An American Marriage: WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION, 2019

by Tayari Jones

 

* One of the New York Times' '100 Best Books of the 21st Century' *

'A moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple.' Barack Obama

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of the American Dream. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. Until one day 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. 

Devastated and unmoored, Celestial finds herself struggling to hold on to the love that has been her centre, taking comfort in Andre, their closest friend. When Roy's conviction is suddenly overturned, he returns home ready to resume their life together. 

A masterpiece of storytelling, An American Marriage offers a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three unforgettable characters who are at once bound together and separated by forces beyond their control.

A Book of the Year according the i, Guardian, Sunday Times, Sunday Mail

LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION, 2019

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD

 

• ISBN10: 1786075199
• ISBN13: 9781786075192
• Publish Date: 7 March 2019 (first published 6 February 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Oneworld Publications
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[clementine]

This is an extremely thoughtful, compassionate portrayal of the racialized inequity of the American criminal justice system and the ripple effect it has on the personal lives of so many. At some points I almost wished there had been more insight into the court and prison system, but ultimately this book is about the personal cost of this type of injustice. All of the characters well so well-drawn, and I could sympathize with everybody despite also being frustrated by them. In the section of letters between Roy and Celestial, it was so easy to see how they were being drawn apart, as Celestial's world of intellectual art became further removed from Roy's reality. I found myself feeling like nobody was in the wrong here, despite it being a painful, difficult situation for everybody. The ending is satisfying and realistic. I do sort of feel like the epistolary section was slightly rushed (though very well-written). Again, I get that the novel is above all about relationships, but the trial and prison sections just felt slightly abridged. Still, though, this is an impactful, complex novel with incredibly compelling characters.

[jamiereadthis]

I read this all in one day, I couldn’t put the book down. It’s Georgia, it’s Louisiana, for best and worst.

“You can’t pick your home any more than you can choose your family. In poker, you get five cards. Three of them you can swap out, but two are yours to keep: family and native land.”

[luddite]

This book is so raw, intimate, powerful. You feel like you're in the heads of the characters, feeling everything they feel, every messy, ugly, honest emotion.

The climax meanders a bit, and there's a deus ex machina character in there. These minor quibbles aside, the book is very good. Especially the letters between Roy and Celeste - so darn powerful.

[gmcgregor]

The question of what marriage means, what it binds you to and entitles you to, is probably the most fundamental one at issue in Tayari Jones' An American Marriage. It's not the only one, though. The book follows Roy and Celestial, a young black couple married about a year and a half when we first meet them. Their future seems so bright: he's a promising marketing executive, she's an artist beginning to find success with her doll-making. They're thinking about having a baby soon when they leave their home in Atlanta and drive to rural Louisiana to spend the weekend with Roy's parents. Celestial has a bad feeling, but they write it off to nerves. It is the first night they're there that their whole world changes.

Roy is accused of raping a white woman, and even though he's innocent, he's sentenced to 12 years. They immediately appeal, but of course appeals take time, and while that process is ongoing Roy's continued imprisonment leaves both of them uprooted. After five years, the appeal is ultimately successful, but that time has left both Roy and Celestial different people, and they can't just pick up where they left off.

Any more than that about the plot probably reveals more than would be preferable...this is a book that's best to savor as it reveals itself to you (and usually I'm pretty pro-spoiler, but this does really feel like an exception). The truth is that there's not a lot of "plot" per se, but there's enough, and the work that Jones does with character and the way she uses those characters to poke at our understanding of powerful themes like marriage, and family more broadly, are brilliant. The instinct to find a "good guy" and a "bad guy", when two people are in conflict, is so strong, but Jones refuses us that easy perspective. They're both the bad guy. They're both the good guy. They're both people who've spent the last five years suffering, and trying to deal with that suffering, in their own ways.

While there is a lot to really like here and this is definitely a good book, I'll be honest: it never quite crossed that line from good into great for me. I got more out of pondering it after I finished it than I got out of reading it, if that makes sense. And also, I had a small qualm with a writing choice Jones made: while the book is primarily told from the perspectives of Roy and Celestial, there's a third person who also gets point-of-view chapters. This person is important to the narrative and it wasn't that those portions were inferior or anything, but I would have preferred that the focus remained on the central couple exclusively. That being said, this is still a book that is well-worth your time and energy, and I'd recommend it to all readers.