Luster

Pre-reading this brief review, please accept my disclaimer that there is a lot to unpack in this book that, due to trying to hit some lofty year-end reading goals, I have not taken the time to unpack. The novel follows the story of a mid-twenties black woman in NYC, struggling to establish herself professionally, personally, treading water and fighting a current of racism, sexism, and orphanhood. She ends up dating an older man in an open marriage, and finds herself, in a strange (and hardly believable) twist of events, living in their home with their adopted black teenage daughter. While I found many aspects of the plot so unbelievable as to border magical realism, the language was absolutely seductive in a hazy, trancelike way, replete with references any millennial would appreciate. Both in theme and in the actual writing itself, I can see why this tops the lists of some of the best fiction of the year.