Author | Raven Leilani |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | literary fiction |
Published | August 4, 2020 |
Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
Media type | Print (hardcover) and digital |
Pages | 240 (hardcover) |
ISBN | 978-0-374-19432-1 (1st ed Hardcover) |
OCLC | 1119744688 |
Luster is a 2020 debut novel by Raven Leilani. It follows a young Black woman who gets involved with a middle-aged white man in an open marriage. Luster was released on August 4, 2020 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It received mainly positive critical reception [1] [2] and won the 2020 Kirkus Prize for fiction. [3] In December 2020, the novel was found in Literary Hub to have made 16 lists of the year's best books. [4]
Luster follows Edie, a Black woman in her twenties who lives in New York City and works as an editorial assistant. She meets Eric, a white man in his forties who is in an open marriage. Eric and his wife have a 12-year-old adoptive daughter, Akila, who is also Black. Edie begins a sexual relationship with Eric and moves to New Jersey to live with his family after she gets fired. [5]
Critics noted that the character of Edie is a flâneur , which is notable as it is typically a literary position occupied by white male characters. [1] [6]
The book was recommended by various outlets prior to its publication. [1] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Luster received mostly positive reviews. Kirkus Reviews described the book in a starred review as "Sharp, strange, propellant—and a whole lot of fun." [11] Mark Athitakis rated the book 3.5/4 stars and stated in USA Today , "Luster isn’t just a sardonic book, but a powerful one about emotional transformation." [12] Publishers Weekly reviewed the book and stated, "Edie’s ability to navigate the complicated relationships with the Walkers exhibits Leilani’s mastery of nuance, and the narration is perceptive, funny, and emotionally charged." [13] Bookpage.com gave Luster a starred review and wrote: "Leilani’s writing is cerebral and raw, and this debut novel will establish her as a powerful new voice." [14]
Noting that the novel is a debut, Leah Greenblatt of EW wrote, "that newness sometimes shows; after a wildly beguiling start, the novel telescopes inward, often forsaking narrative momentum for mood and color. Sentence by sentence, though, she’s also a phenomenal writer, her dense, dazzling paragraphs shot through with self-effacing wit and psychological insight." [15] Writing for Virginia Quarterly Review , Kaitlyn Greenidge praised Leilani's "linguistic skill." [6]
In October 2021, it was reported that a television series adaptation of the novel was in development at HBO. The project will be produced by Gaumont International Television and Tessa Thompson's Viva Maude with Thompson and Kishori Rajan executive producing. [16]
Laila Lalami is a Moroccan-American novelist, essayist, and professor. After earning her licence ès lettres degree in Morocco, she received a fellowship to study in the United Kingdom (UK), where she earned an MA in linguistics.
The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published writers in the English language under the age of forty. The prize was originally awarded biennially but became an annual award in 2010. Entries for the prize are submitted by the publisher, editor, or agent; for theatre plays and screenplays, by the producer.
The Macavity Awards, established in 1987, are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the "mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The award is given in four categories—best novel, best first novel, best nonfiction, and best short story. The Sue Feder Historical Mystery has been given in conjunction with the Macavity Awards.
Lauren Groff is an American novelist and short story writer. She has written five novels and two short story collections, including Fates and Furies (2015), Florida (2018), Matrix (2022), and The Vaster Wilds (2023).
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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2020.
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Hamnet is a 2020 novel by Maggie O'Farrell. It is a fictional account of William Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, who died at age eleven in 1596, focusing on his parents' grief. In Canada, the novel was published under the title Hamnet & Judith.
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Raven Leilani Baptiste is an American writer who publishes under the name Raven Leilani. Her debut novel Luster was released in 2020 to critical acclaim.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is a nonfiction book by the American journalist Isabel Wilkerson, published in August 2020 by Random House. The book describes racism in the United States as an aspect of a caste system—a society-wide system of social stratification characterized by notions such as hierarchy, inclusion and exclusion, and purity. Wilkerson does so by comparing aspects of the experience of American people of color to the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany, and she explores the impact of caste on societies shaped by them, and their people.
Shuggie Bain is the debut novel by Scottish-American writer Douglas Stuart, published in 2020. It tells the story of the youngest of three children, Shuggie, growing up with his alcoholic mother Agnes in 1980s post-industrial working-class Glasgow.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2021.
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This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 2022.
You Exist Too Much is a debut novel by Zaina Arafat, published June 9, 2020 by Catapult. The book won the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction in 2021.
The Rabbit Hutch is a 2022 debut novel by writer Tess Gunty and winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction. Gunty won the inaugural Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize for the novel.
Leanne Hall is an Australian author of young adult and children's fiction.