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Loading... An American Marriage: WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION, 2019 (edition 2019)by Tayari Jones (Author)
Work InformationAn American Marriage by Tayari Jones
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Celestial and Roy have been married a year when he is wrongfully imprisoned. This is a story of a marriage gradually, almost imperceptibly falling apart. It leads to many questions. Could this have happened to a white couple? How strong was their marriage anyway? How well did they know one another prior to their wedding? The story is told through the devices of their letters to each other while Roy is incarcerated and then, later as the story develops, by devoting chapters to the events that unfold from the standpoint of each of the principal characters. Successful, involving devices. This is a story that carried me along, despite my finding the characters generally unsympathetic. It's a book I enjoyed, but I have at the moment little motivation to try any more work by Jones. A Love Story, the Tale of an American Marriage Although Tamari Jones has written that this is essentially a love story, it is also a social commentary. But as a love story, it speaks to men and women of all races. In the end, there are relationships in which love is not enough. When tragedy occurs, some relationships cannot survive. It is also a story about new beginnings, and finding a relationship and a life that truly fits who you are. All things considered, it had a "happy" ending. no reviews | add a review
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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. No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumTayari Jones's book An American Marriage was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Then it happens. An elderly woman is raped, and she points the finger at Roy. The eye of the court looks discriminately at black defendants, and packs him off to prison for twelve years. Roy's life and his marriage dissolve like salt in a glass of Roy's mama's iced tea.
An American Marriage was a gripping read. It was - to my delight - epistolary for part of the book. Roy and Celestial and Andre, the other side of this triangle, are so keenly drawn that you can see their faces, hear their voices, know their hearts.
And yet.
I didn't like the way the book ended, and that's all I'm going to say about that for fear of spoilers. I didn't like the fact that I couldn't understand all the imagery. There was something important about a pear Roy once ate in prison, but I could never figure it out, although the image recurred throughout the novel. And this part pains me - I don't think I could ever comprehend the book fully because the book is about black American families and black American lives, and I fit in neither of those categories. Because of that, some parts of the book that might be plain to others are lost to this WASP-y lady in Canada.
However much I did and didn't understand, this was a masterful novel, and I am really glad to have read it and been privileged to meet the people within its pages. ( )