This was one of my most highly anticipated reads of 2018. I wasn’t sure what to expect but in the end it did not disappoint.

Celestial and Roy are a couple who are dealt a terrible hand. Having only been married a year and a half, Roy is literally torn from their bed and sentenced to 12 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. It is difficult enough to make a marriage work let alone when one of you is in jail – and wrongfully accused.

This was a tough read. There are a lot of subjects I’m ignorant on, and mass incarceration is one of them. In the book I didn’t understand why there wasn’t a rape kit, DNA testing, etc. How was Roy so easily committed for something he didn’t do? I still don’t know if that’s the norm, or if that’s just the norm if you’re black and accused. Either way it’s disgusting and disgraceful.

My heart broke right along with Roy’s and Celestials’ and this book had me crying less than 100 pages in.

I loved Jones’ writing. It was truthful, and visceral, sharp tongued and didn’t sugar coat anything. I particularly loved reading the letters Roy wrote and received to and from Celestial, and the others in his life. It was a unique and truthful way to communicate to the reader what was going on. They weren’t able to talk face to face every day, and through letters things can get misinterpreted. I liked that that was included.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers on how it ends. I think it’s important not to know what happens, going into it. I will say the actions of Roy and Celestial are very believable. These are two imperfect humans trying to survive through what was dealt to them. I don’t think you can blame each of them for doing, acting, and saying what they did.

Although this book has a lot of heartbreak in it, I do think this story is one, ultimately of hope.

I think I am in the minority here when I say I didn’t really enjoy this book that much. To be honest here, after reading half of the novel, I had to look up the title to make sure this was the novel that everyone was raving about.

It’s about injustice, marriage and compromise. I wasn’t rooting for anyone in this novel, not because I didn’t like them, it was because I believed everything was too new for the characters and I didn’t think they knew themselves who they were.

Take Celestial for example. She was a new bride, a woman who was trying to create her own line of dolls and also trying to market them. All of this in one year. Her new husband Roy, was also trying on his new role of being a husband. I thought Roy enjoyed being a top dog amongst both males and females. What was beneath that role, I don’t think he truly knew but he liked to be on top. Their friend Dre carried a lot of history that couldn’t be swept under the rug. He didn’t want to go away, he saw a void and filled it. I wondered if he became too comfortable or too reliable to Celestial when Roy was out of the picture? Was it fear of the unknown that brought them closer together?

I was glad when Roy was finally released. I was happy that Celestial family stood by his side throughout the whole ordeal. I was hoping for a totally different ending to this novel. One that put everyone on neutral ground.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Algonquin Books in exchange for an honest opinion.

An American Marriage will cause you to question everything you believed about commitment. Roy and Celestial have been married just over a year when Roy is wrongly accused of a crime and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Jones takes a searing look at marriage when put upon by the injustices of society.

I had been mulling this one over for awhile trying to decide if I wanted to read it. Then I learned it was going to be Oprah's next pick so I figured I would put in a request with netgalley and low and behold I was accepted.
Many people have reviewed this better than I could hope to so I won't prattle on too long. This is a love story of a brief marriage that is interrupted by a false accusation and conviction. While I did feel much of this, oh too necessary story, was predictable, the characters did leap off the page, the story was moving for all it has to say about love, duty, obligation, family, mass incarceration, and the lifelong affects of false accusations.
I would definitely recommend it for anyone, just expect to be moved but not surprised.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with this arc available through netgalley.

I loved this book so much that I had to get an audio copy so I could finish it while I was driving.

I received an ARC of this book from the punlisher via NetGalley.

Tayari Jones does not sugar coat her stories. They are raw, they are real. In her latest book “An American Marriage” her characters deal with the realities of their place in this world.

The characters are well developed – all with flaws, all with positive qualities. There were times I wanted to embrace a character and then later I felt like asking the same character “What were you thinking?!!” No one was all good, nor all bad. They were real! I had no idea how I wanted the story to go. I kept changing my mind. And I was never sure how the author would end their story.

This is the story of Roy and Celestial Hamilton who met through her best friend Dre. Roy and Celestial married and were deeply in love when after only 18 months of marriage had their world turned upside down. Roy goes to prison for a crime he did not commit. While he is away Celestial turns to Dre for support. Then when he is released he returns to different life. Has his marriage survived? Love, race, trust, loyalty, honesty, family obligations are all explored. This is a heartfelt story, nothing flashy. Ms. Jones wrote in such a way that I could feel the pain the characters felt over the decisions they had to make. No one was going to escape untouched.

‘An American Marriage” is perfect for book clubs. It lends itself to an amazing discussion of the choices made, the consequences, the interactions, race inequality, feminism, family definition.

Mistakes are made, loved ones are betrayed, the term family is redefined, and emotions are laid bare. This is real life.

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I liked this book very much. It was beautifully written and very believable. I would read more from this author.

This explores the ups and downs of dealing with a husband who has been encarerated. The hopes and dream vs the reality.

Roy and Celestial are successful newlyweds living their dream in Atlanta when tragedy strikes. After only a year of marriage, Roy is arrested and sentenced to 12 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit and Celestial suddenly find herself living alone in a different state from her husband. Regular visits to Roy start to grow further and further apart and Celestial begins to seek comfort in her childhood friend, Andre. She realizes that the love she has for her husband might not be enough to weather his 12 year sentence and finds ways to move on with her life. Then after 5 years served, Roy is released with little notice and he returns to Atlanta to find his life extremely different than the one he left behind.

This is a portrayal of how black Americans still deal with discrimination after Jim Crow. Segregation and discrimination isn’t legally tolerated and enforced anymore but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Because of the color of his skin, Roy paid the price for a crime he didn’t commit. While he’s sitting in court, he looks at the jury and thinks all 12 of those people will not take him at his word because it’s against a white woman’s. All the while he has sympathy for the woman, because the crime committed against her was atrocious. He doesn’t begrudge her for having her memories mixed up after such a traumatic experience. But even with all the circumstantial evidence and an alibi from his wife, it’s not enough. He was a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time in Louisiana.

Everything that happens after isn’t too hard to imagine. His mother grieves and prays daily for justice to prevail and their lawyer to find the answer for his release. His wife begins to find it difficult to visit him regularly. To see Roy shrink under the weight of where he is. To be treated like less of a person because she’s visiting her husband in jail. To endure all they’ve endured after only a year of marriage seems unfathomable. To continue to endure the entire 12 year sentence seems like a lifetime. All because he was a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time. You get a good sense of the type of prejudice that replaced the legal Jim Crow system. This is an incredibly timely novel and it’s no wonder that Oprah picked it for her book club.

My only issue while reading this book was Celestial. While anyone can understand why someone would look for comfort and familiarity in her situation, I personally don’t think leaving your husband just because he’s in jail is excusable. Especially when he didn’t commit a crime. You are his source of encouragement and strength. Your visits give him something to look forward to. Your lawyers have told you that they expect to find a way to get Roy released. It will likely not be an entire 12 years. I understand they were only married a year before it happened and that you are staring 12 years alone in the face. That she was separated from him and their marriage changed shape. I really do understand that this situation would be extremely difficult. But marriage is a commitment. You cannot quit during the for worse part. All of that said, I have never been in that situation and cannot say with 100% certainty what I might be tempted to do. I only wish she could have been stronger and used her new platform to advocate for her husband and the others in similar situations.

One last thing that I found interesting is that both of the main characters found their selves back in similar situations to where they started. By the chance of their birth, Roy was born to a single mother working as a housekeeper in Louisiana and Celestial to two parents with steady jobs in an Atlanta suburb. Through hard work, Roy found himself a budding executive in Atlanta and Celestial an artist in New York. Through the circumstances of life, Roy finds himself right back where he started and Celestial back in her childhood home in Atlanta. Is Jones trying to make the point that the chance of their birth as black Americans can make it even more difficult to change their lives? If so, I’m glad she did, because it’s something I never knew about the black American experience. And isn’t that why we read to begin with?

AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones (aka Oprah’s latest book club pick) is really good! Keeping things surface level and relatively spoiler-free, it follows an upwardly mobile newlywed couple living in Atlanta. While Roy and Celestial have their issues, their future looks bright. That is, until Roy is sent to prison for a crime he did not commit. This novel touches on SO MANY interesting themes: marriage, commitment, black incarceration, justice, family dynamics, patriarchy, and class. While all of the characters are complex, flawed and empathy-inspiring, I found myself firmly on Team Roy. Yes, a lot of readers will choose sides, which is yet another reason why this is an excellent book club choice.

First of all, I received an advanced e-galley from Net Galley for an honest review. This book had me gripped and intrigued from the very beginning as it explored the marriage of Roy and Celestial over time. From the arrest of Roy for a crime he did not commit to Celestial’s struggle with being faithful while Roy was incarcerated for five years, this book truly explores the struggles of love, marriage, fidelity, and a friendship post divorce. Extremely wonderful woven tale of the many struggles of marriage and faithfulness.

This emotional book gripped me right from the first page. It deals with every person's nightmare, going to jail for a crime they did not commit. I enjoyed how this book changed perspectives and was partly told through letters. Seeing how difficult it was for the woman married to the man in jail lead to my own thoughts of what would I do. Overall an amazing novel!

I have heard so many incredible things about this book, and I am here to say I was touched in much the same way other reviewers were. I can't possibly give any better recommendation than this book has already received (Hello, Oprah!!), but I will instead add my voice to the many who proclaim, "Yes, go read this book!"

I downloaded this SO LONG ago after Gabrielle Zevin (my favouritest author in the history of the world) said that she was reading it and loving it, and then it fell into the huge pile of digital manuscripts I have right now, and then I read a chapter and was intrigued, but then another book came in and I got distracted again, but then finally this was released and I remembered I had it.

And I'm so glad I finally sunk my teeth into this one. This had so many important themes going on, and a really strong love struggle (for lack of better terms) that had my heart aching for everyone involved.

My absolute favourite part of this book was family, and the way that Roy looked to his parents so much. I think that respect and appreciation isn't visible as it used to be, and it was warming to see how much he revered them.

I really just ache for humanity with this, in a way--the ending chapters were so gosh darn raw and emotional, and I was empathising so hard for these characters. There was truly no good solution that could come around and it was so heartwrenching to see how everything had changed.

The ending--the ending and then the epilogue--was perfect. It did not make me angry. It was perfect, truly perfect. I am so, so immensely pleased with how Jones ended this. No spoilers. But I was very touched.

Also, the US justice system, is screwed up. I'll add that.

I also loved the Southern culture and feel to it, especially when characters were in New York.

Excellent novel.

This book feels so real. The characters are full bodied, they react humanly which includes irrationally up against complicated circumstances. I'm not sure I've ever read a more real feeling relationship. This is a book that's going to stay with me.

I will be honest with you -- I didn't even read the synopsis before I jumped at the chance to read Tayari Jones's An American Marriage. I absolutely adored her previous novel, so I knew that this was a must read for me.

Roy and Celestial are newlyweds when Roy is arrested and jailed for a crime he did not commit. Married only a year at the time of his arrest, the couple finds that they have different visions of what marriage can and should be during a forced separation. Celestial becomes fairly well known for her doll creations while Roy sits in prison, missing the life he was supposed to lead. Celestial finds a shoulder to lean on in her childhood best friend, Andre, and tries to move on with her life. At least, until Roy wins an appeal and is released early. Can a couple separated by time, miles, and spirit make a go of it, or is it too late for them?

I was quite taken with this narrative, and Jones's ability to craft such honest and real characters in her world. It also snagged my heart a little, as Celestial is from and currently resides in Atlanta, which I also consider my home. Jones knows how to dig deep into the clay of the earth and sculpt characters from nothing, line by line, until they become so lifelike that you forget they aren't real. She does that in this novel, and it's an incredible work of art. The book alternates narrators, and I was struck by Roy in particular, as I found him to be an unreliable (albeit captive) narrator. I was waiting for the bomb to drop that maybe he actually did commit the crime -- and I won't tell you the answer to that -- but the truth (without spoilers) is that this part of the story doesn't matter. When the story takes a sharp left toward the end, it's about the characters and their complicated, interwoven relationships that have you raising your eyebrows and choosing a side.

In this novel, just as in life, there are no winning sides, really. In the game of love, someone is bound to get hurt, and bad. There are so many loving, shining moments in this novel that they are hard to illuminate. Do you love Andre, or do you hate him? I liked him, then I disliked him, then I felt bad for him, then I felt triumphant, and finally I became sad for him. Do you love Roy or do you want to punch him in the face? I liked him a great deal at first, then I came to despise him if only for the character arc that Jones has prescribed him. That is, as per usual, a compliment, for to have a strong draw to or away from any aspect of any narrative or character is a testament to the ability of the hand holding the pen. Celestial is the third in the triangle for whom my opinion wavered constantly, and I'm still mulling over the final pull she had on the characters and who they became.

Tayari Jones is one of those writers that I feel understands the complicated web of human emotion deep down in her core, and I will always run to pick up her work. It makes me feel alive and thrilled and devastated and whole.

Well written, unique, captivating.

Really enjoyed and see what the hype is about!

I liked but didn't love this story of a marriage in the newly crowned Oprah Book Club pick (I had started it the day before it was announced!)

Liked - the setting (Atlanta for the most part) and how the characters are products of the complex class system of Atlanta neighborhoods, ideas of the "people you come from" and what that means or doesn't mean, the realistic portrayal of a marriage and what happens when a major challenge comes along, the look at black incarceration and the question of justice.

How much does a marriage commitment mean? What if you are likely not to even see your spouse for 12 years? What is the expectation of the spouse left behind? It was easy to feel compassion towards all sides.

Less than liked - while I'm usually a fan of letters, I felt the narrative ended up feeling lopsided, resorting to letters and multiple points of view when I'm not sure it needed to. Maybe one but not both. The underlying issues are almost too subtle and mainly come across in conversations, but I mean, one character spends half the book in prison! There are also a few too many overly convenient coincidences.

This is my first book by this author and I would absolutely read another. I can't even think of the last non-dystopian novel I've read that is set in Atlanta. And I agree with Oprah that this makes a good book club novel, because there is a lot to discuss.

Quotes about marriage:

"Marriage is between two people. There is no studio audience."

Quotes about incarceration:

"That's your fate as a black man. Carried by six or judged by twelve."

"You know what they say: if you go five miles outside of Atlanta proper, you end up in Georgia. You know what else they say? What do you call a black man with a PhD? The same thing you call one driving a high-end SUV." (this comes after a discussion about how all black men with expensive cars in the south are treated like drug dealers by the police)

This book is full of what it means to love, lose, and make sacrifices. I would not be surprised to hear that this novel wins awards in the coming year. I recommend this heartily.

An American Marriage is a powerful, moving, and very human story of a couple forced into an impossible situation. It's told by through three distinct and authentic characters, all of whom are doing their best but are fallible. It's a heartbreaking book that's definitely worth a read. I mean, it's the first book selected for Oprah's Book Club in seven years, and Oprah would never lead you astray!