Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - An American Marriage

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

15 reviews

sar_willow's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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agiecummings's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

There were parts of the book that I was literally moved to tears by. Like I actually had tears streaming down my face as I read it, but my only frustration was the end. It felt just a little unsatisfactory. Not bad per se but just not exactly what I wanted. But I can’t even tell you what I would have rather had happen, I just was left feeling a bit hollow and sad and unsatisfied.

But wow, what a heartbreaking look at the injustice of incarceration on everyone in the incarcerated person’s life, including themselves. I was absolutely broken up over Roy’s story. There was not a moment of light for him until the very end. I thought it was so heartbreaking that the thing that gave him hope on the inside was actually what broke his heart on the outside. Just a heartbreaking story. Beautifully and hauntingly written, Tayari tells a raw and emotional story like no one else.

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bookworm_ran's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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lautodd_'s review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely loved and loathed this book all at once. It frustrated me how much I couldn’t have an ending or characters I’d wanted or dreamed of wanting in the course of my reading— and that made it all the more brilliant and adventurous, in the most heartbreaking and embarrassing of ways. I find it clever when authors force their readers to relinquish control, when readers cannot satisfyingly imagine beyond what is in front of them, or replace and weave narratives or conclusions, away from the narrative presented, of their own personal ideas and fantasies. When I am met with the reality of relinquishing my own delusions of a story, submitting to the reality in front of me— so much like the actual lives we each live— I am most impressed and defeated all at once.

From the three-pronged and rotating perspective of 3 different but fatefully connected and indelibly imperfect and spiteful characters, Tayari causes to life a story about people, race, justice, love, and family— and the complexities each function weaves into and throughout a Westernized plane of relating— so masterfully it leaves you sober and wanting.

One of the most favorite and most marking stories I’ve known to-date.

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