hub, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times, Glamour, Time, Good Housekeeping, InStyle, NPR, O Magazine, Buzzfeed, Electric Literature, Town & Country, Wired, New Statesman, Vox, Shelf Awareness, i-D, BookPage and more.

One of Barack Obama’s Favourite Books of 2020

Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award.

©2020 Raven Leilani (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd African American Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature Marriage Heartfelt Mind-bending

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Critic reviews

"A taut, sharp, funny book about being young now. It’s brutal - and brilliant." (Zadie Smith, author of Swing Time)

"Remarkable, the most delicious novel I’ve read." (Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie)

"Ridiculously good.... I will follow this author anywhere she wants to take me." (Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties)
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One of those novels where the central character is a frustrating yet compelling figure. At times I wanted to not care or grew annoyed with her behaviour but I was still too invested not to finish. An absurdist technicolour rendering of life in America as a young black woman. I would note that this novel covers difficult topics such as sexual assault so bear that in mind before listening.
Performance was decent but with audible insertions (hence my marking down a star)

Overall would highly recommend.

unexpectedly enjoyable

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Painful, raw and gorgeous prose. At times, the darkness feels relentless and excessive, although for the exploration of anti-Blackness and poverty it is fitting.

Aggressively Sad, Majestically Written.

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I enjoyed this book. It was different. I liked the way it didn't turn out the way I might have expected. Good to read a new style of writing.

Interesting little snapshot of a life

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Perhaps this isn't my type of story but I didn't like this at all. The characters felt messy and unclear with regards to motivation and I could feel the hint of certain themes about bad youthful decisions & race but nothing really engaged with. And I wonder if that was the point? Either way, it was a weird listen & not one of my faves.

Didn't enjoy it

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It tells the story of an unconventional extramarital affair involving three people on the edge in various ways. How children can be messed up by the adults who supposedly care for them. Race, gender and sexuality and age are also important themes. However the best thing about this book are the beautiful prose that drip from the page.

This book is hatd to pin down but beautiful.

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So unusual but still gripping - almost finished in one go. So well written. It evoked so many emotions -a complete rollercoaster. Narration was excellent!!

Not your average formulaic story

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Raven Leilani’s Luster is a novel that thrives on the sheer force of its writing. The prose is so lyrical, so hypnotic, that it carries the reader forward even as the plot itself remains elusive, almost secondary. The novel demands full attention, not necessarily because of a twisting or intricate storyline, but because Leilani’s language is so immersive that it refuses to let go. There’s a rhythm to her sentences that ensnares the reader, making it almost irrelevant where the narrative is headed. And yet, there is an undeniable movement to the novel—one that, while meandering, speaks volumes about youth, loneliness, and the weight of generational trauma.

At the heart of the novel is Edie, a young Black woman in her early twenties navigating a world that often feels indifferent to her existence. Her voice, raw and wry, is the singular perspective through which we experience the novel. But despite its individual focus, Luster functions as a broader commentary on the struggles of a generation—likely millennials and older Gen Z—who are searching for stability in an era defined by precarity. Edie embodies this instability, caught in a limbo between adolescence and adulthood, between self-destruction and survival.

Leilani’s novel is a study in loneliness, but Edie is not wholly alienated. She is constantly striving for something, even if that striving is passive, almost resigned. Her life is precarious, but she remains just afloat, never fully slipping into the abyss that claimed her mother. And yet, she is burdened by generational pain—a lingering presence in her psyche that threatens both her well-being and her sense of purpose.

An intriguing subplot emerges in the form of Akila, the adopted Black daughter of Rebecca and Eric, the white couple Edie becomes entangled with. This element of the novel subtly but effectively raises questions about interracial adoption and power dynamics. The relationship between Edie and Rebecca is particularly complex. Why does Rebecca allow Edie to stay in their home? It is not an act of generosity, nor is it entirely motivated by white guilt. Instead, it feels like an assertion of control, an ambiguous power play that keeps Edie tethered to their family but never fully integrated. There is an eerie tension in this arrangement—one that speaks to the novel’s larger themes of race, power, and agency.

Ultimately, Luster is a novel that seems to be in motion, but never quite arrives anywhere definite. It does not offer neat resolutions, nor does it attempt to answer every question it poses. This lack of resolution might frustrate some readers, but it is also what makes the novel so compelling. It mirrors the uncertainty of Edie’s life, of her generation’s life—a perpetual state of transition without clear destination.

Despite this—or perhaps because of it—Luster is an immensely enjoyable read. Leilani’s prose alone makes the novel worth experiencing, even if the narrative itself resists conventional structure. It is a book that lingers, not because of what happens, but because of how it is told. A stunning debut that cements Leilani as a writer to watch.

Beautiful prose on the weight of generational trauma

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This story is perfectly crafted, so intense and unique. Ariel’s narration brings such empathy and control to the narrative, I could hear her speak all day. Highly, highly recommend.

Brilliant book, brilliant narration

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Good story, well told. I looked forward to hearing this story on my way to work and back. Skilful author.

Good story

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This debut novel by Raven Leilani has been heavily hyped. It tells the story of a young black women called Edie who loves disco music and enters a strange relationship with an older married white man, with the permission of his wife. At times darkly comedic and at times excruciatingly cringeworthy, this is full on stuff with no holding back. Subjects such as race and class are tackled head on, but the strength of this story is the insight it gives into the complex lives of the characters who are believable and compelling. It is rampant and pithy stuff and I loved it.

Rampant and pithy

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