A NEW YORK TIMES AND WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK A 2018 BEST OF THE YEAR SELECTION OF NPR * TIME * BUSTLE * O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE * THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS * AMAZON.COM OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB 2018 SELECTION LONGLISTED FOR THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION “A moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple.” –Barack Obama “Haunting . . . … of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple.” –Barack Obama
“Haunting . . . Beautifully written.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Brilliant and heartbreaking . . . Unforgettable.” —USA Today
“A tense and timely love story . . . Packed with brave questions about race and class.” —People
“Compelling.” —The Washington Post
“Epic . . . Transcendent . . . Triumphant.” —Elle
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.
This stirring love story is a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward–with hope and pain–into the future.
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Wonderful. Couldn’t put it down. An easy read but very poignant.
Best book Ive read in the last 2 years
This book had beautiful writing in it, that’s all the good I can say about it.
Basically, here are two people who were never well suited find themselves in a situation in which the relationship become more ill suited in time. The book is said to be an epic love story, I did not find any kind of love story within the pages of this book. Actually I got to sit through every miserable minute of their relationship, that just ends up crumbling to ruins.
I felt like I was reading a reality show. It shows the complications in real life and real marriage even though the tragic circumstances in this story aren’t “normal”.
“An American Marriage” is a beautifully written novel with exceptional character development. I wasn’t sure I’d like this book when I read the synopsis, but I did, immensely!
This was recommended to me by a friend and I enjoyed it. Tragic situation that takes many years from a couple away. Interesting to see how they cope and change. Small subplots that keep you guessing.
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Mark 10:9
My first fiction read of 2018 is the highly anticipated An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. It is the story of a young marriage tested by the husband’s incarceration for a crime he did not commit. It is an exploration of what endures and what holds us together.
The novel is told through the voices of the couple Roy and Celeste and Roy’s best friend and Celeste’s childhood soulmate Andre.
Roy and Celeste were married only a year and a half, ready to have a baby. Roy was first generation college, a handsome and charming man on the up-and-up, his whole world ahead of him. Celeste was committed to being an artist when Roy swept her off her feet and into marriage. Roy was glad to “set her down” and supported her art.
All their plans were crushed in an instant when Roy was accused of rape, convicted, and imprisoned. In a series of letters we follow their relationship through the early days of separation. Celeste’s lawyer uncle works for justice for Roy. Celeste does not divorce Roy or stop depositing money into his account. But she does break off with him.
Roy’s college friend Andre grew up next door to Celeste and has always loved her. Celeste loved Andre like a brother, but kept him at a safe distance. Between their childhood houses is Old Hickey, a centennial tree that represents what lasts. Several years into Roy’s sentence Celeste and Andre finally consummate their love into a solid relationship, each still living in their childhood homes next to each other. Celeste has moved on, but feels the guilt of abandoning a man who has lost everything.
These characters are vital and real. And so are the supporting characters, their parents and people who raised them. There are many forms of love, marriage, and families in the story, covering a whole range of human experience. Each reveals what lasts and does not last, the nature of love, and the many ways love is torn asunder.
The long, simmering set up peaks when Roy is finally released after five years and returns home to see if he has a marriage. It culminates in a desperate scene of conflict and Roy’s realization of who he is and is not, and what has and has not endured.
The story is set against the reality of the mass incarceration of black men. I wish that Jones had included more about Roy’s trial and prison experience as a black man caught in a justice system stacked against him. It would have helped set up the change in Roy, for I had trouble connecting the dapper ladies man to the violence of his later actions. Still, for readers from a background of white privilege, what is in the book may be enough to open eyes. African Americans already know.
What really sunders Roy and Celeste? Was their love too green? Was their love built on sand and not solid ground? Was Celeste to blame, or Andre? Was it society–racism and a justice system–that failed Roy? Or was it the woman who recognized Roy’s face and confused him with the rapist in the dark who attacked her?
In the end, each finds a place to belong, a love that lasts. And that is all any of us really wants from life. To be one flesh in the arms of love.
I received a free book from the publisher through a LibraryThing giveaway.
this novel really made me think about marriage and loyalty