An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

 I read this whole book in one weekend which should be a testament to it's captivating plot and easy to care about characters. The story alternates from different characters' points of view and every character is one to root for. With a few minor exceptions, each character presents their best self to the reader, leaving the reader unclear who is right and wrong and unsure what should or will happen next. This, of course, is the point: life is messy and so is this story. 

I've heard criticism of this book that it skips over too much; the story does take place over many years and there are important events we only learn about when the characters refer back to them. This was not a flaw in my experience of reading it. Instead, I read it as a sign of a talented writer. We move effortlessly through different tenses, points of view, and time frames. We sit with characters in real time and also listen as they reminisce.  A compelling story deserves skillful writing and this is totally it. 

What I enjoyed most, however, was not the complexity of the characters in "the marriage" the title refers to nor the polished but accessible style in which it's written but the relationships shown between parents and adult children. The younger characters seem to understand their parents as people and see the impact their parents' marriages had on their own current relationships. The parents, in turn, weigh in on their adult children's lives in ways that feel helpful and insightful, not judgmental or blandly parental. Achieving that balance in real life is hard. I'm sure it was hard to write that balance into these characters' lives but the perfect balance of parents and children seeing each other as people outside of their own relationship with each other was my favorite part of this novel.