Title: An American Marriage
Author: Tayari Jones
Published: 2018
Call #: FIC JONES
Although An American
Marriage certainly has elements within it that many readers will be able to
identify with in regards to marriage and family, it also incorporates some
themes that will take you places that you likely don’t have much experience
with personally and perhaps would only want to “see” from a distance. And that
is part of what makes this a truly great book.
In the story, Celestial and
Roy are an upwardly mobile and newly married African-American couple in today’s
American South. As we are introduced to them, and their surrounding friends and
relatives, we are drawn in to the challenges and triumphs that many marriages
go through, especially when first starting out! Then, it all changes for them
in a dramatic and powerful way. Roy is charged with a crime he did not commit
and sent away to prison, leaving Celestial behind to cope on her own. That
sets-up the other main character to enter the narrative, Andre, her childhood
friend and best man at their wedding. This is where the real “meat” of the tale
develops. The author masterfully draws us in through the choices they make and
I often found myself wondering “what would I have done in that situation”?
This book will give you a
glimpse into many of the difficulties that today’s African-Americans face in
our modern-day justice system and the very real effects it all too often has in
their day to day lives. I highly recommend it!
Blanca
S.
Readers Services Asst.