This was an ARC from @netgalley , thank you very much! So this story takes place in one day, one afternoon really. There are three characters; the wife, the wife's best friend and the husband. It's an interesting way to write this, each character has a section of the story. The husband and the best friend hate each other, and both are sabotaging the relationships. It was okay to read, but not my favorite. #thethreeofus #oreagbajewilliams #oreagbajewilliamsthethreeofus #bookstagram #booklover #reader #bookblog #lovetoread #fictionreader #bookreview #bookrecommendation #readersofinstagram #bookloversofinstagram #takeapagefrommybook #readallthebooks #booksbooksbooks #advancedreaderscopy #netgalley

When I first heard of this book, I was hoping for a complex character study with hidden motivations and revelatory backstories. However, all three characters seemed bland. None appeared to have any additional depth that would contribute to their actions and opinions. There is no mystery to why they move through the world the way that they do. I didn't particularly resonate with any of them, and the ending didn't seem like much of one. I understand that this work was supposed to be a "snapshot" into their lives, but the unresolved feel was not enough of a payoff.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I’m not a fan of family drama, but this book was supposed to be a “sharp domestic comedy,” but boy, is it not. Gah. I really did not like this book. I loved seeing Nigerian characters with everyday problems, but these characters were so annoying.

Description: The wife has it all. A big house in a nice neighborhood, a ride-or-die snarky friend with whom to laugh about facile men, and an affectionate husband who loves her above all else. The only thing missing from this portrait is a baby. But motherhood is a serious undertaking, especially for the wife who has valued her selfhood more than anything.

On a seemingly normal day, the best friend comes over to spend a lazy afternoon with the wife. But when the husband comes home and a series of confessions are made that threaten to throw everything off balance, the wife’s two confidantes are suddenly forced to jockey for their positions. Told in three taut, mesmerizing parts—the wife, the husband, the best friend—the day quickly unfolds to show how the trio’s dented visions of each other finally unravel, throwing everyone’s integrity into question—and their long-drawn-out territorial dance, carefully constructed over pivotal years, into utter chaos.

At once subversively comical, wildly astute, and painfully compulsive, The Three of Us explores cultural truths, what it means to defy them, and the fine line between compromise and betrayal, ultimately asking: who are we if not for the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and the people we’re meant to love?

The story is told in three chapters, one from the wife, husband, and friend. All of them are not good people. Petty and childish. Obnoxious, rude, and secretive. I did not laugh. I mostly just hated them and their annoying ways. I am not going to be recommending this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Three of Us.

This was a fast read made difficult by the formatting of the narrative; no quotation marks or paragraph breaks. The entire narrative felt like reading a very long run-on sentence.

The chapters are divided amongst the three characters; the nameless wife and husband, and the third wheel, the wife's BFF.

The wife is just going through the motions as a married woman; no career, playing housewife to her husband who makes plenty of money for one breadwinner in the family. They're trying to have a baby, much to the BFF's dismay, since she likes her life the way it is.

The wife's childhood and relationship with her parents isn't happy, though not abusive. They expect more from her, but she's happy with her life the way it is. Isn't she?

Her husband has always envisioned a stereotypical future; marriage, a couple of kids, a summer home, that's all fine and dandy with him, but he notes a glaring difference between him and his wife; he loves her more than she loves him.

The BFF loves being single; she detests anyone who seeks a husband and desires kids. She's opinionated, tough, and speaks her mind. But, she expects her BFF to share her beliefs and derides her for having married to a boring dullard.

The battle for the wife's friendship is apparent in the animosity between the husband and BFF, though I'm confused as to why this is.

The novella is too short on character development so I don't see why the wife's friendship is so prized. Out of all three POVs, she seems the dullest.

She has no ambition, no drive, or personality.

Who is she? What does she want to do with her life?

She's fine living a life of leisure and superficiality; working out every day, shopping and drinking with her BFF. She's as dull as a brick.

Her husband is a straightforward character; he's not a bad guy, just someone who wants the simple things in life.

For me, the most interesting character is the BFF. Why does she shun married life or companionship? Why is she so against having a spouse?

She's not a good friend; she scorns her BFF for getting married, and not following her own ideals when it comes to men and marriage. She hangs around (as if on purpose) to annoy and goad the spouse into disliking her presence, as the two battle it out as to who the BFF likes more.

I'm not sure what the purpose of the book is except to say all three characters need therapy.

This book turned out not to be what I was expecting from a gripping domestic thriller. While the format didn't make it easy to read the book, the very much lack of depth in the characters made it feel very boring to get through.

The story is told from three perspectives; a husband, a wife, and a friend. Ultimately, it's a gripping, insular drama that takes place over the course of a single day.

If you can't use punctuation, then I cannot finish your book. This was a struggle, not only from that lack of punctuation but also from the characters lack of depth.
This was not the book for me and I did not finish it.

The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams started off strong, very strong! I felt like I was chatting with a friend. The main character, never named, and her best friend, Temi are very interesting characters and I was intrigued right away. In the beginning I was sure the book was leading to a big blow-up of some kind between the three characters and I was interested in what was going to "happen". If nothing else, I thought it would lead to an interesting story and insight about female relationships and assumed it would not end well for these two friends. But there's really no plot. The story kept taking long, drawn out tangents into the back story. Some of which was interesting and added to the character and story development but most of it was a slog to get through. I kept wanting it to move the plot along in some way, something to hold my interest to see how the book ends. I thought I was getting there with the end scene but even that was a let down. It appears the author was trying to set an ominous scene with Temi clearly not giving up on her friend and lets the reader imagine how it ends - or if it ever ends for any of them. I felt that was a big let down. This books appears like it was a short story that should have been edited and added on to to create a fully fleshed-out storyline. It did not hit that for me.

This book did not provide much for me, in terms of insight or entertainment value. I found each of the three characters to be incredibly lacking, as a friend, husband or wife. They were selfish, weak and manipulative. I kept waiting for the wife to stand up for herself but she was the most pathetic of the three. I know I don’t need to like the characters in a book to enjoy it but this was a chore to finish, the ending was really not an ending and the dialogue was hard to follow.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really struggled with this one based on a few elements. First, I did not like the lack of quotation marks. I was not always sure who was speaking nor if it was something said aloud or an internal monologue. Second, I found the characters wildly unlikable and one dimensional. Although I understand the point of the characters lack of communication, it did not stop me from feeling frustrated with their actions (or inaction in some cases). This was just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the digital ARC.

I enjoyed this book very much. It is three characters and their relationships to each other. We have two women who have been friends for a very long time. One is a highly successful single woman, the other has married to the dismay of her friend. She though they would enjoy the carefree single life together. The third character is the husband who has to compete with his wife’s friend for her affection. The story takes place in one day with flashbacks explaining the relationships. At the end, you wonder who will one…the girl friend or the husband.

Thank you to net galley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was not my book. I really struggled with the story, mostly the stylistic choices the author made. There is quite a bit of dialogue in the story, but none of it is in quotations which makes it difficult to determine who is talking. At first I thought maybe it was an uncorrected proof, but then I realized, it was an intentional choice on the authors part. While the story itself had some interest factor for me, I found my self struggling to figure out what was going on, and rereading several passages over and over. I do think for he right audience, this will be a great book, that just wasn't me.

Was excited for this one based on the premise but unfortunately just could not get into it. Thought it was slow and choppy - had to DNF

The Three of Us follows an unnamed woman and her relationships with her unnamed husband and her best friend, Temi. It particularly focuses on the reasons Temi and the husband hate each other, and how the wife is always torn between the two of them. It is divided into three parts, each told from the perspective of one of the characters, and in each part the narrator explains the way they perceive the relationship between themself and the two other main characters. Most of the book takes place in the characters’ thoughts and memories, but the main plot takes place in one day and ends with a big fight between the three characters.

I always say that books don’t make me laugh. I also say I don’t enjoy books that are meant to be funny. I always think they’re cheesy. But this book made me laugh out loud. I know it’s not everyone’s style of humor, but I loved it. I wish I knew how to label different styles of humor (I don’t even know if they’re called “styles of humor”) so I could provide a good description of what I’m talking about, but my point is that I thought this was hilarious. And a lot of people will disagree with that.

I enjoy books that have unlikeable main characters, and to call these characters unlikeable is an understatement. I like when the majority of a book takes place in the characters’ memories and imaginations, and that was the case here. I like when books are just slightly absurd, and I found that in this book as well. It’s a short book. I love short books. For the majority of the time I spend reading The Three of Us I felt like it had been written just for me.

That’s why I’m sad to say that I thought the ending was very disappointing. The entire time the story progresses it feels like it’s going to end with something explosive. It feels like it will end with an event that completely uproots the characters’ lives. It doesn’t. The story felt like it led to nowhere and ended suddenly. I would have given this an easy 5 star rating if I didn’t think the ending was so weak. But I was still able to give it a 4 star rating because I had fun during most of the time I spent reading it. I never wanted to put it down. The only reason I didn’t read it in one sitting is that my body vetoed my decision to stay up late reading and forced me to go to sleep.

I can already predict the most common complaints that people will have about this book: “The characters are unlikable and frustrating.” “There was no character development.” “There is no plot.” “There are no quotation marks.” “It feels like a fever dream, or like a never ending run on sentence.”
Those are all true. But they’re all things that I really liked. If you hate any of those things you will not like The Three of Us. But if all of that sounds good to you you should read this book!

Thanks to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for the ARC and the opportunity to read and review this title.

The Three of Us is a story filled with tension told over the course of one day from the perspectives of three different people. A husband, his wife, and her best friend. The ending...I was hoping for a twist, but I was nowhere near in my predictions.

I received this book as an ARC and this is my review. This is the quirkiest story I have read lately. The entire book consists of a husband, his wife and her friend. The relationship is not working. There is much talk but little action. I expected a burst of violence or even a huge shouting match. The story just plays until it ends.

I was lucky enough to win an e-ARC of at THE THREE OF US by Ore Agbaje-Williams through a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thanks for the early look, and have a safe and happy weekend!

Short novel about marriage and the old adage, "Two's company, threes a crowd". This book is set in a one day period and reads a bit like a stage play with three characters; husband, wife and friend, Temi. Temi and the wife have been friends since school and they are devoted to each other even though Temi and the husband don't like each other. Temi enjoys traveling, culture and freedom and she does not think her friend possibly be happy in her marriage. Does she really feel this way or is she jealous? The husband feels like Temi interferes in his marriage and doesn't understand why his wife seems to take the friends side;

There were no likable characters here and although the subject matter was interesting, the story didn't go far enough to be a satisfying read. The wife veered between being too submissive to seeming like she is choosing her friend over her husband. All three characters came from Nigerian families and all were expected to have a certain amount of success. The wife has never been able to stand up for herself and her friend thinks the husband is controlling. It is difficult to take a side here and perhaps that is the intent. We hear about the same day from each person and it gets a bit tedious hearing the same events three times. There is also too much mention of wine, drinking wine, opening wine, pouring wine. I did like the symbolism in the choices presented to the wife between the conventional marriage with the husband in charge, the free wheeling feminist centered life Temi represents, and perhaps a third way of being that the wife has not yet found. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

I really enjoyed reading this and loved the structure of reading each part of the story from different POVS. However, I do wish it was a little more sinister, like I wish Temi had a more active hand in the couple's dissatisfaction rather than simply being a voyeur. But in any case it was fast paced and I found it hard to put down. I want to read more from this author.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

Interesting read, I enjoyed myself.