An American Marraige

by Tayari Jones
Aug 20-Sept 17, 2018

It appears that I am waaaaay in the minority on this one, but man, I had to force myself through. While maybe the book started off a little slow; the letter writing was interesting and dynamically evolving, it quickly picked up momentum, only to screech to a halt in the final several chapters. It was like slogging through mud.

I really liked the perspective of an educated, successful black "power" couple who get a really shitty hand dealt to them. But for me, this fact only kind of wafted in the background. It would have been better off with a greater focus on this injustice than the marriage collapse. Because of course it would be extremely difficult for newlyweds to maintain a relationship when the husband is locked up for five years, but their actions once he was released from prison were not at all believable. Rightly so, he would assume they could pick up where they left off. And to her defense, she moved on. But their interactions and expectations of each other were disjointed at best.

"What cruelty revealed that she cared by making me understand the limits of the same?"

Huh?? I must have read that sentence five times. I felt like the inevitable ending was so drawn out as to be gratuitous to the author's vocabulary. And when he started banging his head on the stupid tree that even had a name ... enough. I definitely missed the point all around.

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The Stars are Fire

by Anita Shreve
Aug 6-19, 2018

I kind of decided that I shouldn't insist on reading all of the books by the same author just because I loved one in particular. I always end up disappointed. I still remember reading and loving The Pilot's Wife and telling all my friends and family to read it immediately. That was 20 years ago! I do think I read a few other ones; Sea Glass and Testimony sound familiar, but I don't recall the plots. But for some reason, when I heard about Shreve's death and her last novel, I was compelled to pick it up. Glad I did.

As a fan of historical fiction, I seem to be drawn specifically to that of WWII. So when I chose this book, I didn't realize the fires in Maine in the late 40s were actually true, and I didn't pay attention to that "character" when I read the summary. To my surprise, these crazy fires made for an extremely interesting premise, with the tangle of marriage commitments and the expectations of wives during this era mixed in. At only 256 pages, Shreve was able to accomplish a lot with these characters and their circumstances. I tore through it and was pleasantly satisfied. And for once I really enjoyed a serendipitous ending. Sometimes it's just warranted.

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