An American Marriage

Synopsis: Celestial and Roy are young newlyweds, educated, middle class with upwardly mobile ambitions, and happily married. After only 18 months of marriage, Roy is accused and convicted of rape, a crime that he did not commit. Celestial knows that he is innocent, but the years pass, wreaking havoc on their marital bond. Celestial begins to spend more time with her childhood friend (and Roy’s best man) Andre. After five years, the wrongful conviction is overturned, and Roy returns to Atlanta to try and reclaim his life.

Nicholette’s Review: This was such a moving, powerful examination of love and marriage. The brief plot synopsis might make you expect a courtroom drama or examination of the prison-industrial complex. In fact, there is surprisingly little time devoted to the criminal proceedings. Instead, this is an examination of the slow devastation of a man/woman/couple. We read about the hopes of romantic love, some realized and some failed. We read about disapproving in-laws, flawed families, questions of whether to have children. This novel was beautifully written, honest and heart breaking, but ultimately hopeful. It is told from alternating POV-Roy, Celestial, and Andre, and partially epistolary in the letters Roy and Celestial exchange while he is incarcerated, and the letters were probably my favorite part. The letters make you realize how little you actually know someone when you marry, and the process of truly “knowing” takes so long. I thought it was one of my favorite books of the year.

Rating: 4/5

Corey’s Review: Oh this book!! It was a roller coaster of emotions. I was also expecting this to be a book about our criminal justice system and the fight for racial justice, but it ended up being that and so much more. The heart wrenching love story of Roy and Celestial took front and center stage in this book. It’s funny because at first I hated the letters, but then they grew on me. They opened and peeled back another layer to our characters and it made the story! This is a book that will stay with me for a long time.
Rating: 4/5

Menu Early in the novel, Roy and Celestial visit Roy’s parents. He describes having “Sock It To Me” cake for dessert which he declares his favorite. I’ve never made the Sock It To Me cake, but decided that a cake with cinnamon swirl couldn’t be a bad bet. This recipe dates from the late 60’s/early 70’s as you can tell from it’s name. Those of us of a certain vintage will certainly remember Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In which popularized the phrase. It was one of the early “doctored up” cake mix recipes meant to make life easy!

Ingredients:

1 package plain yellow cake mix

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 cup finely chopped pecans

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons milk

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist a bundt pan with vegetable oil spray and dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour and set pan aside.

2) for the filling, place 2 tablespoons flour, the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans in a small mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Set aside.

3) Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, water, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Mix until thick and smooth.

4) Pour half the batter in the pan. Sprinkle the filling evenly over the batter in the pan. Pour the remaining batter evenly over the filling, smoothing it out with a rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.

5) Bake 50-55 minutes until golden brown and the cake wirings back when lightly pressed.. Cool on a wire rack, then invert the cake onto another rack and let cool completely, 30 minutes more.

6) Mix the confectioner’s sugar and milk to make a glaze, then spoon over the cooled caked.

7) Slice and serve.