‘AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE’: TAYARI JONES’ NOVEL OF REALITY
The justice system takes its toll on a marriage
Tayari Jones’ “An American Marriage” is more than just a novel about a young black couple dealing with the fallout and ramifications of an unjust incarceration.
It’s also about challenging the assumptions readers will have about marriage, commitment, honor and justice. Added to that mix is the typical American assumptions about class, race, gender and equity that are embedded throughout the book. “An American Marriage” is about the possible obstacles that married couples can face. But it’s also about the decisions people avoid making.
What makes Ms. Jones’ book poignant yet aggravating is the winding journey it takes toward her conclusion, because the reader already knows how it’s going to end. Her writing style is detailed and cavernous in what you learn about the characters, yet it hinders the overall pace of the story.
Ms. Jones tells the story of “An American Marriage” through three characters: Roy, Celestial and Andre. She uses sections titled after the characters so that they know what voice they’re hearing.
As a result, it feels as if Roy, Celestial and Andre have a close relationship with the reader, as if they’re talking to them after a long absence. Other times, the reader becomes a distant observer, listening or watching the characters in the way close friends or relatives watch other family members at family functions.
The reader is not the only observer of this story. The characters’ parents also provide love and support along with painful truths about what they see is happening among their children. The elders are fully fleshed-out, despite being minor characters.
Roy is the determined, smooth, ideas-driven husband. He sees himself as an up-and-comer whose success is inevitable. Celestial can be down to earth. Yet she also tends to be passive and ethereal in how she views her life and career as a doll maker. As for Andre, although he’s a teacher, his purpose seems to be about being there for Celestial.
Their lives all changed on a fateful night in Louisiana when Roy and Celestial decide to stay in a hotel instead of with family. That decision led to Roy being falsely accused of rape and going to prison.
Roy’s incarceration and the impact it’s had on him, Celestial and their respective families will resonate with those angered about the high rate of false arrests and incarcerations of African-Americans. Ms. Jones’ use of letter exchanges between Celestial and Roy is an inspired way to show the harsh and unexpected changes prison has brought to their lives, and its effect on African-American families.
The vein of aggravation that runs through “An American Marriage” is not just due to the frustration readers may have with Celestial’s decision to be with Andre while still married to Roy. It’s also the assumption readers may have about the book:
The expectation that Celestial will work tirelessly to free her husband while remaining faithful to Roy.
The hope that Roy will remain resilient until his legal vindication, with the accuser recanting her accusation, leading to his public exoneration, and more efforts at criminal justice reform due to this latest miscarriage of justice. The wish that Andre would accept that Celestial would always love Roy and that there’s no place for him in her life.
As the reader keeps waiting for something big to occur, the book meanders as if to reflect time passing as these three characters each make their adjustments to their new normal. Ms. Jones doesn’t do enough to overcome these expectations, which unfortunately makes the reader feel as if Ms. Jones has sometimes lost the thread. Or, maybe, that Ms. Jones had sections that she was loathe to include.
If readers decide to skim the book, they will miss nuggets of sorrow and heat that pack a wallop, such as why Celestial stopped going to the prison to see Roy because women visitors are treated like they’re “coming to visit [their] pimp.” Or the passage where Celestial’s dad tells Andre that “Roy is a hostage of the state. He is victim of America. The least you could do is unhand his wife when he gets back.” Or, when Roy’s father explains to Roy that his mother had her tubes tied so that she couldn’t have any more children with fathers who might end up leaving her. This is when Ms. Jones is at her best.
“An American Marriage” is wonderful in how it describes and reflects the many layers of its characters.
Yet, by making Roy’s incarceration a muted backdrop in order to show the complex emotional machinations of its characters, the book places unintentional roadblocks to the story’s tempo. As a result, instead of being fully absorbed by the saga of Roy, Celestial and Andre, readers might find themselves wondering not how it will end, but simply when.