'A book of pure fineness, exceptional.' Diana Evans, Guardian
'A giddy joy, crafted with mischievous perfection.' Mail on Sunday
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.
Razor sharp, provocatively page-turning and surprisingly tender, Luster by Raven Leilani is a painfully funny debut about what it means to be young now.
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.
Kurzweilig, aber alles andere als belanglos ist die Geschichte von Edie, ihrem Leben in New York und der Affäre mit Eric, der vor kurzem mit seiner Frau Rebecca, mit der eine offene Ehe führt, Akila adoptiert hat, die ebenso wie Edie schwarz ist. Unerwartet für alle Beteiligten landet Edie plötzlich im Haus der Familie und es endet... naja wie schon. Bzw. lest selbst.
Dec 3, 2023
4.0
Kurzweilig, aber alles andere als belanglos ist die Geschichte von Edie, ihrem Leben in New York und der Affäre mit Eric, der vor kurzem mit seiner Frau Rebecca, mit der eine offene Ehe führt, Akila adoptiert hat, die ebenso wie Edie schwarz ist. Unerwartet für alle Beteiligten landet Edie plötzlich im Haus der Familie und es endet... naja wie schon. Bzw. lest selbst.
Really enjoyed the prose, even if a little indulgent in its descriptions. Also very fascinating dynamics are being explored. It was so interesting to observe through Edith's eyes that I finished it in 2 days on some very long commutes
Feb 21, 2026
3.5
Great Debut! But odd and kinda rushed conclusion
Really enjoyed the prose, even if a little indulgent in its descriptions. Also very fascinating dynamics are being explored. It was so interesting to observe through Edith's eyes that I finished it in 2 days on some very long commutes
