Celestial and Roy have been married for a bit more than a year. She’s an artist and he’s a young executive. One night, during one of their worst fights, he walks out of the hotel room and helps an older woman – who then just hours later will accuse him of raping her. Incarcerated although he is innocent, Roy watches the life he knew shatter. The both of them must find out hard lessons on loyalty, justice, race, Black womanhood and Black manhood.

This book is separated into three main parts, which I won’t go into too much detail not to give any spoilers away, and my favorite was the first one, as Roy and Celestial exchange letters, each one a punch to the gut. The pain in the words they exchange is so raw, like an exposed wound, that my heart hurt reading. It was so beautiful.

I think the greatest thing this novel did is that I loved and hated each one of the characters in turns. I disagreed with so many of their actions, while at the same time understanding very well why they did what they did. Gosh, a lot of it was painful to read. I think this would be a 5-star read if it has been in the format of the letters. Changing to first person narrated definitely changed the pacing of the novel and gave insights to the thoughts and experiences of the characters that the letters had left us to only guess. It’s still a brilliant read, with unique voices and an emotional rollercoaster. I was left destroyed from this novel. It’s great!

Many thanks to Netgalley for my copy of An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. I absolutely loved this story, the writing made you totally invested into the lives of Roy, Celestial and Andre. I loved the exploration of relationships, the fragility of relationships within families and the impact of having a spouse who is incarcerated. You really are taken on a rollercoaster journey of emotions. I think the author has such a way with words you know and feel this is a hugely powerful and thought provoking read. I don't know a lot about the American criminal system but the only thing that made me stop and think quizzically was an innocent man was put in jail for 12 years but the details of the investigation were very loose. This actually didn't stop me from enjoying the story. I can't wait to see what Jones writes next.

Celestial and Roy are living the life that's everyone's dream. With exciting careers and a loving marriage, everything seems to be going smoothly for them. That is, until Roy is charged with a crime and sentenced to twelve years in prison. Although Celestial is sure her husband is innocent, she will have to find a way to live without Roy for now. As she comes closer to her best friend and best man, Roy returns, and life once more becomes complicated. Can they return to what was? Will they be able to find their balance once more?

Tayari Jones lays a strong, emotional story for the reader to see, and you can't help but follow along, eager to see where this will lead to. Both protagonists are strong characters, and you empathize with them in an instant. This is the portrayal of, well , an american marriage. But more than this, this is the portrayal of human relationship with all its perks and flaws. An American Marriage invokes countless emotions along the read, and it is definitely worth it.

This is a highly recommended book for just about anyone. Do not miss out on a chance to enjoy this.

This book has been crowding my feed the last months. Though it did not really fit in my general reading pattern I got curious about this one.
Told from different points of view we get the story about Celestial and Roy. How they meet, their marriage and the struggle they run into after just a year of marriage. Roy gets incarcerated for a crime he did not commit and is sentenced to serve 12 years in prison. This could happen because he had the wrong colour in the wrong state. Promises are made but things get harder as the years pass by.
There are a lot of topics in this book. One of the subjects is the racism. How could Roy get punished for a crime he did not commit? You always hope the people that still suffer from prejudice like that read the book and realize how horrible their train of thought is but I am afraid they wont pick up this read. It was even more bitter as both Roy and Celestial had the feeling they were living in a new world where being black mattered less.
The second thing I totally loved about this book was the love and marriage subject. It is not only the marriage between Celestial and Roy. The marriages of their parents are part of the story too. It is interesting to read they many different stories and how everybody is dealing with their struggles in their own way.
I enjoyed the writing. It was serene and witty. Despite the hard subjects it was an accessible story.

I’ve always been fascinated by couples who frequently argue but still have a solid long term relationship. As someone who thrives best in romances which are calm and stable, the sort of fiery atmosphere around relationships filled with cycles of fierce arguments and amorous make ups is perplexing to me. So I felt fully absorbed following the story of Roy and Celestial who are at the centre of Tayari Jones’ “An American Marriage”. They are prone to bickering because of issues to do with ambition, money, pride and jealousy. Nevertheless the intense bond they share in their relatively new marriage promises a long and fruitful life together – until a fateful night when Roy is accused of raping a woman and sentenced to a long term in prison.

Having just recently read James Baldwin’s “If Beale Street Could Talk” I was conscious of the superficial parallels in the stories of these two novels where a promising relationship is shattered when a young black man is incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. However, Tayari Jones’ novel is distinctly different in its style and focus. Much of the text is composed of letters during Roy’s time in jail. It’s so interesting reading stories told in epistolary form because they show how the characters shape their own truth. Roy and Celestial earnestly communicate their thoughts to each other, but also subtly try to get the upper hand. So the arguments which have always been a part of their relationship continue as they both change and grow in environments vastly different from each other. Roy becomes more hardened as he’s subjected to the strain of prison life while Celestial thrives as an artist and entrepreneur creating specialist dolls.

Following this couple’s letters is a really moving and dramatic way of depicting how people in a loving committed relationship can grow apart and become alien to each while still retaining an ardent bond. Interspersed with their separate accounts are the points of view from family members and a man named Andre who becomes an important part of Celestial’s life during Roy’s absence. There are also a lot of dramatic twists! Secrets from the past surface and unexpected occurrences shape their journeys in a way which made this a gripping story. A number of teasing ambiguities are also left in the readers’ mind and you’ll be eager to discuss it with other people who’ve read it. Because of this I’m not surprised Oprah chose it for her book club last year.

Something this novel does really powerfully is show how the fact of Roy and Celestial’s race naturally has an impact upon their lives – especially living in a society where black men are often charged for crimes simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time – but it doesn’t wholly define who they are or the nature of their relationship. It’s impossible to say how their lives together would have played out if Roy hadn’t been incarcerated for years. But the story meaningfully describes how the close connection between these two ebbs and flows as they change as individuals over time. Roy, Celestial and Andre all have such distinct, finely-detailed characters so I felt like I could really hear their voices and understand their different points of view by the end of the novel. In this way the book came alive for me and really tugged on my heart strings.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

I had seen this book all over bookstagram and decided to request it. I finished it in a few hours.

There are so many layers to this book, love, marriage, children, the prison system in America, it's racial bias, the relationships and families affected by a biased judicial system. All of these are explored through the love triangle of Roy, Celestial, and Andre. I don't think I can add anymore to what has been said already in the numerous reviews on here, but I will say I think it is in my top reads so far this year.

This book focuses on the injustices of the American prison system. There's a lot of information, research and discussions about this topic however this book takes a different approach. It looks more specifically at the impact of this on the lives of the person convicted and their loved ones.

This book follows the marriage of Celestial and Roy after Roy is accused and convicted of a crime he didn't commit. We follow Roy in prison and Celestial in the outside world, trying to continue with her life and career. Without spoiling anything, as you can imagine there are lots of bumps in the road and it's a really insightful look into how a solid marriage can be impacted by incarceration.

Jones' writing is stunning and I loved the blend of first person narrative and letters. I highly recommend this and will certainly be looking out for more writing by this author.

I enjoyed this thought provoking book and it's quite special. Well written, with real believable characters, the story of a love triangle, told from three different perspectives, which gave a real insight into their relationship. An American Marriage stands out amongst so many others that I read and can't remember anything about them a week later. I've never read anything by Tayari Jones before but will look up her other books now.

I saw this book was Oprahs book club pick so decided to give it a read. I found a well drawn and thought provoking and timely topic book which keep me engaged throughout.

This was a beautifully written book and I will be recommending to family and friends.

A powerful and often heartbreaking book, this is one that I know will stay with me long after I have turned the final page. At first glance the plot seems simple, almost mundane. Roy and Celestial are a young black, married couple in the American south, with blossoming careers and a lovely and loving relationship, One night their hopes and dreams of family and a future are destroyed when Roy is arrested and wrongfully accused of rape. Found guilty in court despite Celestial's testimony that he was with her all night, he is sentenced to twelve years in prison. Can the love between this young couple keep them together despite the distance between them? This is a simplistic summary of a book that looks at many complicated issues- race, justice, love and loyalty among others, and handles these difficult themes and ideas remarkably well.. The writing is just beautiful, the book is full of superbly crafted phrases and passages, like " human emotion is beyond comprehension, smooth and uninterrupted, like an orb made of blown glass" and the author proves that it may be just as fragile.
The technique of giving us the story from an outside perspective, as well as that of the couple works very well, and unusually, I found myself enjoying each of the three " voices " equally, often in stories told from multiple points of view I invariably find myself drawn more to one of the narrators than the others.
I think this will wind up on my best of lists at the end of the year, and its definitely a book I can see myself reading again and again.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones is an astonishing and powerful novel about class, race, gender and injustice. Celestial and Roy are newlyweds who have driven from their home in Atlanta to visit his parents in Louisiana. They decide to stay in a hotel rather than at the family home, setting in motion a series of events which sees this couple who have been married just over a year, experience a nightmare situation which culminates in Roy being sent to prison for 12 years. For this educated and aspirational man prison is a culture shock but in a state where the number of black prisoners far exceed white prisoners he becomes another figure to add to the statistics.

Celestial and Roy are written vividly and in those first few chapters Tayari Jones creates living, breathing people who leap from the page. The complexities of their relationship and history is laid bare meaning we are in the thick of things immediately. Celestial is from a wealthy upper middle class family whilst Roy’s parents are working class who live paycheck to paycheck and this difference of class runs through their relationship. Roy’s desire to succeed, to buy a bigger house, a better car, provide for a family is brought from his background and from the feeling that he isn’t quite enough for Celestial in the eyes of her parents.

In this exploration of marriage, unity and loyalty, Celestial and Roy are pushed to their limits. How do you build a marriage when you are so brutally separated? Tayari Jones examines in beautiful, gorgeous ways, what it means to fall in love, how it feels to be in love and what it means to stay in love. The marriages in this book are complex and messy and evoke complicated emotions, none as much as that of our protagonists. I was questioning who to root for whilst I was reading. Love isn’t simple, nor is life and Celestial and Roy cannot be put in pigeon holes of ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ just because they both wear a wedding ring.

Tayari Jones uses a really clever narrative structure which flits back and forth between Roy and Celestial before the thread is picked up in letters they write to one another when he is in jail. These letters are raw and uncompromising and reflect the physical and emotional distance between these two people who have been separated longer than they have been married. This is great storytelling and great characertistion. I understand that the author originally wrote the novel from Celestial’s point of view and then from Roy’s and I can understand why she in the end, decided to use multi person narrative. It adds so much depth and sorrow and is perfectly executed.

It is brutal reading at times and taps into every human emotion. I was particularly struck by the the difference in Roy before and after his spell in prison. I found him wholly unlikable to start off with as he was both arrogant and cocky, two things I cannot abide, but his swag turns into simmering anger and the confidence becomes aggression. He is still in there, but his years in prison have eroded his outer shell and replaced it with a harder, new one. Some of the passages after his spell in prison make for uncomfortable reading and there is raw power in these words.

This is electrifying writing that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It is at turns observant and heartbreaking and I was struck by how sensitively the themes were handled. There are moments where I felt utterly desperate and hopeless, particularly with the moments of racism, prejudice and the role of women in society. I underlined so many sentences which rang true like how, “time can be hard on a woman” and how “women’s work is never easy, never clean.” I can’t even begin to explain the emotions I felt when reading some of the powerful words in this book and how it has given me real pause for thought.

An American Marriage has gone straight into my Top 5 Favourite Books Ever list, I loved it and it deserves to win all of the awards. If you buy one book this month, make it this one.

I’m gutted that I wasn’t able to enjoy this book more, it had been receiving such high praise since I first heard about it, that I really thought it would be for me, but I just really struggled to get into it. I enjoyed the plot twist, and I was eager to find out how things would go down between our characters, but felt that the initial time after the incident kind of dragged on far too much for my liking. I think I would have much preferred to have got the story after told in milestones. Also, as the story progressed I really didn’t like Roy’s character, I get he was the way he was after everything he’d been through, but that didn’t mean that he could act that way towards Celestial. It’s a shame that I couldn’t connect with any of the characters, as I think this would have been the game changer for me with this book. That being said I’m still eager to read more of Jones books and hoping I’ll have more of a connection.

A beautifully written story told from different perspectives. How does being wrongly convicted affect your marriage? Will your wife still be there when you come out? The lives and feelings of three people are laid bare and their pain and anger is felt throughout.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Great book! Brings you so cleanly into their relationship that their situation becomes relatable and requiring of empathy. I loved Big Roy, though he's a trickster at crucial times.
Little Roy and Celestial's discussion after five years apart is gentle and horrible and upsetting and so full of love all that the same time. Really great book, really enjoyed it.

“How did we end up here? My key works, but you won’t let me in.”
Celestial and Roy are made for each other, even though their relationship is not without fights. But they always manage to get together again. Some issues are hot topics - their different backgrounds, their families, having a child - so they try to avoid them. But sometimes these things come up nevertheless and one evening, their quarrel escalates. Fifteen minutes should be enough to cool down. But these fifteen minutes will change their lives, their fates and all the dreams they had for their future together. Nothing will be anymore as it was the next morning.

Tayari Jones’ novel hits you like a hammer. You cannot read it without getting involved deeply and asking yourself the question: how would I react in their place? What I loved utterly was the author’s way of foreshadowing: telling you that a meteor was to crash their lives or that this was their last happy evening for a long time; this creates an almost unbearable suspense, you absolutely want to know what is going to happen and thus, you surely cannot put down the book.

All in all, the story is a quite unique ménage à trois. On the one hand, Celestial and Roy, wed for some months and still somehow at the beginning of their common life. On the other hand, there is Andre who has been a friend of Celestial since their days in kindergarten, who befriended Roy in college and who actually made them acquainted with each other. Long hidden feelings for Celestial can no longer kept buried when she is in need of a shoulder to lie on. Reading the story as it is, you cannot really blame anyone for what they do. It just happens, but it doesn’t make you really happy either. Especially when compared to their parents’ marriages: a deep affection that lasts over decades and that survives even the biggest crises.

Apart from this, the novel is also highly critical in several respects: the American legal system, the way blacks are still treated today and have to fight harder than others and also the question of what makes a man a man and a father a father. A lot of food for thought written in a light style which is full of splendid metaphors that I absolutely adored.

If you keep up with books and new releases, you have probably heard about An American Marriage. How could you not?
It was released in America for the first time last year, and ever since it saw light of the day, everyone keeps talking about it. And I mean everyone! Not only book reviewers and youtubers, but also famous people like Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey. In a matter of fact, this novel was also pick for Oprah’s book club one moth, it was Book of the Month one time, and it also won many bookish awards.

When I saw it on Netgalley I couldn’t believe it! Since An American Marriage was already on my tbr list, I tried my luck and requested it, and was pleasantly surprised when I saw that I was approved for this master piece.

The story follows Roy and Celestial who are married for more then one year. Everything falls apart for them when Roy is accused for the rape crime he didn’t do. Innocent, he was sent to prison.
While he was serving for the crime he didn’t do, their marriage is shaken, Celestial finds it hard to act like Roy expects her to, and they fall apart more each day.

The novel is written in unique kind of way. At first we get to follow Roy’s and Celestial’s POVs, all written in first person.
Then we read letters they send to each other while Roy was in prison, and after that we follow the story from Roy’s, Celestia’s and Andre’s POVs, again written in first person.

The writing style is really good. It sounds authentic and realistic, and it is easy to follow.

The story itself is very realistic and raw, driven by characters who all have their flaws, and who’s point of views are so much different and the reader has to go into the story with an open mind.

I will be first to admit that I had some hard time to back Celestial. Even though I did understand where she was coming from, and how independent she was, I think she could have acted with more respect for her husband while he was rotting in prison.
I don’t talk about unfaithfulness here, but about the fact she almost never visited Roy.

I hoped for the happier ending, even though I do understand it wasn’t possible.
I feel like the victim of the story ended up the worst, while “bad guys” got their happy ending.

Overall, I am so glad I had an opportunity to read this book, and I would highly recommend it to everyone who likes to read beautiful, but also raw and realistic prose.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tahari Jones and Oneworld Publications for the free copy, in exchange for an honest review.

I am not going to include a synopsis of this book - check GoodReads!!

I have been interested in reading An American Marriage, ever since seeing it as a Belletrist book club pick last year, so when I saw the opportunity on NetGalley, I snapped it up.

I can understand this book being a bit of a marmite read, but I really did enjoy it! The book made me angry, sad, relieved, all kinds of emotions as I read it, and books with the ability to do that always have the most impact on me. The characters are mostly likeable, and the various writing styles kept me interested. I do love books that are written as letters, and I almost wanted more of that… it just went deep, right into their heads and it felt REAL.

4 stars from me, I will definitely pick up more books from Tahari.

Such a great book, I raced through this. So beautifully crafted, clever and compulsive. There are so many big things that happen within this book, and yet it's the minutiae of the relationships and their shifts which drive the book. Brilliant!

This book is definitely not a love story, but instead an exploration of the two characters lives. Jones explores the individuals in her novel beautifully and the prose is very well written. Whilst there are occasions in the book where you find yourself despising the characters due to the choices they make, Jones has developed them so well that you can understand them despite not agreeing with them.

I would have liked more information on how Roy was found to be guilty towards the start of the novel, as well as a greater exploration of the appeals he lodged and the justice system in general, but this is a minor quibble.

A hugely important book for our times, I found myself highlighting numerous passages. Whilst very quotable, I found myself reading the first half much quicker than the second. Nonetheless, a very easy book to recommend to a wide range of my friends