Jun 19th 2019, 22:09

For a novel that tackles so many big topics, An American Marriage manages to retain a lightness that keeps it engaging despite itself. A lot of that is down to the structure of Tayari Jones’ book - a mixture of point of view narratives and letters. We read perspectives from three members of a love triangle, all of which are reflective and meandering, which helps the book avoid becoming too heavy going.

Roy and Celestial have been married for just over a year when he is wrongly convicted and given a 12 year sentence. As months become years, Celestial’s long term friendship with Andre (who she grew up with and who is the introductory link between the married couple) develops into something more. When the case lawyer (Celestial’s Uncle) comes good and quashes the conviction, the three must tackle truths and beat a path for the future out of the fragments that remain of their shattered relationships.

However the story is not as basic as a love triangle. It’s about marriage, society, family, history, fate and circumstance. Through the narratives of Roy, Celestial and Andre, we learn about the marriages of the generation before. The parents whose relationships formed and defined their children. The three derive from three different home setups - a broken home, a settled home and one with a loving stepfather. Set against all of this the deeply scarred black history of the Southern United States. The “six or twelve” (carried by six or judged by twelve) sense of limitation that generations of black men have felt is devastating to comprehend but vividly portrayed.

However this is an America emerging from the past: Celestial is an up and coming artist, and as we enter the novel, Roy is an upwardly mobile entrepreneur. This is an America where African American citizens are forward looking and successful. So it feels all the more shocking that Roy and Celestial’s equilibrium is destroyed by what feels like a sequence of events from sixty years ago. This is a reality that I think it’s important to understand - how in some areas, very little has changed.

So it was with a sense of injustice and liberal fury that I experienced much of this book. Wrongful conviction is so deeply unfair and irreparable. Not that this automatically puts us on Roy’s side, of course. Each member of the love triangle does things that are morally ambiguous. Their motivations are myriad and not limited to desire nor based on the conviction. Whether it is the drive of a career, the thrill of a flirtation, a desire to roam or long held resentments, these characters are complex.

All three narrators, then, have distinct flaws; human as they are. Each account is explicitly open in their motives and so with these flaws display, I doubt any reader will take sides. This is a real study in human relationships rather than a love story. It leaves us with questions rather than answers. What is a wife, a husband, a mother, a father, a friend? How important is circumstance? Can any one event cause the implosion of a marriage or are some relationship breakdowns inevitable?

Despite my indignation on behalf of Roy’s miscarriage of justice, I can’t pretend to truly ‘get’ life as an African American in the deep South. It’s as far removed from predominantly white middle England as you can imagine. Tayari Jones’ writing goes a fair way to help me, though. Her characters are well constructed and very real. The language is poetic and lyrical and imbued with age old wisdom from mothers and fathers and communities.

I don’t know the answers to the questions that the novel poses, but I absolutely feel that Tayari Jones has framed these ideas with clarity through an engaging and moving story. It’s a story that vividly paints not just an American marriage but a stark American reality.

'A marvellous feat of storytelling.' * Guardian * 'If you haven't read it yet, now is the time.' * Sunday Times Style * 'Haunting...beautifully written.' * New York Times Book Review * 'Another incredible love story, though fraught with greater challenges for the couple at the centre, which makes the story all the more moving. Jones's prose is chock-full of lyricism, grace and wisdom. You will never forget the story of Celestial and Roy.' * Observer * 'Epic...transcendent...triumphant.' * Elle * 'The end of this beautiful novel made me cry. Jones writes with intelligence and a lively wit, but there's more - a warmth that forces you to care about these people as if you had met them.' * Times * 'Jones sheds a haunting light on the all-encompassing nature of racial injustice.' * Daily Mail, Best Summer Reads * 'Loyalty, duty, family, secrets and anger are gently, yet powerfully woven through every page...the reader is given a sense of intimacy that is a rare gift from an author.' * Naga Munchetty, 2016 judge of the Women's Prize for Fiction * 'A magnificent, painful story of love and justice.' * Sainsbury's Magazine, Book Club Choice * 'A moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple.' * Barack Obama * 'It is a story of love, loss and loyalty, the resilience of the human spirit painted on a big political canvas that shines a light on today's America... The prose is luminous, striking and utterly moving.' * Prof. Kate Williams, Chair of Judges, The Women's Prize for Fiction * 'It's among Tayari's many gifts that she can touch us soul to soul with her words.' * Oprah Winfrey * 'Jones writes brilliantly about expectations and loss and racial injustice, and how love must evolve when our best laid plans go awry.' * Esquire * 'A tense and timely love story... An American Marriage is the perfect book-club book - one the whole group will finish and discuss with conviction.' * People Magazine, Book of the Week * 'A literary page-turner that's impossible to put down.' * <i>The Los Angeles Times</i> * 'Jones's exquisitely written novel... powerful.' * Evening Standard * 'A stunning epic love story filled with breathtaking twists and turns... Skilfully crafted and beautifully written, An American Marriage is an exquisite, timely, and powerful novel that feels both urgent and indispensable.' * Edwidge Danticat, author of Breath, Eyes, Memory *