Luster by Raven Leilani

"To be unemployed and wearing his wife's jeans is concrete."

Is 2021 the year of Millennial Soft Porn? Okay, I'm kind of joking here, nevertheless this debut novel is chock full of awkwardly unemotional sex and sexual commerce. A young black artist, Edie,  living in squalor ( well actually cockroaches are everywhere) dates an older man who takes her to Disneyland on their first date - hello red flag. Things get stranger and stranger as she meets the man's wife and becomes  a fixture of the couple's life. The white couple had adopted a young black girl and the wife is perplexed as to how to deal with her 'otherness', next thing Edie has moved in and things just get rather strained. All of these situations combined make for some truly problematic circumstances and part of the appeal of the novel is to find out where the hell this ride is heading.

As a debut novel, it is impressive, even if it feels that all the characters are rather unlikeable and troubled, perhaps that is part of the appeal...trying to make sense of a crazy world.

4 out of 5 - everyone just needs a decent hug.