Rather than veering into some kind of murderous, revenge-motivated thriller, Luster lingers in this discomfort for the rest of the novel, Edie lives with Eric, Rebecca, and their adopted daughter Akila. “And now I know where he lives so ten days after having fucked him in the bed he shares with his wife I go right up to the door and find it unlocked, and no one is home, so I walk around the house and pick up these cold lemons on the counter and roll them around in my hands… door opens to a closet with a collection of women’s clothes and I gather the silk and wool and cashmere in my hands and then there is a voice, and I turn and standing in the doorway of the attached bathroom in yellow rubber gloves and a T-shirt that says Yale is his wife.” “And then for a week Eric doesn’t answer my texts, or my emails, or my calls, and I am maintaining my smile in the middle of my open office plan,” Leilani writes.

Feeling lonely and powerful, Edie breaks into Eric’s home after their first hook up and subsequent ghosting, and comes face-to-face with his wife Rebecca. Edie and her married boyfriend Eric do both of those things, but Eric’s family comes along for the ride. In a traditional romance, the central relationship might progress after our characters have sex or decide to move in together. Quickly, though, the tenor of the story changes from a being-young-in-the-city romantic comedy to a narrative like nothing I’ve ever read before. When we meet its narrator, Edie, she’s working in children’s book publishing, longing to make a career as a painter, and going on her first date with a man in an open marriage. Reading it felt like waking up from a very lovely dream.

Luster, the buzzy debut novel from Raven Leilani, is a sparkly and tender examination of sex, love, race, capitalism and a whole lot more.

Luster raven leilani book review