Thoughts 
by Raven Leilani, 2020, 240 pages
MOTIVATION for READING: #sigh
A sunlit dream where I do better.
WHAT’s it ABOUT: I’m trying to figure out how to answer this… Shall I just do the blurb from gr or should I pretend nobody reads this and I only need to write something that will remind “future-self” what I read way back in January 2021? Let’s do both.
Goodreads: “Sharp, comic, disruptive, tender, Raven Leilani’s debut novel, Luster, sees a young black woman fall into art and someone else’s open marriage.
Edie is stumbling her way through her twenties—sharing a subpar apartment in Bushwick, clocking in and out of her admin job, making a series of inappropriate sexual choices. She’s also, secretly, haltingly figuring her way into life as an artist. And then she meets Eric, a digital archivist with a family in New Jersey, including an autopsist wife who has agreed to an open marriage—with rules. As if navigating the constantly shifting landscapes of contemporary sexual manners and racial politics weren’t hard enough, Edie finds herself unemployed and falling into Eric’s family life, his home. She becomes hesitant friend to his wife and a de facto role model to his adopted daughter. Edie is the only black woman young Akila may know.
Razor sharp, darkly comic, sexually charged, socially disruptive, Luster is a portrait of a young woman trying to make her sense of her life in a tumultuous era. It is also a haunting, aching description of how hard it is to believe in your own talent and the unexpected influences that bring us into ourselves along the way.”
My turn: (pretending I didn’t just read what I dropped in above.) The MC is a young black woman trying to figure out her life and her motivations. She seems to be a sex addict, seems to be rather ambivalent and apathetic about this fact and also that she knows she is the token black woman and should want to do the be-better-to-look-better crap requirements that white corporate America foists upon token blacks in the workplace but she’s just trying to pay rent. This book is FUNNY. Shock value funny. Uncomfortable funny. Reminded me of The Sellout by Paul Beatty.
“I am good, but not good enough, which is worse than simply being bad. It is almost. The difference between being there when it happens and stepping out just in time to see it on the news.”
Our MC wants to be an artist. She confronts her motivations and her ideas that she must be in pain to produce good work. (I made up that – she never really contemplates that out loud, does she?) I really admired her ability NOT to get depressed and give up! But she really doesn’t have the energy or rather most likely recognizes that ‘pull yourself up by the bootstraps’ fix-your-life bullshit is truly bullshit for most people without the means and support system of family, privilege, circumstance. So she finds herself in a family with privilege and explores the circumstance. She wrestles with do the right thing or just ride the waves with what she can get away with. Does she really have choices?
“I remember when my parents tried to tell me this, the only time in their miserable marriage they were ever united. It must be strange for every black kid, when their principal authority figures break the news that authorities lie.”
THOUGHTS: There is no whining, no debilitating frustration. She is fascinating.
Yes to these words: Sharp, comic, disruptive, tender.
I think I was blown away by this book. In my top 3 for TOB so far.
RATING: Four slices of pie, with sneaked forkful on another. With lots and lots of bourbon whipped cream. Ok, just give me that fifth piece already.
“a highly designed editorial nightmare from a boutique imprint experimenting with pomo cookbooks, formerly an imprint that specialized in Crock-Pot tips and a series on pies that employed the authority of a titular Presbyterian Grandma.”
“…slave narrative about a tragic mulatto who raises the dead with her magic chitlin pies;”
VOCAB: Saditty (comparative more saditty, superlative most saditty) (US, dated, slang, chiefly African-American Vernacular) Acting snobbish, arrogant, or superior; uppity; perceived to be trying to associate with a higher social class.
Capoeira (Portuguese pronunciation: [kapuˈejɾɐ] or [kaˈpwɐjɾɐ]) is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, and music. … It is known for its acrobatic and complex maneuvers, often involving hands on the ground and inverted kicks.
Care's Books and Pie 
I wish I loved this book as much as so many other people seem to. I liked it! I really liked how messy the main character is and how the book doesn’t judge her for that. But there was something about the writing that I found distracting–it kept pulling me out of the story, which was a little frustrating. I can see it doing well in the TOB, though, and I wouldn’t be mad about that, even if it’s not near the top of my own list.
No wishing required! You liked it in the way you liked it. No apologies, no comparisons required. I do think this will have some great discussion. Memorial is the one I didn’t ‘get’ and I’m not wishing I liked it more! LOL. I’m more worried that I will rush through just to get these titles completed and that isn’t the point of this, is it. Let’s crush February!
wait, she raises the dead?!!!
Ah, the pie quote. Here’s the full context: (she’s just been fired from her literary publishing job.)
“In the lobby, there is a Diversity Giveaway. I go up to the table and scan the books, and there are a few new ones: a slave narrative about a mixed-race house girl fighting for a piece of her father’s estate; a slave narrative about a runaway’s friendship with the white schoolteacher who selflessly teaches her how to read; a slave narrative about a tragic mulatto who raises the dead with her magic chitlin pies, a domestic drama about a black maid who, like Schrodinger’s’ cat is both live and dead,” etc, etc, etc.
So, no. The MC does not raise the dead. Sorry. But maybe the author is referencing a real, new book published lately?
A lot of buzz for this one. I can’t seem to wrap my brain around it though.
Ah well, then skip it. Sometimes it it good to find a book that you know you don’t have to read nor want to. There are plenty of books. I just finished The Vanishing Half and immediatlely jumped into The Children’s Bible. I feel like Feb might be a good focused TOB month.
Ooh, okay, I didn’t realize it was funny! I had heard what the general premise was and didn’t think it was going to be my type of thing, but I do love a novel that’s funny and dark, which it sounds like this is.
Read a few first pages and see if it is your kind of humor. 🙂
I haven’t read all 16 books yet, but if I were a judge, this would be my pick for the TOB to win. I loved it even though I felt uncomfortable while reading it. And I agree, it is funny. And I empathized with Edie. My 20s were messy in a different way, but yeah, I’ve been there.
Good to know, I appreciate your perspectives on all things TOB. I have a letter in process to you! Now, back to Shuggie Bain.