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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Thought provoking story of what can happen in marriage after an unfortunate set of circumstances befalls a couple.
Ok…I’m very conflicted about this book. Once again (I’m finding this more and more lately, and I’m not sure why it’s happening), I loved the first two-thirds of this book. The characters of Roy and Andre are wonderfully drawn. But by the last third, I really grew tired of Celestial for being so passive. On the upside: the setting is beautifully, realistically drawn; the language is wonderful; and the other characters are fully fleshed out. By the end of the book, though, you may be thinking, “get on with it! Enough of the pretty prose!” But maybe it’s just me.
This is the best book I have read so far in 2018.
Roy grew up in a poor Louisiana town, but in a family with a lot of integrity and good values. Celestial and Andre were childhood friends in an upper-middle class Atlanta suburb. Roy works hard to get out of Louisiana and make a different life for himself. He and Celestial meet and fall in love and get married. A year and a half into their marriage, Roy is accused of a crime that Celestial knows he didn’t commit because she was with him the whole time, but Roy is convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Celestial stands by his side, until she falls in love with someone else. It all happens so beautifully, so organically and you really can not blame Celestial at all.
The characters are so well developed that I felt like they were real. The story is beautifully written and interwoven. The story explores issues of race, love, marriage, fidelity, class, family and the prison system in an honest, raw but beautiful way. I highly recommend this book.
This is a story about a newly married couple who’s lives are torn apart by a woman mistaking the husband for an unthinkable crime. The book is a roller coaster of emotions, so well written. The characters are all so endearing. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I didn’t want it to end. I can’t recommend it enough!
The writing was beautiful– simple, relatable and engaging, and yet powerfully visceral. I set aside a weekend day and read it in 24 hours. Even when I tried to put it down, these magnetic characters wouldn’t leave my head.
A really thought-provoking novel about a man wrongly accused and the impact of his incarceration not just on him but also his wife and their marriage. It was a genuinely sad story and one which you can’t help but become emotionally invested in.
Other than some of the stereotypical black issues, this book personalized the experience of being in prison and trying to hang on to life as you knew it. Of course, it is more tragic because he was innocent. I remember watching an episode of The Good Wife where they talked about cross-racial identification (and how terribly unreliable it was, and not just from white to black but across all races to any race that was not their own). This book didn’t even touch on that, but it sprang to mind immediately. It also reminded me of the book “Picking Cotton” which is the same theme of cross-race identification (but true story). The format in places to use letters back and forth was a good choice, in my opinion, helping to make the characters more real. I did think it was a little contrived with his cell mate, though. I don’t think the ending was inevitable, but seemed realistic to me, especially with the short duration of their marriage before he was incarcerated. Overall a good read.
This book was a really different read for me and while I didn’t really relate to the characters, I found their story compelling.
If your spouse was wrongly accused of rape and went to prison for five years but gets released, would you remain married?
That was the question An American Marriage by Tayari Jones attempted to answer in her popular novel. An American Marriage was selected for Oprah’s Book Club in 2018 and has been a favorite for readers on social media. I had seen many posts about the book over the past couple of years and I finally read it.
The story revolves around newlyweds Celestial and Roy Hamilton and their life in Atlanta. At first, their marriage begins on solid footing and looks promising. However, when Roy returns to his hometown in Louisiana to visit his parents, everything changes.
Roy gets out of prison five years later and is determined to rekindle his marriage to Celestial. However, she has become lukewarm during his prison time and has a connection to her childhood best friend, Andre. Eventually, Roy finds out about their connection and returns to Atlanta to confront them. On the surface, it seems obvious what will happen between the three of them. Jones does a solid job in showing how a husband would react when he believes his wife is slipping away from him. I will admit that I did not like Celestial’s choice. But, I know how love can be complicated and there was no guarantee that Roy would ever be released from prison.
Jones did an exceptional job in showing the connection between fathers and sons. Roy and Andre’s relationships with their fathers caught my attention, and this subplot added a depth to the novel I did not expect. I thought Roy was the most fully rounded character in the book, and I rooted for him the entire time.
I’m delighted that I finally read this well-received and popular novel. Jones showed how love is fleeting and could change because of life’s circumstances. An American Marriage was a readable, character-driven novel that has movie potential and could be a book club favorite. It will be one of my favorite reads of 2021.
This story is about two people that life changes their relationship dramatically. There are parts that make you want to cry. Other parts will make you cry. It shows how easy one’s life can change for the worse.
Tragic story about damaged people
I was really frustrated by this book. There was so much hype about it and it did not live up to it. I really did not like the ending at all.
This one was an unexpected surprise! I downloaded the audiobook without knowing anything at all about the story, but having seen good reviews around the place. It was such a powerful book and Jones is a master storyteller, pulling you in one direction and towards one character, only to shift your allegiances completely in the next chapter. A complex tale, brilliantly told.
This contemporary novel depicts the struggles of African Americans. Great read for developing empathy.
I love all of her books. This one is a treasure and an realistic look into the American justice system.
Roy and Celestial are barely married a year when Roy is accused of a crime and imprisoned. This set up forms the basis of An American Marriage, a well written story with characters that aren’t exactly loveable.
Roy in particular, despite endless claims that he loves his wife, continues to flirt with other women, buys them lingerie and then seems surprised at the fights he and Celestial have. After one of these fights, both of their lives changes irrevocably.
Jones weaves the story using different character POV’s, a mechanism I’m always drawn to. During Roy’s incarceration, Jones shifts the narrative style to letter writing, another mechanism that doesn’t always work, but in this instance, does. The small, and then larger, ways in how Roy and Celestial were changing during his imprisonment were handled beautifully in these letters. Celestial eventually stops visiting and, believing Roy will serve his full twelve year sentence, becomes romantically involved with an old friend, Andre.
When Roy unexpectedly gets released from prison after only serving five years, all three must face what their lives have become, and who they have become, for better or for worse.
A terrific book. A tale of how a wrongful imprisonment can affect a marriage. Dramatic and well written. I still think about it months after I turned the last page.
This book was like poetry the descriptions and the characters. It was well thought out and realistic with sadness and light woven into it.
Unputdownable, this novel totally gripped me. Tayari Jones created a world so real, so compelling, with language so perfectly wrought, that I have began recommending it before I even finished it. Powerful, contemporary, full of contradictions and struggles, it will stay with me for a long time. I greatly appreciated the essay by Jones that the paperback featured, telling how she researched and came to write the book. Loved it.
A wonderful examination of two people put into a heart wrenching situation. It details how unjustly convicting a black man can not only affect that gentleman’s life, but so many other entwined lives. The cost of an unfair justice system is on full display.