An American Marriage by Tayari Jones: This book is devastating…but in a good way. You barely have a chance to meet newlyweds Roy and Celestine before their life is thrown into chaos and disarray. Sentenced to a 12 year prison term for a crime he didn’t commit, the novel unfolds partially in an epistolary form before transitioning back to a first person narrative that switches between Roy, Celestine, and their friend, Andre.
Reading those first hope-filled letters between Roy and Celestine will make your heart ache; you feel the depths of the injustice they are forced to endure. The tone of their letters change as the years go by. You see these characters growing, shifting, and learning more about their lives both as separate people and as a husband and wife.
How do you reconcile the past while moving towards the future? Sometimes this isn’t a smooth process. Sometimes it’s one step forward, two steps back. Roy and Celestine’s journey is heartbreaking and beautiful. It’s real, ugly, passionate, and compelling. There is no fairy tale ending here, just three people struggling with what it means to be alive, in love, and committed to that love in the present day. Do they reach the tipping point where their bonds of love no longer connect them? You’ll have to read it and judge for yourself.