Moopy Book Club (August): Tayari Jones - "An American Marriage"

Joined
Feb 3, 2004
Messages
68,342
Recommended by @Beverley.

33590210._SY475_.jpg


From goodreads.com:

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. In this deft exploration of love, loyalty, race, justice, and both Black masculinity and Black womanhood in 21st century America, Jones achieves that most-elusive of all literary goals: the Great American Novel.
 
I hope we havent got book club fatigue already! Im going to buy this tomorrow. Im reading lots of great short stories, but I want to make some time for this.
 
next year we need to read less current books because these newer releases are giving me hell at the library :D 14th in line. probably won't make it :o but hey! I'll be fine! awaiting your verdicts :disco:
 
I've been taking my time getting into the new album, but "Remember The Future" is absolutely corking. The preceding album (and the iamamiwhoami stuff which is basically exactly the same to be honest) are both excellent.

One of us can send you a copy, sis!

"Watches Watches" and "Blue Blue" are brilliant but "Shadowshow" tops them both. The Susanne Sundfør style dramatics are off the charts :disco:

next year we need to read less current books because these newer releases are giving me hell at the library :D 14th in line. probably won't make it :o but hey! I'll be fine! awaiting your verdicts :disco:
 
I'm on it.. just need to finish the third book in the Millennium trilogy (hopefully this week) and then I'll start this..
 
Finished this. I liked the complex dilemmas that the main characters were battling and I loved the structure of the book but I found it hard to warm up to any of the three main characters, especially Celestial. Like last month’s book this was an honest portrayal of the human race at its worst when it comes to love, commitment och fidelity. Basically everyone is a an asshole. But unlike last month’s book (sorry for comparing) I found the writing a a bit thin and overall it gave me bordeline chic lit vibes. Still a solid 7.5-8/10
 
Hi huns. Finished early.

The book was not at all what I expected. I think the author made some really interesting choices; starting so 'late' in their relationship, giving us so little of their earlier happiness, a huge chunk of the first third consisting of merely letters between the two main characters. I think because of that, I find the book quite cold, and I found the characters quite cold too. But I really came round to it. The way she handled the build-up in and during the final confrontation was just brilliant, and I really loved/admired how messy it all was. So I had a totally different opinion to RS - I found the book quite powerful. I felt for the characters. Nobody was right. But everybody had been done wrong in some way. The two fathers were really great, as was the writing. I loved the subtle southernness of the language. It's getting a 9/10.
 
This is so difficult to get through. I'm on a third now and I'm really unimpressed by the one dimensional characters - the Walter reveal in particular - and I'm bothered by the racist undertones. Celestial is such a nasty character. Her justification of the abortion, her view of the women who go to the prison to visit their husbands (do you want me to be like them? I'm a strong independent woman with my own dreams. No you're not. You're an entitled, manipulative piece of work who forces Roy to apologize for basically everything while she never does so. I was so glad he got rid of her in prison but I reckon they work things out and it'll be a happy end. Ugh.

Rant over. I'll get back to it to finish the rest.
 
CEC :disco:

What I did find myself reacting to (in a negative way) was all the talk about the role of women in all this; to guide, to heal, to save men. All the references to 'a woman's work is never done'. I found it quite patriarchal, but then I had to remind myself that it isn't pretending to be a feminist novel. It's set in the south in a particular community and I know that those attitudes are real.
 
Maybe the mother (what’s with calling the parents by their first name? It kept confusing me) healed and saved Roy and her husband, but just like Cecil said, Celestial was nasty and selfish and did no such thing to neither of the guys.

I mean the whole thing started with her being mad at Roy for him telling her about something special and very personal, but still not crucial for her to know before they got married. (You might have noticed that she hadn’t told him about her own parents’ business at the time she was born).
 
Just started this tonight GANG.

Are we going for Toni Morrison in September? If so, which book? I can start a POLL..
 
I haven’t read anything by her so I’m up for it.

But when are we doing Circe and Overstory?
 
Back on topic: I am really enjoying An American Marriage so far. I should have it finished by the end of next week I think, and will post a review then.
 
So I finished this and... I didn't like it at all.

The story was weak and the characters were unlikeable. Some of the writing was beautiful but it really wasn't enough.

I didn't actually like any of them.

2/5
 
I loved the prison letters. It’s what happened after the prison that really brought it down, mostly because whatshername got cuntier by every page.

I mostly felt sorry for the tree. It’s the dreadful dolls that should have been destroyed.
 
But why do they have to be likeable?
Okay maybe what I meant was relatable rather than likeable. It’s a big problem in any work of fiction if you can’t relate to any of the characters and I felt she had major character flaws in this book.

I suppose Roy would be the obvious person to empathise with or relate to but there was no complexity to his character I felt. Or at least it wasn’t as fleshed out as I thought it could be.

Oh and don’t get me started on those stupid dolls...
 
Finally finshed this, here's my review.

Tayara Jones' demonstrates a bleak view of the black community. A community in which the women are good cooks, moody and strong willed, the men are pathetic and weak and at the complete disposal of the women and all the white people are bad.

If only she made Celestial an interesting character one could understand why Roy went to all this trouble. Jones tries to with the weird puppets arc - a 50 dollar puppet that makes the buyer uncomfortable - but Celestial never becomes more than a woman who wants it all but isn't prepared to make sacrifices. Throughout the novel, one one learns anything. A lot is going on but not one of the characters learns anything from it or changes their standpoint.

The main characters make very odd choices and hold questionable views. For example, when Roy gets back with Celestial for a night and he is adamant on having unprotected sex because apparently condoms are out of line if you're married - most odd - but he simply forgets that just a week ago he had unprotected sex with the first woman he ran in to. Or when Celestial tells Roy's mother about Walter, which was completely out of line. She later gives a half arsed explanation about how his mother found peace then but that doesn't change the fact that it was rude and not hers to tell. It's one of the many many instances in the book when a character should have noticed his or her mistake and apologize for it but that never happens.

The writing isn't very good. Jones uses every Cosmopolitan/US Weekly cliche about women and their (sexual) healing powers she knows. Her "wisdom" is pedestrian and as RS mentioned very chic lit. It's no wonder Oprah and her mumsnet brigade lap it up. Jones plays on the readers emotions and doesn't leave much room for interpretation. The using of first names for the parents was also very annoying.

There is some very subtle black vs white racism going on if you read between the lines. Every white character is vilified - from the rape victim to the judge, everyone is bad - which at itself isn't a crime necessarily, but she fails to give a single explanation for that. Some more detail about the court proceedings would have been needed before basically stating that black people cannot get an honest trial. Also there's a complete story line about the rape victim that is lost that could have been fascinating, but no. We get predictable prison letters and an over the top fight with Andre who has just been written in the book to play the victim to Roy's dominance over Celestial instead.

This was not a great novel. I struggled to finish it because there's nothing to take away from it. I would rate it 1.5/5.
 
By the way I started with the Overstory last night and oh my that's how you write a novel! :disco: Hooked already.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom