One chapter Andre is the good guy, next one he’s the villain. One moment I thought Celestial was selfish, the next it was Roy being unreasonable. As I progressed through the novel, I kept disagreeing with the characters’ actions. I love how there’s no clear line of right or wrong when it comes to picking a side.
These letters span throughout Roy’s period of incarceration. We follow them from when they write regularly and profusely missing each other, to implicit arguing, dealing difficult family matters and other emotional conflicts. Surprisingly, this format worked really well.
The middle part of the book consists of back-and-forth letters between Celestial and Roy over the years. Twelve year is still a long time to be waiting. Jones believes that it doesn’t matter how strong you claim your love is. She captured the problems that could arise when your husband is locked up and you’re torn between being a loving wife and continuing to live as your own woman. I think Jones did a great job diving into each of these character’s mind. The point of view alternates between our main characters: Celestial, Roy and Andre. We tore it often and mended it, always with a silken thread, lovely but sure to give way.” “I believed that our marriage was a fine-spun tapestry, fragile but fixable. How does one expect a marriage, no matter how good it started, to survive an unjust justice system that takes an innocent husband from his wife? They were married a year when Roy was falsely accused of rape and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Through Roy and Celestial’s relationship, I learned about the way incarceration affects more than only the man behind bars. Just as the world starts to pay attention to the appalling injustice that Blacks have been subjected to for so long, especially in the States, An American Marriage comes headfirst into my reading list. I have to be honest, I didn’t realize what this book was really about when I picked it up. I probably won’t read his entire list, but it’s a good start. I decided, why not read books from Bill Gates’ recommendations? For years, Gates have been writing book reviews and sharing current favorites on his website. This is both An American Marriage review and me rambling about how good I think this book is.įirst line: There are two kinds of people in the world, those who leave home, and those who don’t.Ī few weeks ago, I was itching to read some great, new books. With the Black Lives Matter movement, Tayari Jones’ exploration of the marriage of a wrongly imprisoned Black man has never been more relevant.
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