Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search This Site

> FAQ Home
> Tag: an american marriage

Obama knew what he was talking about.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

by Leave a Comment

This book has been on my radar for a while for a number of reasons, one of which being that President Obama listed it on his summer reading list in 2018. (Remember when presidents would share their summer reading lists? George W. Bush had a hefty reading habit as well. The current administration hasn’t shared one. So there’s that). I’m going to kick it over to President Obama’s one-sentence summary to get this review started. “An American Marriage by Tayari Jones is a moving portrayal of […]

Reminded me of “If Beale Street Could Talk” Though I Didn’t Like the Main Characters

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

by Leave a Comment

Well I went into this expecting a compelling read. It was that at times. I think the biggest reason why I just didn’t get into this story that much was that the story should have stayed between Roy and Celestial. Adding Andre actually took away from both of them. And having the narrative go to their letters to each other was a bit hard to get into since the rhythm was off. Except for a few clues here and there you are pretty unaware of […]

No Danger of a Simple Story

by Leave a Comment

Like many books that I pick up, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones ended up on my to-read list after I heard a story on NPR.  Interviewed by Karen Grigsby-Bates last February, Jones said she had done a lot of research on criminal justice and race to prepare to write a book but that nothing was clicking until she went home to visit her mom over the holidays and overheard a conversation in an Atlanta mall: JONES: The woman was beautifully dressed, and the young man, he […]

None of This is Fair

by 2 Comments

I needed an Oprah’s Book Club book for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge and this one took place in Atlanta so it seemed like a good choice. The novel deals with the false imprisonment of a successful black man and its after effects on him, his wife and his marriage.  While this seems especially relevant in today’s context, I was surprised to realize the novel takes in the early to mid 2000’s rather than current day. Ray Jr. grew up in small town Louisiana; […]

A marriage is more than your heart, it’s your life. And we are not sharing ours.

by Leave a Comment

I’m claiming my “I’ve been reading Tayari Jones for years” privilege here! So take that Oprah! I think this is likely her best book in the combination of importance, story and execution, and audience concern. Leaving Atlanta is very good, but it’s kind of devastating in a way that leaves you pretty raw and cut open by the end. Silver Sparrow and The Unnaming are both very good, but less so than this one. There’s a very real and very relevant story here. It’s that combination that makes it […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo