But it takes so much work for her to get to the sex, so much negative self-talk, so much preparation, that the sex feels more like a release valve-for her and for us.
There is flirting via text and in-person, and, eventually, painstakingly, there is sex. They go on dates: to a theme park, to bars. You are not a dozen gerbils in a skin casting." I think to myself, You are a desirable woman. I tie up my braids and line my eyes.I put on a complex pair of underwear that is not so much underwear as a bundle of string, and I stand before the mirror.
I put on three dresses before I find the right one. When he rolls up in his white Volvo, I have only made it to the part of my pre-date routine where I try to find the most appropriate laugh. Edie's desperation for his approval is palpable: They engage in a brief and awkward affair as part of his experimentation with an open marriage, with his wife's rules dictating when they meet and for how long.
When we meet Edie, she's about to become entangled with Eric, a married white man old enough to be her father. She finds as little satisfaction in her sexual relationships as she does in her job, a soul-crushing endeavor that's part of the broader social hierarchy designed to keep black women down. She isn't looking for romance in all of this, just an "ecstatic rutting and cushy ether of the void". Edie is an assistant editor for a children's publishing house who spends her working hours sleeping with her male colleagues and sexting with men she meets online. It is, however, a book you want to read, and likely in one sitting, no matter how much it makes you cringe.Īt its surface, Luster's plot revolves around a young black woman's spiral into homelessness that forces her to move in with her white lover, his wife, and adopted daughter, and awkwardness ensues. Yes, it's a book you don't want to read in a book club with your mother. "The first time we have sex, we are both fully clothed, at our desks during working hours, bathed in blue computer light.He tells me what he ate for lunch and asks if I can manage to take off my underwear in my cubicle without anyone noticing.He is fond of words like taste and spread." Luster by Raven Leilani is one such book and, by way of proof, here are some gems from that first page: Certain books make you uncomfortable from page 1.
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