An American Marriage

A man and woman marry. He's from working class origins. She comes from money. Each has his own problems in his family of origin. They struggle with issues. They love each other. They struggle more.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, he is accused and convicted of rape. He is sent to prison. What will happen to their marriage?

I wavered and wavered on my rating of An American Marriage: A Novel by Tayari Jones. Chapter one left me breathless. Has anyone else really captured the dynamics of a marriage so well as Tayari Jones in chapter one? Five stars. I wasn't as pleased with the ensuing chapters, the time Roy spent in prison. Roy's time in prison and the reactions of his family and friends to his being in prison seemed muted. Three stars. And so my rating went, up and down, down and up, until I got to the very last page.

I don't want to share the ending, because a huge part of reading the book is to find out what happens to the marriage. There is also the bait of off-and-on wondering whether Roy did what he was accused of.

Still, despite my ambivalence about some of the parts of the story, overall, I'm very glad I read it.