An American Marriage

Complicated. I’ve been married for only forty-four years, so I still have a lot to learn about the complications of living with another person in the commitment of marriage. Tayari Jones presents readers with the story of a marriage under great strain and draws us into the lives of characters both different from ourselves and very similar. Her novel titled, An American Marriage, uses protagonists Celestial and Roy as figures to display all the issues related to contemporary marriage, including jobs, in-laws, children and what we do and fail to do for the other partner in a relationship. Roy’s unjust incarceration provides momentum for the plot, but where Jones soars in this novel is in how she makes the particular issues of one marriage universal. All relationships are complicated, and Jones lays out that complexity for all to see. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase An American Marriage from amazon.com.