Luster by Raven Leilani
Luster is the study of Edie, an artsy, twenty-something-year-old black woman living in NYC who is navigating the interlacing, complicated worlds of poverty, romance, creativity, identity, and Instagram skinny-tea shills. With an inner monologue narrated by sharp, edgy prose, Edie finds herself tangled in a relationship with a married white couple and their adopted black daughter, Akila. If you’re comfortable with reading about protagonists that may be very different from yourself (and who make questionable life choices), I think you’ll find Edie just as compelling as I did. Luster is moody, complicated, saucy, and probably a little relatable to anyone who’s ever been a total mess in their twenties.
