Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of THE THREE OF US by Ore Agbaje-Williams.

"Being yourself, I say, being true to yourself, and then of course being honest and upfront is absolutely key to any relationship. Without that, what are we? Anything built on a lie or secrets isn't going to last....My friend's husband has his brow creased in confusion. Yes, he says slowly, shocked by his own agreement with me. I nod at him and turn back to my friend and put my hand over hers on the table. That's why I think you should tell him." p272-3

This is a story in which not much happens because everything has already happened and is already happening. The reading experience mirrors the overlapping experiences and emotions of the three main characters: a Nigerian house wife living in London (I *cannot* find her name in my digital copy right now, but I think Agbaje-Williams may have intended this), her equally name-challenged husband, and Temi, her best friend. On one side, Husband is traditional, works a traditional job, has traditional wants and desires for himself, his life, and of course his wife (whom he never refers to as anything else...my wife). On the other, Temi has little use for relationships and even her history with Wife is jarringly transactional. She is preoccupied with potential--her own, Wife's, men's general lack of it, in her estimation--and she prizes above all independence -- intellectual, emotional, sexual... reproductive. And between them both thinking always what is best for everyone is Wife. Poor woman.

Throughout the book, the husband and Temi increasingly vie and compete for the attention and loyalty of the wife, who I came to think of eventually merely as, "that poor woman." These conflicts create a great deal of the tension and the entirety of the storyline that carries this book forward to its conclusion (which is unfortunately a little weak due to a complete lack of denouement, I'm afraid).

But I think the real story here is in the subtext. If you ask me, Agbaje-Williams designed Husband to represent that old undeniable patriarchy, and Temi to represent an old screechy kind of feminism that throws as many people under the bus as it tries to help. And Wife? She's stuck in the middle.

Poor woman.

One of the best things about this book is the experimental form. From big to small, Agbaje-Williams made beautiful choices to support the narrative she built. Three sections, each from a different third of this rather odd love triangle, each written in a well-developed style for the speak. In all sections, no speech indicators. No quotation marks, line or paragraph breaks, very few dialogue tags. As though to reinforce the overlapping nature of these characters voices, sections, lives.

I loved this book. Looking forward to ordering a copy of this one.

Rating 4.5 stars rounded up
Finished August 2022
Recommended for fans of contemporary fiction, women's fiction, romance, love triangles; readers looking for diverse voices and stories; readers interested in feminism

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for a honest review via NetGalley and the publishers.

I’ll be honest a book with minimal plot and heavy character development is not my go to. The author had some stylistic choices that aren’t a preference of mine as well (no chapters, quotations for dialogue)

I do love a multiple perspective piece and this book hits that! Overall I was hoping for more content to the story but appreciate the dynamic of a struggling friendship and struggling marriage and each wanting to claim the woman they know/knew. Very quick read!

A fast read however I found some of the characters to be unlikeable but I think that was partially the point

Man sometimes a book just isn't for you - and this one wasn't for me.

I found the way the book was formatted to lead to me not enjoying it. It needed smaller paragraphs, less run on sentences and more structure. I got lost within the writing multiple times, which completely confused the heck out of me.

I didn't particulary feel invested in the characters or care that much about where the story went for any of them.

Unfortunately this wasn't for me.

thank you so much to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

this book follows three characters, their interconnected relationships, and how said relationships can inevitably unravel over time. it explores the effects of differing personalities, all of which are very unique and well drawn. something else i enjoyed in this was the writing itself. the plot was interesting and i found myself surprised on multiple occassions. also, i found myself enjoying the pacing more and more with each part.

something i think that lowered my enjoyment of this book was that it was a bit hard to read. while i liked the three parts themselves, as we got the three character's differing POVs, the lack of sub-chapters made it difficult for me. also, due to the lack of quotation marks and the longer paragraphs, i found myself occassionally confused as to what was dialogue/who was speaking, and i needed to go back to reread.

overall, i found this book interesting, and i definitely liked exploring the fallout between the very flawed relationships of these very flawed characters.

This book follows a married couple, specifically one day in their lives, along with the wife's friend Temi. The story is split into three parts, narrated separately by the three characters. I liked the different point of views, especially since Temi was much more opinionated compared to the wife, who was more complacent with her life. I enjoyed reading Temi's point of view the most because she was opinionated. The husband and wife were both a little dull.

I oddly couldn't tell if I liked this book or not, solely because it was such a fast read and the ending happened so quickly. I wish the ending lasted a little longer and we could read more of the fallout, but the story ended kind of abruptly. Another thing that initially threw me off was the lack of punctuation whenever the characters spoke, but I was able to adjust to it later on. Overall, I liked the story and the writing, but I just wish the ending was explained a bit better.

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam Books for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a very fast read that covers the day in the life of a married couple and the wife's friend. There are three sections, from each of the character's perspective.

I enjoyed the building of the story as we learn a little about each person and their past and how they met and how they relate to each other.

In a nutshell, the friend is not cool with the wife being married. She and the friend had a life before marriage and she really wants it to go back that way and will do what it takes to "rescue" her friend. She does not like the husband.

The wife is probably the dullest character even though I enjoyed her bit too. She's a little complacent and not very strongly opinionated, like her friend. She is happy to be married but she just likes doing the bare minimum.

The husband is the breadwinner. He likes being married because his wife doesn't have drama in her life and he likes things simple. And now he wants a child and the wife agreed finally that it would be okay.

The friend intervenes and the ending is pretty jarring, you are really left thinking, WTF just happened????

I really liked this and am looking forward to more from this author.

definitely a character study of marriage and having a best friend who is single and not letting things go.

Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me. There were no high points or climaxes.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book!

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this uncorrected proof! This was a fun read, from three perspectives, a husband, a wife and their third wheel, the wife’s best friend. Great character study.. not quite a romance, not quite a drama but an overall interesting depiction of a relationship with no boundaries. I loved the three viewpoints which kept the reader invested, even though nothing major was happening or changing!. I will be looking for more books by this author!

Unique plot and a great story line. I enjoyed characters and thought the story was great! Hope there will be another book!

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC! 3.6 rating probably? This was a very fast read which was a relief, but I did genuinely enjoy the writing. It definitely isn’t for everyone - the lack of punctuation for when people speak may throw some people off, and while I adjusted, I did definitely have moments where I had to read the line before to double check who was talking.

I wish the ending had continued on for just a few more moments, because I kind of read and went “wait that’s it?” It felt like the fallout needed to be included for me, and had it been added I would have definitely enjoyed it more (though I think I see what the author was trying to do!).

I did enjoy the three POVs. I found it telling that only the best friend Temi had a name, and that the husband and wife didn’t - it made sense, since Temi had a more active role than either of them have had in their own relationship. And the idea that Temi and the husband don’t give the wife a name, but instead refer to her as “my wife”/“my friend” was just such a nice detail - how they see her in terms of what she provides for them, not as who she is on her own, despite both of their insistence to the contrary. It was very well written and a very interesting book, even though I weirdly don’t know if I liked it or not.

What amazing book !! The characters were well written , the plot was unique . You can not put the book down . Once you start you won’t be able to stop , It is not a predecible book . I really enjoyed it .

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Quick read, unique story with a plot that was interesting.

Excellent book. Good story line and I love the cover. The way this book ends there will be a follow up.

I did not finish this book. I had a really hard time enjoying it because I found the characters to be very unlikable.

The idea of this book intrigued me and I loved the three different perspectives, but, I felt as if there wasn't really a point to the book or any resolution. It felt as if it was a book of constant complaining and it was interesting for the most part, but I expected some plot twist or resolution for each relationship in the end. I did enjoy the stream of consciousness writing style and I found myself laughing out loud at many parts, but in the end I wouldn't avidly recommend this book due to the let-down of an ending.

the description of this book (the falling out of relationships between a husband, wife, and wife's best friend who doesn't like her husband over the span of one day) was interesting, however, the actual story fell short for me. i really didn't care for any of the characters and found it hard to become invested in the story, which seemed to drag on.

A bit disappointed by this book as I kept waiting for the central narrative tension to unfold. I like the three part point of view but wish the characters were more fully developed.

I struggled with this book. The lack of quotations, paragraph spacing, and chapters to break it all up made the story very hard to read and understand. Sometimes I would have to go back to a sentence 2 or 3 times because I wasn't sure who was speaking when. It also felt like it just ended, we spent a day in 3 peoples heads and nothing really happened besides the friend and husband going back and forth, with the wife in between, neutral. I think I would have enjoyed this more if the ending felt more tied up and if the dialogue was easier to understand. I'm sure there are people who would enjoy this book, it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is told in three sections, divided by the point of view of the narrator: wife, husband, best friend. Agbaje-Williams chose to only name one of them--Temi, the best friend. The others are simply husband and wife/friend. That actually fits because neither of them seem like truly fleshed-out, real people and exist little more than in relationship to each other. Even in the sections that they themselves narrate, there is a coldness and a removed distance. I don't feel like I got to know them at all.

I don't think a character needs to be likable for me to enjoy a book, but not only did I find myself not rooting for or identifying with a single one of them, I didn't care what happened to them. At all. I didn't care if the wife left her husband or if they stayed together or if they had children.

To add to all this, there is very little punctuation. Long stretches of back-and-forth dialogue contain no quotation marks, line breaks, or indentations. A lengthy conversation would just be one giant block of daunting text to slog through, making sure you paid close attention to who was talking because they certainly weren't named. I wouldn't have minded the lack of punctuation if Agbaje-Williams pressed the Enter key once in a while.