An American Marriage in Retro Chapter Chicks

Jan 30, 2020 Brina rated it really liked it

Shelves: african-american, fiction

Every January I try not to get in the reading doldrums. The weeks between the Super Bowl and baseball’s opening day are gloomy for me I wait for hope to spring eternal. I attribute this to lack of sunlight combined with my two favorite sports being on hiatus at the same time, inevitably lowering my reading productivity. This winter I decided to read more fiction to lose myself in settings removed from winter. The fiction I have on tap for February is set in South America, Africa, 1920s Harlem, a Every January I try not to get in the reading doldrums. The weeks between the Super Bowl and baseball’s opening day are gloomy for me I wait for hope to spring eternal. I attribute this to lack of sunlight combined with my two favorite sports being on hiatus at the same time, inevitably lowering my reading productivity. This winter I decided to read more fiction to lose myself in settings removed from winter. The fiction I have on tap for February is set in South America, Africa, 1920s Harlem, and Hogwarts castle, all exotic locales in their own way. I was finally ready to start my last January book when Sunday’s helicopter crash occurred, shocking both sports fans and people the world over. Reading about all of the people who perished in the crash, I had a feeling that they would not want to the living to go on with their lives by sobbing. With that thought in mind combined with all the tributes I keep reading, I turned to An American Marriage by Tayari Jones with its inviting, sparkling blue and gold cover as a respite from this week’s horrific news.

Tayari Jones is a literature professor at Atlanta’s Emory University and knows the city well. One day lunching at a local restaurant, she happened upon a couple who became the inspiration for this book. The woman was well put together, not rich but an archetype for a successful African American businesswoman. Her husband appeared dressed well but living a life worn down beyond his years. Jones noted that the wife asked the husband “Would you have waited seven years for me?” This followed with the response, “But it would not happen to you.” Sadly, falsely accused and incarceration happened to both members of this couple, taking Jones on a seven year journey to craft her story of the 21st century African American south. From a chance encounter with two strangers, Jones wove her tale of Roy and Celestial Davenport-Hamilton, characters who speak of what 21st century America is all about.

Celestial Gloriana Davenport is a 21st century woman down to her core. The only child and pride of her parents Franklin and Gloria, Celestial has her life handed to her on a silver platter. She all but had her marriage arranged for her at birth when she started bathing together with her next door neighbor Andre in their kitchen sink from the time they were three months old. She went from having a predetermined fate to a bumpy road but never without support from her family. After a rocky year away from home at Howard, Celestial returned to Spellman, within the cocoon of her family and Atlanta, the city she knew so well. This cocoon also included her budding life as an artisan and Andre who was enrolled at nearby Morehouse. The two seemed to belong to each other until Andre introduced Celestial to his friend, Roy Otheniel Hamilton. Then circumstance and fate had a strange way of straightening themselves out.

Roy Otheniel Hamilton hailed from backwoods Eloe, Louisiana. Also an only child, his circumstances could not have been different than Celestial’s. His parents Big Roy and Olive saved and sacrificed all that they had so that their son, their pride and joy, could attend college. At Morehouse, Roy adopted Atlanta as his own city. He became an entrepreneur and always had one eye on a means to get ahead. This eye included Celestial but she did not take to him until years later when she was living in New York and needed a reminder of home. Roy was there at the right place at the right time, a southern boy for a southern girl living in New York. Immediately, both sets of parents could tell that the marriage would not work. Their stations in life were too different and the meshing of families could not take root. Sometimes mothers do indeed know best but to be young, in love, and oh so physically attracted to one another, Roy and Celestial proceeded with marriage anyway. In this case, mothers Gloria and Olive wanted their children to be happy but had an inkling that they did know what was right for their children.

Jones story is one of 21st century American spirit and also one of happenstance and fate. Would Celestial had fallen for Roy is they lived in Atlanta? My gut is no, she was too much of an independent woman and would have been happy alone, or with Andre, her true soulmate. Yet, joined with Roy she was, and then fate put this couple, only married for a year and a half, in the backwoods of Louisiana in a rundown hotel. In a circumstance of he said, she said Roy is falsely accused of raping a white woman and is sentenced to twelve years in jail. He discovers who he is as Jones weaves together Roy’s and Celestial’s tales told through multiple points of view and real, fleshed out characters. As one who believes in second chances and also taking advantage of the cards one has been dealt, it was tough taking a side in this story. I felt for Roy while pitying Celestial as well, even though she was successful on the outside while he was innocent, stuck on the inside. It was a miracle that Roy survived the ordeal at all, much less be forced to answer the question “would you have waited for me?”

An American Marriage is a road map for a 21st century African American family. The characters, both major and minor, are well drawn out and compelling to read about. The author Jones conducted a great deal of research to craft her story, which provided a number of talking points that will be great for book club discussions next month. Rather than enter February grieving from the news in the reading doldrums, I enter on a positive reading note. Much has been said to not judge a book by its cover but I admit I was drawn to the turquoise cover with its sparkling gold tree, a tree which plays a key role in the book in its own right. Tayari Jones is a new author for me and I was satisfied with this novel. With her other books set in Atlanta as well, I have a feeling that I will be revisiting her books again in the future.

3.75 stars ...more

104 likes · Like · see review

Jun 06, 2018 Celia rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle-library, ten-year-challenge, recommended-read, 2018-read, vero-book-club, wholesale, library-of-congress, obama

A very sad story about the demise of a marriage-- why and when.

Good for discussion and contemplating what your own marriage is made of.

****
I read this book in June and was aghast when I saw a rating of 1 star and that I had not reviewed it. So I entered the above two sentences and started to think about a real review.

Celestial and Roy are newly wedded and the epitome of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive and she is a budding artist. Their life is ripped apart by a ...more

22 likes · Like · see review

Mar 26, 2018 Kris (My Novelesque Life) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, america, library-book-borrowed, relationships, justice, prison

RATING: 4.5 STARS
(Review Not on Blog)

This was a cover-pick for me. I was at the library and saw this in the 7-day loan section, and the teal cover told me to check it out. And, I always listen to books. I didn't know what the story was about or the hype behind the book (Oprah Book Club). I went in blind starting this novel at bedtime, wanting to read just a chapter. I enjoyed the story - a portrait of a marriage - a realistic account of two people in love and living the "American Dream". Roy get ...more

16 likes · Like · see review

Mar 04, 2020 Book Concierge rated it really liked it

Shelves: georgia, louisiana, audio, marriage, relationships, concierge, library, social-commentary

Book on CD performed by Sean Crisden and Eisa Davis..

A young couple are on their way to success and, just over a year into their marriage, contemplating beginning a family, when the unforeseeable happens. Torn apart by racial injustice, they struggle to maintain the promise of their relationship.

I think it would be a great choice for a book-club. There are so many issues to discuss:
Can America tolerate an upwardly mobile African American couple? How do parental expectations influence our adult ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

May 01, 2019 Nancy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-books, 80-countries, rcc-spring-challenge

3.5 stars. This was an okay read for me, not great. The story is simple, not very original and quite predictable. I felt like Celestial was not developed at all. We just see the outcome of her actions when Roy returns from prison. Roy is left wondering what is going on with his marriage while he is in prison and so is the reader. I agree with another GR reviewer that perhaps seeing more of Celestial's point of view would have helped me understand her actions. I could not summon up any sympathy f ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2019 Lory Sakay rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Good, different story of a relationship forced to weather unexpected storms; and a very current and heartfelt one at that. Another reviewer mentioned how this book highlights the unexpected consequences resulting from the faults of the criminal justice system, I wholeheartedly agree. Yet, it also explores the intimacy of family, self preservation, and social/racial injustice. Although Celestial and Roy's marriage is altered by an unrelated event, it reminded me a lot of how marriages are often n ...more

Like · see review