The Untelling

by Tayari Jones

Aria Jackson lived through the car crash that killed her father and baby sister when she was nine. At 25 she begins to unearth secrets about family, friends, her past, and her altered reality in this journey through truth and forgiveness.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, African American, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Adult Fiction, Family

325 pages, Paperback

First published April 18, 2005

About the author

Tayari Jones is the author of the novels Leaving Atlanta, The Untelling, Silver Sparrow, and An American Marriage (Algonquin Books, February 2018). Her writing has appeared in Tin House, The Believer, The New York Times, and Callaloo. A member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, she has also been a recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, Lifetime Achievement Award in Fine Arts from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, United States Artist Fellowship, NEA Fellowship and Radcliffe Institute Bunting Fellowship. Silver Sparrow was named a #1 Indie Next Pick by booksellers in 2011, and the NEA added it to its Big Read Library of classics in 2016. Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, University of Iowa, and Arizona State University. She is currently an Associate Professor in the MFA program at Rutgers-Newark University.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Tayari Jones novel, “An American Marriage” amazing. Her prose, the story, just everything about it was great. When I saw “The Untelling” l had to get it. I chose the audio format, narrated by Michele Blackmon. Ms. Blackmon has a beautiful voice; it wasn’t the voice I would have chosen. I would have chosen Nicole Lewis or Bahni Turpin…someone with a little sass. It was the second attempt at listening to the story, that I realized the story itself is good, the writing is good. I need to get over the voice.

The story begins with a tragic car accident; Aria’s, the protagonist, family car hit a magnolia tree, killing her father and her baby sister. That tree becomes a symbol to her mother and older sister of the demise of the family. They won’t go near that tree.

Fifteen years later, Aria is trying to “adult.” She got her college degree and works in nonprofit. She lives in a crumbling apartment in the bad part of town. Crackheads run amuck. At the age of 25, she meets a good man, Dwayne. When Aria misses her period, and feels sick, she determines she’s pregnant.

What transpires is that Aria is going through early menopause. She is too afraid to tell Dwayne. The remaining story is of Aria, working through how she’s going to live a life that wasn’t what she imagined. She’s done everything right. She teaches literacy. She wants a family.

Jones is gifted at showing the intricate complexities of trying to live a good life. Aria’s mother is a bit unhinged and becomes more so after her husband dies. Aria’s sisters deal with the tragedy in their own ways. Aria has done everything right, until she needs to stretch the truth a bit to Dwayne after she learns she’s unfertile. This is a sad tale of a young woman who is a good person, wants simple things, and finds that life has not made it easy.

I enjoyed the story, but felt it wasn’t in the same class as “An American Marriage” or “Silver Sparrow.” If you want to try this author, don’t start with this book. The aforementioned novels are superior to this one.

[Kelis Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay. So I've had some time to let the effects of having read this book wear off a bit. I feel that I'm ready to talk about it without revealing my soul here. Excuse me if I'm long-winded. This book connected some life-dots for me, so y'all bear with me.

I've never read a novel that caused me to do so much self-reflection that I actually had a breakthrough...like a real life breakthrough...like the kind you could get from therapy or something. Actually, I might feel less weird about this whole thing if I could attribute such a huge life-altering enlightenment to therapy of some kind, but I've never done the therapy thing. Turns out all I needed was a little free time and about 336 pages of awesome fiction.

Everybody experiences things differently, so some of you might read, or have already read the book and be like, "what the hhyyell was HomeGirl smokin?'" I believe that every life experience is there to teach us something...every wack azz job, every wack azz family situation, every wack azz male of female who might disturb your peace, even your own wack azz ways...all there to bring lessons. Whether you get the lesson instantly, or 17 years after the fact, as in my case, hopefully you get it some way, at some point and you grow from it. But enough about me...

The Untelling is the story of Ariadne (not Adrian, that's not a typo), a southern black girl, born, raised and living in Atlanta. At first she's a little girl, brimming with the typical mind-wonderings and innocence of little girls (those are the best years), then she's a college student at Spellman and a post-graduate working girl dealing with life-long family issues, interesting and emotionally taxing job situations and a relationship with a good man (whom she seems to feel undeserving of) among other, way more serious things. I'm trying not to spoil the experience for any would-be readers, but if y'all want more details about what happens in the story, you can find it <>.

Up to the very end of the book, the layers of each character are still being pulled back revealing more and explaining more about why they are the way they are. The character the reader might be inclined to hate, becomes sympathetic and quite impossible to have anything other than pity and hope for.

Digression: I think there's a quote or something that says, "hate cannot exist where there is knowledge and understanding" or something like that. I totally get that--it's so easy to see someone as a bitch or a bastard or a creep until you learn and understand what unfortunate background or unlucky choices or experiences made them that way. Bitch, bastard or creep they may be, but at least if you understand the root of the wackness, it'd be pretty difficult to have ill feelings towards them. I've always felt that way.

The meaning behind the title, The Untelling, is explained in a narrative by Ariadne at the end. I always look forward to mentions of the title in books I read. "The Untelling" is such an interesting phrase. Before Ariadne's narrative at the end, I felt like maybe Tayari titled the novel The Untelling because the whole back story is not told up front. By the end of the novel when every character has been fully revealed, it's like 'Oooh! Ok. That's what happened, now it all makes sense.' It's like the full story was told backwards. That's a huge part of what made this read so enjoyable.

Tayari Jone's first novel, Leaving Atlanta, is SO on my list.

[PorshaJo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3.75

I read Tayari Jones book An American Marriage and was immediately taken with the writing. I was so drawn into the story and couldn't wait to read more by this author. I decided to grab the audio version of this one and was hooked in the beginning. Again, Jones has a slow moving story, getting into specific details of her characters.

In this story, you hear about Aria Jackson. When she was small, she was in a car accident with her family that had devastating, life long effects on her. She was so young and had no understanding of what was happening. She was more concerned with the red velvet cake that was smashed in the accident. I was drawn into the story and I did what ever I could to listen to this one. I mean, come one, you have to love a story that quotes Public Enemy! But to me, the story just fell flat the last 1/4 of the book (hence the lower rating). I just wanted more.

I listened to this one via audio and the narrator did a great job. Overall, I'm glad I read this one and can't wait to read more by Ms. Jones. I'll be seeing her speak in my city on a literary speaker series and hope to read most of her work by then. I'm looking forward to comparing all of her works.

[Hafidha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heard about Tayari Jones from a few online friends, and picked up this book because I wanted to read some contemporary fiction by a black woman writer who is about my age (30s). I read up to page 36 or so and then put it down; the beginning was compelling, but I stopped at a point in which it was unclear what was going to happen next. I sat myself down with it about a week later and read the remaining 300 pages over the next 24 hours. Plot-wise, things move slowly and there are a lot of flashbacks. But the character arcs - especially that of the main character, Aria aka Ariadne aka "Penny," - are done beautifully. I haven't been this interested in characters and their relationships in a contemporary novel in a very long time. Jones also does a great job of situating her characters in a very particular place (black neighborhoods in Atlanta) over several decades. Other notable things: the dialogue, and the emotional impact - several times I had to put this book down and catch my breath; some of the passages are truly haunting. I loved this book and am looking forward to seeing Ms. Jones in June when she stops in Seattle as part of her third novel's book tour.

[Book Concierge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ariadne is nine years old when the family is in an automobile accident on the way to her dance recital. Her father and baby sister, Genevieve, die. Aria, her older sister, Hermione, and their mother survive. But all three carry serious emotional scars from the event. Now it is sixteen years later and they are living independent lives. Hermione is married and the mother of a toddler, living in the suburbs and almost never returns Aria’s phone calls. Their mother is a bitter woman, who uses her elegant attire as armor against emotional contact. Aria, having graduated from Spellman College, lives in a not-quite-gentrified neighborhood in central Atlanta and works at a nonprofit Literacy Center. The one thing they have in common is that none will talk about their guilt and regrets, their hopes and their dreams.

This is the second book I’ve read by Jones, and I continue to be impressed by her writing. She really explores her characters, slowly letting the reader get to know these women. Aria narrates and that does give us a skewed perspective of her mother and sister, as well as best friend Rochelle, boyfriend Dwayne and other characters in the book. She is forever expecting things to turn out badly, and she is sometimes proven right. But she fails to see how she influences the outcome. An unexpected diagnosis is the catalyst for Aria’s finally coming to terms with her loss and facing her present and future. I am different now; today nothing scares me more than the hollow clatter of secrets.

[Desiree · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really, really wanted to like this book. I recently saw the author speak and I really liked her. The story had so much potential but it just fell painfully short. The over use of metaphors almost killed me like a snake slowly squeezes the life out of a mouse. See what I did there?

[Alena · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s taken me many years to finally read all of Tayari Jones’s published novels and I’ve read them out of order, but each time I’ve come away sure that she is a brilliant writer with important things to say. It’s bittersweet knowing that I have to wait who knows how long until whatever she writes next.
This story centers around loss and the secrets we tell and we don’t tell (hence the title). Pregnancy, fertility and abortion are in the background which made this 15 year old book feel incredibly timely, but that was all just the dressing to a much deeper story about hurt and guilt.
My review doesn’t do justice to the characters and story Jones created. I loved spending time with these people and, even without a happy ending, finished with a sense of hope that I’ve been missing.

[Sarah Weathersby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have now read three sad books by Tayari Jones, Silver Sparrow, An American Marriage, and now the Untelling. The first two books were "troublesome," in leaving many threads unraveled. I just finished this book that left me in tears.

How does it happen that the love and marriage can become unraveled? The backdrop for this book is the Spelman girls, growing up in Atlanta, in houses left-over in the neighborhoods run-down by students who didn't have the resources to keep them up.

Their mother gave them Greek names, Ariadne (who called herself Aria), Hermione, Genevieve. Aria's boyfriend Dwayne was ready to marry her, but somehow everything came unraveled, when there was no baby.

I had to finish crying before I could write this review.

[Titilayo · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really got caught up in this story. the hints towards the secret that needs to be told (or untold)set you up for the sesmic boom at the end. loved it.

[Arlene Whitlock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because Jones’ most recent book, An American Marriage, isn’t available at the local libraries here. It’s checked out to 20+ people. So, I am awaiting ‘my turn’. As other reviewers have indicated I kept looking for hints to why the book was called The Untelling. To me, it’s a metaphorical way of saying Revealing the Truth. Certainly the main character is mired, not only in her secrets(she needs to tell her fiancé the truth about something that could potentially jeopardize their marriage plans), but the secrets of her immediate family. The main character, Ariadne, survives a car accident in which her father and infant sister dies. Secrets abound surrounding this as does the lingering affects of grief and the upending of a family used to living a certain way. This is a powerful story with a universal theme. That is, all families have secrets. Children often are not told certain secrets because families determine early on that it’s ‘best’ they do not know. However, sometimes these ‘tellings’ or lies or things not said shape personality, character, resilience and self-esteem. These things ultimately affect adult relationships. It is a sad ending, but it has a silver lining. Ariadne now understands who she is and why she behaves the way she does. In other words, she begins the journey toward healing.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Untelling is a story of lies--lies of omission and lies meant to mislead, lies told to others and told to ourselves. The truth is a hard nut to crack sometimes, but there are always consequences. Damaged by a childhood tragedy that overshadows the rest of her life, protagonist Aria backs herself into corners that have predictable results for the plot. That's not to say the book was boring or not compelling, but it's fairly obvious the way events will play out. Getting there is worth it, though, as Jones writes with such skill.

Jones has a gift for creating true-to-life characters. They were sometimes hard for me to like, especially Aria, who seems almost unhinged and pathological, particularly in the early chapters of the book, but they are real. She paints the scene vividly, where Aria is stuck between two competing worlds. It's not a happy book, you get the feeling that even those characters who make it out intact are living in some sort of futile, hollow world, but as Aria finally acknowledges the truths behind her many losses, it is something of a victory.

[René · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, but not as much as Leaving Atlanta (which was very good) or Silver Sparrow (which I LOVED). The story wasn't what I initially thought it would be--for some reason by the description on the inside front jacket I thought it would be more of a trauma narrative. There is trauma in the novel, but the story moves slower so there's less emotional impact (at least, until the end) than most stories of past trauma. Instead, this book was more of a character study of a young woman. Jones took her time in developing the main character in this story. It is well written and I would still recommend it, even if I rate it less than I did Jones's other 2 novels. There's no doubt that Jones is a fine chronicler of the complexity of emotion. There's an honesty about her writing, a vulnerability she gives to all her characters, that I find sorely lacking in so many other writers' work. I look forward to her future work. She is one of my favorite writers that I have come across in the last few years.

[Ebony Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Untelling was solemn, slow, soulful and aching. Every Tayari Jones book I've read so far has been a unique experience, but all of her works are a testament to her complete mastery of the art of the written word. I am deeply impressed by everything she does, and so very lucky I get to experience her work. There are few writers and few books which have stirred my emotions in the way Tayari Jones seems to do with ease. Just phenomenal.

[Akilah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is honestly one of the best books I've ever read about a person who doesn't think she deserves to be happy.

[Isis · Rating 4 out of 5]

i have only read 2 of her novels--this is the second--but i can safely call myself a tayari jones fan. hers is the type of voice i looked for when i stayed in the "african-american fiction" section of borders' book store; what i still look for in the library books that have the lil red, yellow, & green sticker in the shape of africa on the spine.

i appreciate this narrative that is observant, resonant, poetic and yet lacking in pretense. i liked that the plot elements all seemed realistic and the consequences, logical. so many times, even in what is considered "literary" african-american fiction, the plot falls prey to the types of melodramatic plot twists one would expect from a soap opera or tyler perry movie. that didn't happen here, and for that, i am glad.

i loved a protagonist i could relate to--a youngish, educated african-american woman from what many would call a "good" family.
on a deeper level, i think many african-american women can relate to having our worth/value be determined by our physicality, desirability, and ability to get and keep a man. reading this novel me reminded me of when i, like the protagonist, went to a prestigious university, believing a romantic relationship would ground my future far more than the education i would receive. like the protagonist, i was overlooked and disappointed, and later found myself in relationships with men who could not fully appreciate me.

i won't give any more spoilers but jones covers a lot of ground, and i'm grateful to find an african-american author who etches these types of experiences--experiences i can relate to--onto the literary landscape, in a voice that engages and encourages introspection.

[Valarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was all ready to love this book after reading Silver Sparrow and An American Marriage, but it just ok for me. It was hard to really get vested into any of the characters and I didn't enjoy the ending. I was an ok book but definitely not as good as I expected. That being I still love Tayari Jones and can't wait to read Leaving Atlanta.

[Ransom]

it was a little slow for me and not very inviting but i listened to it fully.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story of loss, coping, understanding ones own actions or failure to act. A telling to help heal one's past...
Tayari is a truly talented storyteller. Her characters are so real and their challenges and life experiences are familiar and believable. I didn't want to stop reading and wanted more when it ended.
I highly recommend this novel.

[TK · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ⭐️⭐️⭐️ review is not a slight to the talented Ms. Jones.

It was the epilogue that made me decide that I did actually like this book. The first few chapters had me hooked. Totally engaged. As I continued to listened I felt my mother in me. The part of her that side eyes things that just don’t make sense.

Aria’s lil checklist of sorts and then her pregnancy dibocal, I didn’t connect to it….why not just TELL HIM the truth! Why would you assume you’re pregnant without so much as a pee stick? You’re 25 woman not 12….(epilogue got me straight).

The secrets and truths and forgiveness of it all didn’t hit me like I wanted it to. Maybe I’ll read it one day to see it I feel differently.

Tayari tells a good story, but I haven’t found another American Marriage in her yet.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something about Tayari Jones's writing that really works for me; the stories she's telling are not always especially captivating, but her prose always packs an emotional punch. The Untelling, her second novel, explores how the relationships between its protagonist, Aria, and her mother and older sister have never really recovered from a devastating car crash which killed both Aria's father and her baby sister. When Aria, now twenty-five, suspects that she is pregnant, the secrets that the surviving family members have kept from each other begin unravelling, challenging the 'tellings' that have become accepted over the intervening years. Aria's story is juxtaposed with that of Keisha, a teenager who she is tutoring for the GED exam via a local literacy programme, who has also just announced her pregnancy.

In some ways, The Untelling is simplistic and a little melodramatic; in this, it recalls Jones's An American Marriage more closely than her debut, Leaving Atlanta, which I thought was much more subtle. Nevertheless, Jones gets away with a lot of it because of how real her characters feel and how well she conveys their individual tragedies. The plot is relatively slight, but takes some unexpected twists, and like all Jones's writing, it's so readable. (It's a shame it's been burdened with such a hideous cover, which also makes it look like it's set in a nineteenth-century asylum; hopefully, given the huge success of An American Marriage, Jones's backlist will be reissued, and will also be made available in the UK).

[Jamilla Rice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to give it 2.5 stars, but the bloody rating system rounds off. It's like when you're an 8 1/2 and all of the shoes you like only come in whole sizes. Anyway, I didn't like this one as much as Leaving Atlanta or Silver Sparrow. The depth of Atlanta's point of view and the richness of Sparrow's characters, story, and imagery were just not present. There are glimpses of the much more lyrical and visual Jones toward the end of the book, which I respect much more than the rest of the novel, but things seem too trite and forced throughout this novel. It was a little tedious, like the last lap in the pool when you just want to go home and sleep. You push it out not even because it'll make you stronger or healthier. You do it because you don't want to leave it unfinished. And so it was.

[Breena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tayari Jones once again takes her reader to Atlanta for an insider's view of an African American family who've suffered loss through an automobile accident. Aria and her sister navigate their own grief and their mother's destructive grieving. The Untelllng is a nuanced, complex depiction of the econmic stratification of Black Atlanta and is a good tale nicely told.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked The Untelling but didn’t love it, like I did Jones’ Silver Sparrow. The book tells the story of a family who experiences great tragedy early on and the secrets they harbor and how it effects them throughout the years and into current day. I was expecting something a little more, but still a good read.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just came across a whole box of books that have all my copies of Tayari Jones' older books. What is amazing is how well I remember these books. Tayari Jones is most interested in telling interesting and realistic stories - stories about big issues, and this is no exception. Trauma, families broken by trauma, grief, guilt, childlessness, marriage... Girl can tell a memorable story.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetic narrative of a young woman facing the losses of her past along with those of her future. A sensitive portrayal of a contemporary woman facing issues of love and family making in the context of race, class, and urban life.

[Audra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A raw, honest look at the complexities of relationships and how hiding our hurts from friends and loved ones only causes more hurt and misunderstandings. Masterful use of imagery. I read it in one sitting!

[Chris Waterford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story from one of my new favourite writers. I love stories that are largely written from inside a characters head, as this one is, while trying to decide whether to reveal her secret or not.
8/10

[Indya Peoples- Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed! It was a little slow at times but recommended by John Green. Good read

[Lauren Burlew · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. not my favorite tayari Jones novel, but her writing is compelling and she tells a good story.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up
Loved the characters and the story but it was a bit slow in places