An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Abstract

CLA JOURNAL 123 Jones, Tayari. An American Marriage. Algonquin Books, 2018. 336 pp. ISBN: 9781616208776 . $26.95 Hardcover. Tayari Jones, a Georgia native and New York Times best-selling author, has penned four novels with An American Marriage being her latest contribution. An American Marriage is part of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club and has received praise from former President Barak Obama. Prior to her recent acclaim, Jones received several awards including the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award in Fine Arts from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and the United States Artist Fellowship. Jones is also a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and her literature predominantly features this important regional locale. An American Marriage is set in the US South, divided among Georgia, Louisiana, and the African American soul. In this epistolary novel, Tayari Jones paints each character and scene with vivid strokes of imagination and realism. The story centers Roy O’Thaniel Hamilton and Celestial Gloriana Davenport, a young married couple with dreams of success for their futures when “a meteor crashed their life,” after approximately 18 months of marriage. As a result of an unfair justice system toward Black people, Roy is accused and convicted of a crime and his wife, Celestial is left to fend for herself on the outside. Anchored by its strong themes, the novel leads readers to grapple with racism, the importance of education, boundaries within marriage and being true to yourself. Jones’ commitment to verisimilitude emerges through the experience of a Morehouse educated Black male unfairly placed in the hands of an all-White jury and judicial system in the back woods of Louisiana. While the characters’ challenges are crushing, therelationshipsforgedreflecttheresilienceof thehumanspiritandserveasatestament to African Americans’ ability to persevere. The narrative serves to illuminate a dark reality while simultaneously revealing the light and optimism of collective community efforts. Jones’ use of petitioning and advocacy for those in prison acknowledges the work of Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative. This inclusion reinforces the realism that pervades the novel and fortifies its themes. One of the many strengths of Jones’ novel is her rendering of complex dynamics amid familial relationships. Emotionally intelligent and descriptive, the portrayals of husband/wife, mother (in law) /daughter (in law), father/son relationships are vivid and evoke a visceral response. Jones illustrates an age-old question regarding inter-sex relationships, indicating that friendships between men and women are only platonic when both parties are uninterested romantically. Ponderings such as this unfold in an enticing narrative of love, devastation and the human spirit. The novel employs similes, allusions, and paradoxes as it transports readers to a Popular Culture past. Along the way, readers have encounters with icons like Thelma from “Good Times,” as they reminisce about Love Jones, “A Different World,” Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, and Jet Magazine. Such mentionings are pleasant and familiar Book Reviews 124 CLA JOURNAL to the “grown and sexy” crowd ages 35 plus, but younger readers may have difficulty connecting. Other references include the prominence of The Black Church and the centrality of the Bible, evidenced in scriptures such as,“what God has brought together let no man put asunder.”These nostalgic recollections situate readers within the context of the novel. American Marriage strikes a balance for constant tensions between Black and White, light and dark, rich and poor, and God versus Superstition, all of which complicate the narratives of each character. Overall,Jonessuperblyshowsthecomplexitiesandtensionsof humanrelationships while identifying several voices of the African American narrative--namely the death and resurrection of the African American male. Although every character is faced with his or her own bout of self-sacrifice, that fallout is one with which each must contend. By the novel’s end, Roy realizes the cause of his undoing “was the state of Louisiana.” And yet, in spite of his experience, he chooses to see the brighter side, as he confides, “You don’t know what you need until somebody gives it to you exactly the way you need it gave.” At a time when seeing the brighter side is difficult, and the world is constantly confronted with the death of African American men at the hands of White men, the...