In some stories, there are no heroes. There are no villains. No clear wrong or right. There are merely circumstances. Those stories are often the ones that stay with you the most.
One review described An American Marriage as "a genuinely suspenseful love story where nobody's wrong and everybody's wounded."
Couldn't have said it better myself.
This is the story of Celestial and Roy... and, Andre. The first two are married and live a somewhat unremarkable life together. Andre is a mutual friend who grew up as the boy next door to Celestial. Then one day, Roy is arrested for and convicted of a crime he didn't commit. While he waits in prison for the justice that may never come, life on the outside goes on without him.
What happens through that time and after is told through alternating perspectives; one chapter is Roy, one is Andre, one is Celestial and on and on it goes. What it does is provides not a jolt of storytelling back and forth, but a realistic look at life. What happens to you doesn't only happen to you. What you see through your own eyes is not always reality. The truth - the right and wrong - usually lives in the gray area.
I loved this book. It was sweet and sad and somewhat hopeful. It wasn't easy, by any means. It felt entirely too real; and, perfectly just so. You find yourself not rooting for or against anyone, but simply resigning to yourself that fairy tale endings belong in fairy tales for a reason.
Such a good, clean read of a messy story. Beautifully written, too.
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