A review by lbrex
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

5.0

At first I wasn't sure what to make of this novel, with its intimate portrait of a marriage followed by a fracturing of the narrative into a series of disjointed letters. The book refocuses itself, however, in its last two thirds, to give us the portrait of a couple's relationship from three different rotating perspectives, all of which, in a way that impressed me, manage to seem understandable and, simultaneously, problematic. At the core of the book, though, is a careful critique of the assumption, even an unconscious assumption, that a woman in the 21st century still becomes "property" of her husband upon marriage. This is not something discussed explicitly until nearer to the end of the novel; instead, Jones lets it bubble up as Ray and Celestial's marriage begins to warp under the stress of his unjust incarceration. This novel certainly made me think, but I also appreciated the suspense and the careful unraveling of the story. Family secrets, terrible fears, and personal weaknesses, many of them considered in relation to the race of the characters, rise to the surface as you read, with the unique world of the main characters' parents often providing a counterpoint to the main narrative. My only (tiny) complaint might be that the book is sometimes a bit too reliant on coincidence, most notably in one of the revelations of Ray's jail time. Still, though, this is ultimately a very interesting, thoughtful and engaging novel that I recommend to those with an interest in contemporary literature and American literature.