![]() ![]() “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. ![]()
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