What I Am Reading: An American Marriage
I just finished this book. It was a story. I can’t say it was goo
d one or a bad one, it was just a story. The same story you would hear at any Thanksgiving, family gathering, or chit chat around the table at a repast.
The book is written from a first person point of view of the three main characters, which means there are no chapters, just Celestial, Roy and Andre. These are also the main characters. I only kept reading it in hopes that Roy would break out of prison and come home and kill Celestial. No such luck. However, let me sum this up for you the way you would hear it from your two cousins, Keke and Lashunda.
LaShunda: Girl, did you hear about Roy and Andre? Well, you know they went to college together up in Atlanta. Roy married that girl, Constellation.
Keke: You mean Celestial.
LaShunda: Whatever. Anyhoo, Roy caught a case and got 15 down in Folsom. While he was gone, Andre moved in on Constellation. Thing was…Roy got out early. He drove all night to Atlanta, and whipped Andre’s ass.
KeKe: Girl no!
LaShunda: Uhmm…hmm. Then got in his car and drove all the way back to Eloe. He didn’t even bother to sleep with Constellation, that’s how mad he was at both of them. Him and his Daddy own a barbershop now and Roy is with that girl Davina. I hear she notarized the divorce papers when Constellation finally sent them.
KeKe: Celestial. Her name is Celestial. Hey, after the divorce, did she marry Andre.
LaShunda: Girl Naw. She is pregnant with Andre’s baby, but they ain’t married. Roy is doing good too.
KeKe: Ain’t that something? (Pauses) Oh here comes Luella with them canned greens she tried to fob off as her own.
Yep. That’s the whole story.
I was waiting for that moment when you could feel the author’s pain in the words. I longed to feel the agony of Roy’s pain, but it wasn’t there. at one point, I felt bad for Andre who had loved Celestial his entire life. Truthfully, I don’t think that girl even knew how to love herself.
The book made Oprah’s Book Club for 2018. My book club read it too. Who knows, you may enjoy it as well.
Let me know your thoughts if you have read this.
Olivia Gaines Author 