An American Marriage

Written By Miriam Hanna

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Reviewed by Jess
📘📙📘📙📘


Finally knocking down my TBR pile! I have to admit I was in a rut til I picked this up - it’s one of those addictive, well paced books that constantly leaves you thinking about when you’ll get to keep reading. I devoured it quickly and savoured every second. ⁣⁣
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I am so in awe of Jones’ amazing ability to weave such deep issues into one novel. Alongside the questions of what it means to be a wife or husband, what love truly is and what distance and time does to a relationship, she brings up what it means to be a black man in prison and society, and what happens when a woman wants to stand on her own. ⁣⁣
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The storytelling is incredible, it felt like a movie unfolding, little secrets dropping here and there all building to a dramatic climax. Real relationships are messy, often with problems left unsolved or neatly tied up with a bow, and An American Marriage is no exception. Overall, a beautifully moving story and a real joy to read.

Miriam Hanna

Aka Mimi. I have known Linda for a very, very long time. We grew up together and you learn very quickly that when she gets an idea in her head, you would be an idiot not to back her to see it through. When the idea of the book club came up it was another lightbulb moment where I knew this wasn't only going to be a success but really fun.


I have always been a bookworm. Remember when you were little and you went shopping with your mum or dad and they gave you a toy or something to occupy yourself with whilst you were in the trolley? I used to get books to keep me quiet. They were and are my ultimate form of escapism and more and more they are about understanding who I am as a person. Books make me cry more than films and TV Shows. I can get lost for hours. I love historic fiction, political thrillers and gritty crime novels but also biographies and memoirs of people I find interesting like sportspeople. I was fortunate to be in the Harry Potter generation and if weren't for those books I don't know what I would have. Young literature was so poor at the point. To have a book that had me and my family queuing up at midnight to buy was seriously special.

Whether you listen to audio books, read off a kindle or stick to carrying around good old fashioned hard copies (that's me!) I truly believe reading is the best way to spend some time every day.


The books I would have with me on a desert island? 📚🏝Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Akzaban, Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters, The Power by Naomi Alderman, Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou, Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah and The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

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