Barak Obama had this on his recommended reading list so I read An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. The story is about a couple living in Atlanta. Their names are Celestial and Roy and they have been married 18 months. She is an artist designing and selling expensive cloth dolls. Roy works in marketing. They go to Louisiana to visit Roy's parents. His parents expect them to spend the night in Roy's room. Instead Roy and Celestial go to the tiny town and check into the motel. At the hotel they have an argument. They decide to take a break before they say anything they don't mean. During the break Roy goes out to the ice machine. He meets a lady there. They talk. He carries her ice for her to her room and then goes back to Celestial. They resolve the argument. At 1 a.m. their hotel door is broken down by police. Roy is arrested for raping the woman he helped with her ice. He is innocent but this is rural Louisiana. He tried and convicted. Roy is sentenced to seven years in prison. Will this marriage survive? Neither Roy nor Celestial did anything wrong but both had to pay a huge price. This book is so good I could hardly put it down.
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