A riveting portrait. There was so much to unpack, just as the characters were trying to do regarding their circumstances. My mind is still treading on Celestial, Roy, Andre, Big Roy, etc. There's institutional/cultural issues at hand, but also the personal. This is the third novel I've read just this year about (wrongful) incarceration of black men in the south (actually, think all three are in Louisiana?), and there is so much wrong with the system. The book made me think about this, but was not heavy-handed, but demonstrative. Jones does a wonderful job of weaving it into the intimate tale of a relationship, and that is where I had to wonder, as I read both sides of the marriage, what would I do? How would I handle this if something similar happened to my marriage? I don't know, and I'm sure I'll still think about it for some time.

I have to say that one of the narrators, Sean Crisden, inhabits the characters and emotions SO WELL. I almost wanted to clap for him and his performance when the book ended. (The other narrator was good, too, but just not at the same level as Crisden.)