Tayari Jones

"Newlyweds Celestial and Roy, the living embodiment of the New South, are settling into the routine of their life together when Roy is sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. An insightful look into the lives of people who are bound and separated by forces beyond their control"--

A Novel

An American Marriage

Celine

I kissed her every way I could think of. I kissed her forehead like she was my daughter. I kissed her quivering eyelids like she was my dead mother. I kissed her hard on her cheeks like you do before you kill someone. I kissed her collarbone the way you do when you want more. I pulled her earlobe with my teeth the way you do when you know what someone likes.

Is it love, or is it convenience?" Gloria asked me that Thanksgiving Day after my father had stormed upstairs and Andre went to gather our coats. She explained that convenience, habit, comfort, obligation-these are all things that wear the same clothing as love sometimes.

But now all I have is this paper and this raggedy ink pen. It's a ballpoint, but they take away the casing so you just have the nib and this plastic tube of ink. I'm looking at it, thinking, This is all I have to be a husband with?

But for real, I want to tell you what you mean to me, but its like trying to count the seconds of a day on your fingers and toes.

You want this man to come home after five years in the enitentiary for some bullshit he didn't even do, and you want him state ome back and see his wife with your little ring on her finger and you talking about you love her? I’ll tell you what Roy is going to see: he is going to see a wife who wouldn't keep her legs closed and a so-called friend who doesn't know what it is to be a man, let alone a black man."

But home isn't where you land; home is where you launch. 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.

the hate i felt while reading this was crazy, but i think its only because she made the characters feel so real. the letters were an amazing part of this, and it was a really good way of seeing how life changes when someone goes to prison, almost like a little time capsule, forced to stay in the same place, while everyone else moves on. 

Stas

I enjoyed this particularly because each character was so humanly flawed, you’re rooting for everyone of them because they’re all so realistic and relatable. The subject matter is harrowing and gut wrenching, but the writing was nothing short of captivating.

Nana O

Heather Margaret

By the end of this story, I was exhausted, in a good way. Such a complex life that Tayari was able to bring to life in such a simply beautiful way. You hated people, you hate the circumstances, but, you felt for them and wanted more out of their life. And can I say I felt for the  tree  as well at the end.

Bria

This is my second Tayari Jones book, and I loved every word. Her writing feels so familiar and real, and I can't wait to finish all her books.

this had sm potential and nuance and complexity but the ending just felt so lazy to me

ame 

Hannah Yoon

I finish this book with a heaviness in my heart. But it is one of the best books I’ve read this year. There is love and pain on almost every page. Jones did an amazing job with drawing you in to feel what each person was feeling and experiencing.

Lizelle G

Life goes on by way of layers, which Tayari Jones exposes brilliantly. As many black feminists have said and written before, the personal is political; there is no way to separate the two for anyone who exists outside the privilege of being born the right color, class, and/or gender. This is an American story of love and injustice, passion and pain — I will always wonder what the letters kept on being sent after that last page.

Lila R E

after a bit of deliberation I had to give this five stars. I literally hadn't finished reading a book in months and this story had me hooked from the first page. it's such a masterful study of a marriage that's stretched to its limits by the injustices that are so inherent in American society and I really could not recommend it more. if you're looking for a read that's deeply profound and will truly impact you, all I'll say is run don't walk!!

a longer review is potentially on its way, for now I'm just going to sit with my thoughts on this one...

Diese Geschichte hat mich so frustriert. Tolle Story - alles sehr ausführlich und verständlich. Das Ende war für mich aber ein pures Desaster . Davina kam gefühlt aus dem nichts, keine Hintergrundgeschichte oder ein bisschen mehr zu ihr. Der Streit zwischen André und Roy wurde einfach abrupt „ beendigt“ und der Kampf für die Rettung der Ehe hat gerade mal ein paar Zeilen verdient… Ich hab mir nicht unbedingt ein glücklicheres Ende gewünscht, sondern ein verständlicheres. 

An American Marriage (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel

Patricia Nelson

After reading this book it is not surprising to me that it was listed on so many "best of 2018" lists. It is a well written novel and was a great choice for a book club discussion. There was so much to consider and talk about. From the title to the characters and their struggles and choices to the questions it asks the reader to consider and contemplate, it's a great book.

Meghan Navoy

Really enjoyed the format of this book from different characters' perspectives of the story. A great take on how racism and the prison industrial complex in America effects this family, even when the person is innocent. Heartbreaking but it happens. A really captivating read, I didn't want to put it down.

Kristen Claiborn

I find that I connect most to characters that are like me, so I read books with such different characters with trepidation. I want to like these books and these characters and sometimes I feel like I have absolutely no business NOT liking them. I almost don't want to read them because I know somebody will ask me what I thought. This book was a selection voted on by my online book club, otherwise I don't think I would have picked it up. 
 It reminded me of a TV show I enjoy about a man wrongfully convicted of a crime that landed him in jail for an extended period of time. The justice system is not on the side of the defendant that is not rich and not white, and this book made that front and center. The consequences to all parties involved are vast, which is also discussed in this book. I found Roy to be slightly chauvinistic, but then other male characters were similar. I found Celestial to be extremely self-centered and I thought Andre was just vile. 
 I wanted so much to love this one, but I just didn't.

Jeannette Ordas

This was pretty lackluster for me and I wondered why this got rave reviews. Halfway through I abandoned ship.

Liz B

The characters in this story were beautifully real-feeling. I sympathized with and was frustrated by both of them in the way that you are with real, complex people. In some ways, the decline of their marriage and subsequent repartnerings felt almost too convenient or simple? But I loved how complex and real she made these characters and how deeply you felt their pain and helplessness at a situation created entirely by an unjust system. You can't help but wonder what the outcome would've been for Celestial and Roy if not for a terrible criminal justice system, which of course is unknowable and the point of this novel.

Jantien 

(Audio) I liked this book in the beginning. But it took me a month to struggle through it. The beginning was so detailed, and then the last pages everything happened so quickly ? It’s like the author had to finish within x number of pages.

Laneh faith mesa

Gisela Ayala 

Wow just wow. An American Marriage had me at the edge of my seat. Both Roy and Celestial's point of views were heartbreaking and moving. I feel like I kept hoping for different outcomes and I wanted them all to come true. I just wanted for them what we all want for ourselves, to be happy. Unfortunately, happiness is so delicate and can be stripped away oh so quickly. I HIGHLY recommend the audiobook of An American Marriage. The voices were haunting in the best way possible.

One of the most anticipated novels of 2018 according to Entertainment Weekly * Goodreads * Esquire * Elle * Cosmopolitan *BBC * Huffington Post * Bustle * Southern Living * Newsday * Bookish * Nylon * iBooks Store “Transcendent . . . Triumphant . . . Gorgeous.”—Elle “A stunning epic love story . . . An exquisite, timely, and powerful novel that feels both urgent and indispensable.”—Edwidge Danticat 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.

Cheri McElroy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This was a simple story of a black man thrown into prison for a crime he didn't commit and how that act fractured his marriage. The complexity comes from the characters themselves. 

Roy(prisoner), Celestial(his wife), and Andre(their best friend) gave alternating points of view, and it was hard and heartbreaking being in their heads. They were all flawed, making multiple bad decisions. These people are shining examples of having caught more than they were taught from their families. 

The themes of racism, generational issues, and self-destructive behavior moved me. The writing was stellar, and this one will stick with me.

This book was a slower read for me, and while I wasn't necessary gripped by it, I recognize and applaud it's cultural importance. Following the wrongful incarceration of a Black man in the south, this book takes a very real situation and opens it up layer by layer. Jones writes not only of the logistics of the prison system in America, but the emotional and physical toll it has on individuals, couples, families, and all of its complexities. 

Elizabeth Hand

Sage

honestly wasn’t for me but I partially blame the audio book narrator for taking dialogue that was already a touch dramatic and doubling the drama with the intonation

Celeste Richardson

I’m going to be honest: I never intended to read this book. I have a terrible case of reverse snobbery that causes me to inwardly sniff in distain at any book presented by Oprah or Reese Witherspoon or any other celebrity as exceptionally worth reading. However, since I’m aware of this tendency within myself, I’m making an effort to not write something off just because it has an Oprah’s Book Club sticker on the front, though I’ll never be a reader that decides to pick up a book based on the same sticker. I’m very glad I made myself look past its popularity and pick it up, because An American Marriage gutted me. The characters it portrays are stunningly, viscerally real. And the situation in which they find themselves is heartbreakingly, infuriatingly believable. 
“You can never really unlove somebody. Maybe it changes shape, but it’s there.”
What would you do if, as newlyweds, you and your spouse found yourselves separated by prison walls for a crime that you (or said spouse) did not commit? Even if you knew for a fact that the accused was wholly innocent of the charge, would you be willing to put your life on hold and wait for them? Could such a young marriage shoulder such a difficult burden? That’s the situation in which Roy and Celestial find themselves. What happens from there I’ll leave you to discover should you read the book, but it was painful to witness. No one was really in the wrong here. And everyone was. It was just a brutal twist of fate that no one could have seen coming. 
“Sometimes when you like where you end up, you don’t care how you got there.”
This was a story brilliantly well told. The writing was phenomenal, not in a way that made you stop and admire a sentence, but in a way that allowed you to see every line of anguish on someone’s face and hear the hurt in the lines of their letters. Which is another thing I loved about this book. I’m a sucker for epistolary novels, and that format dominated a large chunk of the narrative. It was an incredibly successful usage of letters, and allowed us to get both sides of the marriage story while still never revealing everything. During this section we saw only what the letter writers wanted us and each other to know. Jones has such power behind her words, and the raw emotion in these pages was almost too much at times; I felt like I was invading this private world that I had no right to see. Very rarely have characters seemed so real to me that I felt like a voyeur. I was also completely drawn in by the setting. I’ll always have a soft spot for any book that takes place in the American South, but the vast majority of the novel took this a step further by residing in my home state of Louisiana. How could this story not resonate with me?
“But home isn't where you land; home is where you launch. 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.” 
An American Marriage is a novel that is undoubtedly worthy of its popularity. It has earned every accolade it has received, and I’m so glad I read it. It broke my heart in the best way, and I can see myself revisiting this story in the years to come.

You can find  this review and more at Novel Notions.

Yulande Lindsay

Listen, this was...I cannot express. I felt everything. Everything. I felt for everybody. I was angry, I was sad and in the end...? Tayari Jones is a master storyteller. The waybshe captured the voices of each character, you could see them, feel what they were going through, hurt for and with them. An American Marriage raises a lot of questions about marriage, loyalty, the meaning of commitment, love...A fantastic read. Highly, highly recommended.

Alice Miller

What a moving book! Shows the trials and tribulations that a marriage can go through and how people come together and get separated to then come together again or find new walks of life. It had me gripped from the first chapter! Truly a well written great book 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION, 2019 '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.

Madhuri Sridhara

Update: I’m going to increase my rating to 3 from a 2.5 because I can’t get some parts of the story out of my head. It’s like I miss it now that I’m not reading it….

This took me so long to finish because it didn't really have anything to offer. I can't say I understand it's so loved. Everything that happens in the book is already mentioned in the blurb. So it just makes the experience of reading it painfully boring.

What I was expecting was a socially poignant drama about a wrongfully incarcerated man and the repercussions of that on their marriage in terms of anger, bitterness and we do get all that but it's more aimed at each other. 

What I did like:
-Roy's wrongful imprisonment is taken at surface value as though these things happen all the time and as you go keep reading, you realised this is the truth for a Black American.
-Everything that Roy and Celestial discover about their marriage and us as the reader understand about it, how immature it was, perhaps. 

What I didn't like
-The unlikeable and shifting loyalties of the characters especially towards the end
-The fact that not a lot actually happens.
-The portrayal of women because they somehow seemed weak while being being typecast as strong.

An American Marriage A Novel

Reviews

Highlights