Raven Leilani's work has been published in Granta, The
Yale Review, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern,
Conjunctions, The Cut, and New England Review,
among other publications. Leilani received her MFA from
NYU and was an Axinn Foundation Writer-in-Residence. Luster
is her first novel.
An Instant New York Times Bestseller, Los Angeles Times
Bestseller, National Indie Bestseller
Longlisted for the 2020 Center for Fiction First Novel
Prize
Best Reviewed Novel of the Week at Book Marks
A Book Club Pick at Goop, Belletrist, Marie
Claire, Esquire, Book of the Month Club (add-on), Green
Apple Books, Odyssey Bookshop, Bull Moose Bookstore, and Books
on the Subway **One of the Most Anticipated Books of Summer
2020**
Vogue, Elle, Time, The New York Times, Good Morning America online,
The Washington Post, Esquire, The Chicago Tribune, Harper's Bazaar,
Shondaland, Goop, Vulture, The Huffington Post, Parade, USA Today,
COLORLINES, Literary Hub, Pittsburgh City Paper, Bust, Buzzfeed,
Ms. Magazine, Electric Literature, Refinery29, PopSugar, The
Millions, The Rumpus, Observer, Book Riot, Thrillist, Domino,
PureWow, PopSugar, New York Amsterdam News, Debutiful, Write or Die
Tribe, Book Bub, Odyssey, Suitcase, We Are Bookish, Apartment
Therapy, Paperback Paris, Bookshop.org, Green Apple Books
"Exacting, hilarious, and deadly . . . A writer of exhilarating
freedom and daring."
--Zadie Smith, Harper's Bazaar 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 "[Raven
Leilani] is a sharp phrasemaker . . . [and] Luster, a highly
pleasurable interrogation of pleasure . . . There is more than a
touch of Ralph Ellison here, the hypervisible invisible woman who
is cast by the world in categorical terms while trying to be seen
for herself."
--Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker Darkly funny with wicked
insight . . . This keenly observed, dynamic debut is so cutting, it
almost stings.
--Lauren Puckett, Elle "Edie is an African American woman,
but not every African American woman is Edie. What's best about
Luster is precisely her messy, unabashed individuality. As she
explores the world around her, Edie addresses us in a funny, shrewd
narrative voice that precisely describes the wide-ranging contours
of her life, be it losing her virginity, watching Rebecca cut up
cadavers, going to Comic-Con or showing how police respond to two
young Black women walking in a suburban neighborhood."
--John Powers, NPR "Wildly beguiling . . . [Raven Leilani
is] a phenomenal writer, her dense, dazzling paragraphs shot
through with self-effacing wit and psychological insight."
--Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly "This debut novel
from powerhouse writer Raven Leilani . . . deftly subverts the
white gaze while also crafting an unforgettable protagonist. But
the real fire here is Leilani's writing. Her sentences are
gorgeous, and both the prose and the content will make you
sweat."
--Sarah Neilson, Shondaland "Blistering . . . thrums with
observational humor . . . Luster is not a novel concerned with
romantic drama. It's all about attention--why we crave it and what
forms it takes. Leilani carefully pulls the strings of Edie,
Rebecca, Eric and Akila, revealing how lonely they all are . . .
Unsettling and surreal."
--Annabel Gutterman, Time
"Strange, hilarious, important."
--Bethanne Patrick, The Washington Post "An emotional
rollercoaster that will have you on the verge of tears or in
stitches with laughter."
--Sian Babish, The Chicago Tribune Leilani has a blistering
talent for describing a moment while refusing to name its
undercurrents . . . Leilani [has a] remarkable ability to turn
straight sex into something terrifyingly strange yet familiar,
almost as if Edie is reproducing an othering, fetishized gaze for
what is considered normal. But Luster is also an interesting
meditation on social ethics . . . Luster seems like the first
crashing of a new wave of fiction defined by a world where all the
traditional vocabularies for morality have gone defunct.
--Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic There is nothing on
offer like Luster--the story of a Black woman who is neither heroic
nor unduly tragic . . . She is destructive but tender, ravenous for
experience but deeply vulnerable--and often wickedly funny."
--Parul Sehgal, The New York Times "On every page a shudder
of recognition, then a lol, then an electroshock. It's gutting and
hilarious and lush. Every detail builds so beautifully, I don't
want to spoil anything, but if you want to forget yourself in a
passage . . . 100 times over, this is your next read."
--Tavi Gevinson on Instagram This novel is ridiculously
good: gorgeous, dark, and funny, with sentences that'll wreck you.
I will follow this author anywhere she wants to take me.
--Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House
"Narrated with fresh and wry jadedness, Edie's every disappointment
[is] rendered with a comic twist . . . Edie's life is a mess, her
past is filled with sorrow, she's wasting her precious youth, and
yet, reading about it all is a whole lot of fun."
--Chloe Schama, Vogue "Luster is the kind of novel
that makes a writer jealous . . . [It] brims with the kinds of
masterful sentences one can imagine mentors like Zadie Smith and
Jonathan Safran Foer underlining with linguistic glee. It gleams,
as the title suggests, with words and ideas both profound and
deeply honest."
--Isabel Jones, InStyle "A darkly funny, hilariously moving
debut from a stunning new voice. Luster follows the unforgettable
Edie, a hapless young woman suffocating under her own loneliness,
whose caustic observations made me laugh out loud and gasp in
recognition. Raven Leilani crafts a beautiful, bighearted story
about intimacy and art that will astound and wound you. I couldn't
put this one down."
--Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half There are pages
in this book so good they burn your fingers.
--Garth Greenwell on Twitter "Promises to be an August hit .
. . As Edie searches for her identity as an artist and a Black
woman, she spins a tale of intrigue and coming-of-age, all with
electric storytelling."
--Zibby Owens, Good Morning America online "The most
thrilling thing I've read in months."
--Stephanie Danler on Instagram "An irreverent
intergenerational tale of race and class that's blisteringly smart
and fan-yourself sexy."
--Michelle Hart, O: The Oprah Magazine "Compulsively
readable."
--Emma Specter, Vogue "Like all great books, Luster eludes
easy categorization. It's a slippery novel about many things--being
young, being Black, being a woman, being depressed, feeling lonely,
latent trauma, sex . . . What is so immediately striking about
Luster--and what sets it apart from the glut of millennial
fiction--is the quality of the writing itself."
--Tomi Obaro, Buzzfeed News "Vibrant, spiky . . . Leilani is
a master . . . a major new talent . . . Luster isn't just a
sardonic book, but a powerful one about emotional
transformation."
--Mark Athitakis, USA Today "Mercilessly funny and sharp,
Raven Leilani's Luster is unexpected and utterly fascinating."
--Megan DiTrolio, Marie Claire "Sinking into the pleasures of
Leilani's darkly funny and bitingly insightful prose over an
aimless shut-down weekend is a treat you deserve. With a
highlighter in one hand and Luster in the other, chapter one alone
becomes a riot of yellow stripes."
--Erin Keane, Salon "An unstable ballet of race, sex, and
power. Leilani's characters act in ways that often defy
explanation, and that is part of what makes them so alive, and so
mesmerizing: Whose behavior, in real life, can be reduced to simple
cause and effect? Sharp, strange, propellent--and a whole lot of
fun."
--Kirkus, starred review "Luster is the best debut novel of
the year. It glitters, it pulses, it lives! Simultaneously full of
pain and laughter."
--Emma Straub on Twitter "A rocket-paced, sensual fever
dream of sex, trauma, relationships and conflicting perceptions . .
. Luster is intoxicating and surprising, never letting readers
settle into recognizable patterns. Leilani has crafted an
unforgettable novel about a young woman making her own way."
--Julia Kastner, Shelf Awareness "What stands out here is
Leilani's prose, which is breathless, frantic, and reads like a
Twitter wit grew legs and an IRL identity."
--Hillary Kelly, Vulture "Sexy, funny, and wholly self-aware,
Luster couldn't come at a better time."
--Thrillist "Raven Leilani's sentences pulse and writhe and
shimmer and gut-punch. Above all they tell the truth, even when it
hurts."
--Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House "The narrative
voice of this startling novel is layered, complex, pitch-black
comic, and deadly earnest, even ardent in its will to sift through
the chaos and idiocy of our madhouse culture and find some glimpse
of human reality. Raven Leilani is intellectually supple and steely
at the same time; she thinks and perceives blessedly outside any
kind of norm. She has made a truly lustrous piece of art."
--Mary Gaitskill, author of This Is Pleasure "An utterly
strange and beautiful book, at once grab-your-gut visceral and the
work of a razor-sharp intellect. The sentences are simply
virtuosic."
--C. Pam Zhang, author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold
"Timeless . . . Luster is lean and focused, yet dense with
reference and detail, the lush prose heightening its tangible
specificity. Leilani also makes smart use of the well-placed long
sentence, the catharsis that can arrive when something comes to an
end."
--Laura Adamczyk, A.V. Club "The author of Luster has emerged
as the year's most exciting new literary voice . . . Luster is
succeeding with all its darkness and sharp corners intact, an
unflinching chronicle of a young woman's attempt to make sense of
the cards she's been dealt."
--Roxanne Fequiere, Elle "There are no perfect Black women in
Raven Leilani's debut novel, Luster, and that is by design . . .
Leilani tries to liberate the Black woman figure's range of
behaviors, thoughts, and feelings from an inherent virtuousness or
exceptionalism. This choice challenges readers to recognize Edie's
agency and see her as a young Black woman in progress."
--Lovia Gyarkye, The Atlantic "[Luster] deserves all
the hype, and more."
--Jeva Lange, The Week "Leilani's radiant debut belongs to
its brilliant, fully formed narrator. Old soul Edie has an
otherworldly way of seeing the world and reflecting it back to
readers, peppering experiences of past and current despair with
acceptance and humor but never sacrificing depth, of which her
story has miles. A must for seekers of strongly narrated, original
fiction."
--Booklist, starred review "Sexy, funny and haunting,
Luster is a simmering debut."
--Karla Strand, Ms. Magazine "Hilarious, honest, bursting
with desire and sharp insight, Luster is absolutely captivating. I
didn't so much read it, as gulp it down. There's so much to learn
here, so much to admire. Leilani is an irreverent, impeccable
stylist--a voice we need right now."
--Justin Torres, author of We the Animals "In Luster, hunger,
longing, desire, pleasure, discomfort, pain and alienation are all
brilliantly, physically expressed in the protagonist Edie's
body--literally in her gut. The brilliance of this book (or, one
element of it) is the way issues of race and power are felt so
physically, and rendered so intimately you feel them in the pit of
your own stomach."
--Shruti Swamy, Electric Literature "Wonderful."
--Megan Giddings, The PEN America Podcast "A beguiling fever
dream of a novel, shot through with wistfulness, humor, and a kind
of breathless, furious verve. You'll find it impossible to put
down."
--Ling Ma, author of Severance "[A] prismatic interrogation
of love, race, capitalism, and art . . . Through Leilani's modern,
rapid-fire narrative, Luster becomes a hyper-realistic portrait of
a black artist staring head-on at the contradictions of the
kaleidoscopic, fraught world around her."
--Sarah Etter, BOMB "In Luster, Raven Leilani has created a
character unlike any other in recent fiction. A slacker black
queen, a depressive painter, a damn funny woman. The narrator of
this novel tells us of her history and her present life in hypnotic
language that is a pleasure to read. Leilani is such a talented
writer, I rushed to the end of every outrageous sentence to figure
out how she would pull it off."
--Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of We Love You, Charlie
Freeman "Luster hooked us from the opening sex scene . . .
Charged and hypnotic, Luster is poised to become one of the books
that defines what it's like to be young in this moment."
--goop.com "Electric, heralding a singular new literary voice
. . . Provocative and surprising. Edie is both emblematic of a
generation of detached, fiercely intelligent yet hopelessly
drifting young women, who yearn for something more."
--Kristen Iversen, Refinery29 "Raven Leilani is a writer of
unusual daring, with a voice that is unique and fully formed. There
is humor, intelligence, emotion, and power in her work. I cannot
think of a writer better suited to capture our moment."
--Katie Kitamura, author of A Separation "Encountering Raven
Leilani's one-of-a kind debut jolted me out of my mid-pandemic
stasis . . . [Luster] is like nothing else I've read this
year. Leilani's vibrant language and unflinching willingness to get
down into the muck of human behavior make each sentence of this
novel feel like a revelation and a discovery."
--Lindsay Miller, PopSugar "The threat of a sharp edge is on
every page . . . Interior monologues are written like the tenebrist
masterpieces Edie loves . . . Sex is the answer to many of the
book's questions, yet the fact of fucking is nowhere near as
thrilling as what Leilani understands: the endless ways the desires
of another can be made to feel like our own."
--Haley Mlotek, Frieze "The perfect antidote to the taut ball
of nerves we've all been carrying around since March . . . This
story combines social commentary, racial politics and searing
humor. E-readers, you might want to forgo the Kindle for the actual
book. You'll want something to grip."
--Toby Lowenfels, What's Up Moms A coming-of-age story that's
sure to keep you turning pages.
--Stephanie Long, Refinery29 "Luster . . . grapples
with loneliness in a way that is socially relevant, raw,
vulnerable--and darkly funny . . . Edie's internal dialogue is
often tender and revealing . . . A much-needed examination of the
intersection of Blackness, class, sexuality and power."
--Ashendri Wickremasinghe, The Toronto Star "A smart and bold
exploration of self-worth and self-appreciation . . . both sexy and
sad, angry but funny, with impressive literary prose that is blunt
and mischievous, luring you with little intention to let go . . .
Leilani has given us a novel of our times."
--Carissa Chesanek, PANK A stunning debut from a powerful new
voice . . . Narrative drive oozes out of every sentence. This novel
is a pleasure to read on all levels."
--Catie Disabato, Cinnamon Magazine "The narrator of Luster .
. . is the fierce, unruly antidote to what Jess Bergman called the
'remote avatars of contemporary malaise'--she is not cool, nor
detached, nor noncommittal, but absolutely bursting with thoughts
and feelings and desires, some of which often spill over and make a
mess, or a scene, or a bonfire. Edie talks shit but also takes
it--she's hilariously caustic about the world around her, but her
criticism never feels empty. I loved every minute."
--Emily Temple, Lit Hub "Leilani's writing is cerebral and
raw, and this debut novel will establish her as a powerful new
voice . . . [She] has proven herself to be a keen social
observer--especially about the truths that some people don't want
to see."
--Jessica Wakeman, BookPage "Sometimes there's a book that
everyone in the publishing world is talking about. Luster is that
book."
--Adam Vitcavage, Electric Literature "Debuts as accomplished
as Luster make you exclaim 'what a find' at the end of the novel .
. . It is disruptive, darkly funny, and searing--five stars! Read
it if you like to navigate social landscapes, sexual politics and
interracial relationships clothed as an entertaining, and riveting
book."
--Resh Susan, The Book Satchel "Leilani has an uncanny,
genius way with sentences. Her more humorous lines unravel and fork
like snake tongues into many directions at once; but in moments of
absolution, they strike like a burning torch."
--Alex Zafiris, Observer "Tackling questions of race, age,
and power, Luster is a must-read new novel that perfectly captures
our strange age."
--K.W. Colyard, Bustle "Despite, or perhaps because of, the
various tiny sentence-level explosions of violence and delight,
it's difficult to overstate the uncanny familiarities of Edie's
voice, world, work . . . It sits in the dizzyingly perfect groove
of the novel that's under capitalism and knows it."
--Tajja Isen, The End of the World Review "Funny, raw and
brutally honest, Raven Leilani brilliantly captures the trials of
your twenties."
--Kailey Brennan, Write or Die Tribe "You should absolutely
run out (or log on quickly) to buy Raven Leilani's Luster . . .
Brilliant, captivating."
--Emily Temple, BOMB "Open relationships, racial dynamics and
class form the backbone of Leilani's darkly humorous yet insightful
debut."
--Rae Boocock, Suitcase Nothing if not an ambitious work . .
. Refreshingly honest about Edie's ambivalence, desperation, and
longing . . . Luster is a novel about what it means to be a
black-female flaneur . . . The real architecture of this novel
rests on Edie--the young black vixen, usually relegated to the
observed and the consumed, becoming the observer and hungrily
eating up the worlds around her.
--Kaitlyn Greenidge, Virginia Quarterly Review "New Yorkers,
I dare you to not find this novel relatable af."
--Sara Levine, Betches "An infinite scroll of pathos and
precision and an anthem of decolonizing the Black body, Luster
marks the rise of an unmissable talent. Mark my words, Raven is a
phoenix on the rise."
--Paperback Paris "Leilani is a voice America desperately
needs and Luster delivers."
--debutiful "A lyrical bildungsroman . . . staggeringly
brilliant . . . Luster feels like--and has rightfully been hailed
as--the entrance of a singular, breakthrough literary voice . . .
Leilani's writing is haunted and poetic, brimming with incisive
jabs at the indignities and disorientations of young Black
womanhood, but one of the great and subtle feats of the novel is
its ability to observe these realities as pedestrian, grounded
within the interior of Edie's life. Moments never feel, in
themselves, like stand-ins for a treatise of the 'isms' of America.
Instead, encounters unfold strangely in Edie's lonesome, mournful
world."
--Brandon Yu, Datebook "One of the year's most anticipated
titles for good reason: this story of race, privilege, art, and
sexuality is brilliant."
--Sabienna Bowman, PopSugar "This book made me gasp. The
prose! To arrange 10 words I've known for most of my life and make
me see something new in them is startling . . . I recommend this
novel to anyone who is looking for a disruptive take on a summer
book. It brings the heat and then some."
--Sacha Vega, The Cha Cha Reader "[Luster is] so good
. . . It's refreshing, it's honest, it's very funny. Her sentences
rarely end the way I think they're going to."
--Katie Yee, Lit Hub's "The Week in Books
LIVE"
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