An American Marraige by Tayari Jones is another of the nine books I set aside to read this summer. I picked up an ARC of this last year at BEA, but also selected it one month from Book of the Month Club as well. It does not disappoint.
This novel is a quick read, yet it feels literary. Jones explores the lives of one black couple that seem to embody the American dream. Educated, attractive, and with bright futures, Celestial and Roy are still adjusting to married life when Roy is convicted of a crime he didn't commit.
Years pass. Despite the vows these two made to each other, being away from each other has changed their relationship. Celestial has been able to move on with her life. Her career has taken off, and because Roy has been gone, she has found someone else to confide in, her childhood friend, Andre, who was the best man at her wedding to Roy.
Roy does get out of prison, eventually having his conviction overturned, but there is much to be decided and the life he left so abruptly is not the one he returns to.
This is a great book, and yet I hesitate to say that, because it is also a hard book. Celestial and Roy's marriage starts with so much promise and hope as do their careers. Yet because of a crime someone else committed, they are forever changed. Unfortunately, this story line is one that people live through, which makes it that much more heartbreaking.
An American Marriage is a book that will stick with me for a long time and one I will recommend to others as well.
1 comment:
I imagine this would be kind of a hard book to read. Married and your husband goes to prison... are you expected to hang out forever? Wow. Not even sure how I'd answer that. I think it would make a difference how long they were married for beforehand. Sounds like a good book club book. I had a bad thing happen to me at book club last week though. A lot of negativity and meanness from long-time, over 15 year members. Now I am second guessing all my picks and that should not be the case.
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