Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - An American Marriage

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

24 reviews

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Heartbreaking novel of a marriage. It was a very slow story that I couldn’t get into when reading a physical copy so I switched to audio. I enjoyed the switching POVs and the storytelling via letters in the first half.

I didn’t like Celestial or Roy, they both have good points but also both make awful decisions. By the end I hated them both

especially after Roy kept begging Celestial for sex after getting out, making excuses to not use protection. THEN HE WANTS CREDIT FOR NOT RAPING HER?! They’re both awful people.

. I understand it’s difficult circumstances and it may be more realistic but it made the book less enjoyable for me personally when I don’t like either person. Plus neither of them had much development it seemed.

The book started out well but the second half was boring and with some of the actions of Roy and Celestial, I kind of wished I DNFd. It was an okay book with a good premise but didn’t enjoy the execution as much as I expected to.

TW/CW: rape, abortion, cancer (brief mention), death of parent, grief, incarceration, sexual content, infidelity, dubious consent/coercion, racism, violence, misogyny

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gracer0sew'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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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goldensun's review against another edition

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sad slow-paced

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

2.0

good start bad end

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dewey7962's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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thepinkrainboots90's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This book tried to hard. Too hard to be Zoe’s, too hard to be Toni. It tried too hard to be complicated and really left me with wtf did I just read?
The concepts that were explored in this book are ones that interest me: Black American domestic life, love and relationships. I also love a story that thoroughly explores reasons why someone would commit infidelity, but I feel like this book did none of that justice. My take away from these three characters is this:
Roy grew up a poor and has always had to prove his worth and is misogynistic and loyal to a fault.
Celestial is a spoiled brat who’s parents would support her no matter what yet she makes decisions like she has not autonomy or agency.
And Andre is a punk pussy ass bitch simp who is using his trauma from childhood as a reason to attach himself from the one nostalgic thing that makes him feel worthy. Idk I hated this, this should have been written a different way. Maybe in third person and all present day. Maybe the letters could have been phone call transcripts idk, this was exhausting in a bad way.

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