This is a uniquely strange and stressful novel. I actually would liken it to a play! There are only three characters - the wife, her husband and her best friend. Through very long POV dialogues, we learn how the group came to be and what causes the tension.

It seems Temi, the friend cannot let her best friend enjoy her perfect married life. But when the husband comes home early, secrets are unearthed and chaos reigns.

It's a cool book - unique, fast moving but I did not like the characters and the main secret is a bit of a sore point for me. If you like unique lit, stressful tension, interesting relationships or just want to read the slow burning down of a friendship, The Three Of Us is for you! #penguin




#Penguin

Thank you to netgalley for allowing me to read this book. I felt that this book was lacking in so many areas. I can see the premise and what we were trying to get at. A woman who has to deal with husband and best friend and their lack of friendship and jealousy. However, throughout the whole book there was no substance. Yes, tit for tat back and forth throughout. It would have been nice to see a side picked or to see from the wife’s perspective.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!

This book had a synopsis that intrigued me right away. I was hopeful that it would be literary and have some psychological twists.

There was plenty to unpack in this book. There are 3 parts with each of the characters “view points” in this odd relationship triangle. This is also a story written with no quotation marks so that may be a challenge for some.

I did not like the characters and this relationship triangle was beyond toxic. This was a quick read but not one that I loved

Three unhappy people get drunk in the middle of the day and passive aggressively poke at one another, only to have the story abruptly end when one of them is finally brave enough to take a direct shot.

The writing in this book was very well done, told through the perspective of our nameless couple and the wife's best friend. Each has a vision of the future that directly contradicts with the others, but all choose to let resentment build internally instead of doing anything about it. By the end I was rooting for none of them, yay!

I would read more from this author but this one wasn't for me.

The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams is told from the perspective of three narrators over the course of one day; the wife, her husband, and the best friend. The husband and best friend, who detest each other, vie for the love and attention of the wife, who passively watches the animosity grow between them without taking sides. She acts as one person with her friend and another person entirely with her husband, leading us to question the very notion of self. Who are we? Do we exist separate and apart from others’ perceptions of us?

I thought the book was well written and there were aspects that I enjoyed, such as seeing the day unfold through each of the narrators’ differing perspectives. But not much actually happens. This isn’t a plot-driven book, and if you’re waiting for a huge escalation of tensions culminating in an explosive confrontation – don’t. Instead, what you’ll take away from this story is far more subtle. It’s a short and mostly enjoyable read.

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

Quick read about a wife, her husband and her best friend. Told in 3 parts, each from the perspective of each of the characters. It’s clear the best friend and husband dislike each other for the way they feel they each influence the wife. The story centers around one day/night when the best friend and the husband finally have it out.

Personally, I had a little trouble following dialogue and the first section of the wife was not interesting or introspective despite she being at the center of the conflict. What is clear is that she’s lost in her marriage but also doesn’t seem like she’s ready or interested in ending it. Both her husband and her best friend each have their perceptions of who she is and neither seem to be correct but it seems she doesn’t know who she is or wants to be either. The last third of the story seems to get more interesting to me then it ended with a bit of a cliffhanger.

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam for advanced access to uncorrected eCopy.

The Three of us is told from 3 perspectives. A wife, a husband and the wife’s best friend. I felt the book lacked pretty much any plot. The story is told in 3 parts and basically is just telling a different perspective of an evening together while flashing back to things that have happened before this evening.

i found myself quite bored the entire time. The plot started to actually pick up in the last 3 pages of the book and then it ended so abruptly that it seemed like the author wasn’t finished writing.

It had potential but there was just nothing there to make it a worthwhile read in my opinion.

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Three of Us is a novella centered around a wife, her husband, and her best friend and all the tensions that come with it. Meeting in grade school, her best friend has been pulling her out of her shell for most of her life and today is making not-so-subtle jabs at her husbands expense. Her husband, being the sole breadwinner for their lavish lifestyle and supportive of her staying home, hates her friend. This book is told over the course of a single day from all three perspectives about what two people will do for the one they love most.

This is a super quick read and it flew by! It’s got the perfect amount of background and detail to understand where it’s going and where it came from without feeling bogged down.

One small criticism was that this book doesn’t use quotation marks - this isn’t the first book to not use them, but it’s jarring trying to figure out what is just a thought and what’s actually being said, with that said, I loved the book enough to not care, but I might’ve had it been longer.

I absolutely loved the characters and their interactions. They were written so well that I had no doubt at all being pulled into their narratives. I actually felt myself getting stressed out and angry at one point, because I was so invested. I couldn’t handle the last page and want to know what happens next!

ARC was provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really really struggled with this. Maybe this just isn’t he type of story I can relate to, maybe the writing style just doesn’t align to my taste, I’m honestly not sure. But I feel like this story floundered in the middle and then the ending felt rushed and unfocused

The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams
This book is quite easy to sum up, … fantastic writing, unique/ good story, and very unlikeable characters. Lack of quotation marks bugged me, but that’s a personal tick.
Many thanks to Ore Agbaje-Williams, NetGalley, and Penguin Group Putnam for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I throughly enjoyed this novel. In fact, it’s one of the few lately that has held my attention throughout the entire story. While I could see a few things coming, I never felt like rushing though it. I would definitely recommend it to friends.

I was really intrigued by the theme of interwoven relationships and I'm a big believer in that we are all mosaics of all the people we've ever loved, but sadly this fell flat for me. The book maintained the same pace and cadence throughout which felt really repetitive and resulted in me feeling bored. I struggled to read this book due to the lack of chapters and quotation marks, and sometimes couldn't tell which character was speaking. The ending was very abrupt as well; it threw me off, and I wish there was more resolution.

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for this ARC!!

The Three of Us follows three interconnected people; a woman and her husband, plus the wife's friend Temi who all but one remain nameless throughout the story. We get the story from all three of their perspectives ranging from friendship, marriage, fertility, and the expectations placed on Nigerian women. As you go through the story, more secrets are brought to the surface, and what one person thought is entirely turned on its head at the very end of the book, showing the extreme cracks in this marriage portrayed.

I finished this straightforward and quick read in about two hours. It's the book you do not want to put down since the length is so short, and the story progresses rapidly (which I like in my novels). However, the execution was lacking. This story is broken up into three parts the wife's, husband's, and friend's perspectives are given, but relatively say the same things besides the big reveal at the end.

The exploration of marriage and the confinements of the domestic partnership was explored well, though. You are witnessing the husband and friend Temi hate each other, both expecting and wanting different things from their respectful wife and friend. It was an interesting look at how marriage and a family do not always fit in someone's life.

Ｂｏｏｋ Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑼𝒔 by Ore Agbaje-Williams
Published: ARC - releasing May 16, 2023
Reviewed by: Mel
Format: eBook ARC

⭐️

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam for the eBook ARC of The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams via NetGalley.
 
There was so much going on in this story without anything much going on at all. The toughest part for me, even though I appreciated that the three sections of the book were the three perspectives of the main characters, was that all three of the characters were detestable in each of their own individual ways. I saw exactly what the author was trying to do, and while her structure worked, the content and character development did not.
 
Temi, the “friend,” comes off as a complete sociopath that has no regard for human emotions, or respect for others. She is an incredibly selfish person and seems that she is torn between wanting a life of independence and a life similar to that of her friends. Even though this is unspoken, it seems that her actions show complete jealousy, but I can’t tell if it’s jealousy of her friend for having a relationship and someone that cares about her so deeply, or jealousy for the husband because he took away, at least part of, the only real relationship she had in her life.
 
The husband is incredibly childish, and I absolutely despised the entire section about maliciously deleting Temi’s food order, just to “get back at her.” I also cannot believe that the husband deduced just how much his wife must have been drinking, and still allowed her to drive home. He has some serious maturity issues, and handles his frustration and disappointment in a very temper-tantrum-style way.
 
The wife is almost the worst of the group because she manipulates both sides and isn’t clear on the type of person she is – she seems to be maliciously giving Temi and her husband what they want to their face, and then back-stabbing them when not around. She seems incredibly lost in her life and unmoored by passion and direction and while emotionally manipulating the friend and the husband, she seems easily manipulated in her actions by the two of them since she doesn’t seem to have a direction.
 
If the purpose of this novel was to hate all of the characters and have anxiety about the entire situation, it succeeded. It was entertaining from the perspective of writing style and flow – it certainly kept be interested to see what happens….but then, nothing really happened.
 
It just didn’t work for me.

I was looking forward to this book as I found the premise interesting. However, I found myself forcing myself to finish it. In fact, I probably just skimmed the last half of the due to it being so repetitive.

The book is told in three perspectives, a wife, her husband, and her best friend. It is set in three parts, each character narrating a part in that order. The whole plot is set in one day. Wife’s best friend comes over to say drink, wife goes to get more wine and take lunch to husband, husband comes home to WFH, and they all eat dinner together. That’s it. The same events are told or at least referenced in all three parts.

I also struggled with the book because I really disliked all three characters. I thought I liked the wife at first, but then reading the other parts, I realized I disliked her too. I’m a very character driven reader and so reading a novel with a plot that’s supposed to be character driven when I find the characters repulsive with zero character development is not a good combination for me.

The nail in the coffin for me was that the ending was one of the flattest endings I ever read. I flipped the page expecting another chapter because the page ended in what seemed to be the middle of a sentence, but nope, it was done.

I received this ARC from publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting read.

There’s really not a storyline to me. It’s like three different people are appealing to the reader to find out what the wife’s decision will be. I was a bit confused and had to go back to ensure I wasn’t confused or lost. Interesting but not my type of read.

What happens when the two people you love the most cannot stand each other? I truly do not know if I loved or hated this book. Divided into three parts; the story is told throughout the course of one day by a husband, wife, and the wife's best friend.

I absolutely did not like the wife. she was completely spineless. These were the two people she was closest to in the world, and she did nothing about their constant bickering and manipulation of each other.

The husband may have been my favorite character, he seemed to be the most straight forward. However, he still was not likeable.

I am extremely conflicted about the friend. I cannot decide if she was delusional about her friends marriage, wishing she had chosen to not marry, like she had. Or if she really was trying to help her friend. I think in her head, she had her best friend's best interest at heart, but she was a complete narcissist.

While this book was extremely thought provoking, it ended with absolutely no resolution. Due to this, I can only give it three stars.

I appreciate the unique perspectives this novel offered: a marriage with three people in it--a woman, her husband and her best friend--each of whom gets to share their POV throughout the course of one ordinary day that becomes pivotal as the characters drink through their feelings for each other. Because there is very little action and even dialogue happening, Agbaje-Williams allows the real story to be revealed through the characters' interiors and memories. I have mixed feelings about the ending but breezed through this interesting novel in a few enjoyable hours.

I loved the premise of the book. The writing style is super unique but not particularly my style. It was very hard for me to comprehend the book due to there not being any quotation marks. Besides that, I enjoyed the book.

If you've ever had the thought of wanting to be a fly on the wall, then I think you'll find yourself really enjoying "The Three of Us" by Ore Agbaje-Williams. I know I did.
 
   An intimate look at a wife who seemingly has it all, and her relationships with her best friend, and her husband. Sounds normal, right? What happens when those two sides clash, on almost every level? A competition to be at the top, the center of your world. Is your life what you thought it would be? Is the life you told yourself you wanted your truth, or did you talk yourself into the life everyone else expected for you?
     
The book examines (just to name a few) cultural pressures, family pressures, and societal expectations. All told over the course of one seemingly normal day that gets thrown off balance, in each characters perspective.

     I  really enjoyed the character building with the conversations between the characters, it felt like I was sitting at the table with them listening to this all unfold. Much like how I felt when I read "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
 
  Agbaje-Williams writes a story with painful truths in a darkly comical manner, and displays how distorted our views of one another can be, and how territorial love can make us. Do you compromise or defy? Where does your truth lie?