An American Marriage is a fictional book written by Tayari Jones in 2018. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward with hope and pain into the future. In February 2018, it was chosen for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0. The book discussed the relationships between two African-Americans who were in and out of marriage. The three major characters in the book are Roy, Celestial and Andre.
SUMMARY
An American Marriage is a story about two young newly wedded couple. Roy was a young executive (a sales rep for a textbook company) and wife, Celestial was an artist (specializing in custom made baby dolls). They lived in Atlanta and after the first year of their marriage, they visited Roy’s parents. It was during the visit Roy told Celestial that his father wasn’t his biological father. This led to feud between them and Roy has to exit the room for Celestial.
When he was out of their motel, he met a woman with a broken arm which he helped back to her room. Later that night, the woman was raped and after calling the police, she claimed Roy must have been involved in her rape. While awaiting jail trial, Roy learnt Celestial was pregnant which he advised to be aborted. Roy was later sentenced to 12 years jail term.
The couple had a good communication during Roy’s early days in prison. It was in the prison Roy met his biological father, Walter. He shared the news with Celestial but things became bad when there is a gap in their communication. Celestial’s dolls business takes off and so the time shared was reduced.
It was during this period she fell in love with her childhood friend, Andre. Roy didn’t communicate with Celestial for years after this. He was eventually freed before the end of his jail term. Now Celestial backed by her family except her father accepted her divorce. Andre proposes to Celestial the night Roy was to be released. Roy met her old friend, Davina who invited him for a dinner.
They eventually had sex that night which Roy thought was meaningless. It was just an act to him. Roy, in possession of Celestial’s spare key entered her residence before she returned from her dolls shop. He wanted to have sex with her but Celestial told him to use protection, which he didn’t have. Andre discussed an issue concerning Roy’s trial; this led to Roy beating Andre in Celestial’s lawn. Police was called upon but Celestial settled things smoothly and went home with Roy. Later that night, Roy confesses sleeping with Davina. He also realized Celestial no longer love him romantically. Celestial in a letter informed Roy she was carrying Andre’s baby. She told him they don’t have plans to marry. Roy also told her he’s going to
