The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams was a quick and interesting read. I'm glad I read it. I would have rated it higher if I had liked one of the three main characters. Unfortunately, all three frustrated me endlessly! The writing, though, was outstanding.

The story was about a woman, her husband, and her best friend, all Nigerian, living in England. It was broken into three parts: one part from each of their points of view. The writing was beautiful and flowed seamlessly. Agbaje-Williams wrote dialog directly into paragraphs, which could be confusing if not for her excellent writing ability. I very much enjoyed the three sections were not a retelling of the same events but built off each other.

Part one was from the woman's point of view, primarily as her friend and husband bicker. As she says, "I could neither control them nor reprimand them. I simply observe." I never understood why...why doesn't she tell them to knock it off?

Part two was from the husband's point of view and explored how much his hatred for his wife's friend consumed him. "I smile a smile that I hope communicates how much I despise her."

Part three was from the best friend's point of view. I was hoping for the likable character to come last, but she was awful! So wholly selfish and didn't seem to care about her friend. "Living for yourself was the only way to even come close to being satisfied."

Overall, fantastic writing, good story, unlikable characters.


Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam via NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my review.

I really enjoyed this story and how it all takes place in one day, yet you get a decent amount of history on the characters’ relationships with each other. I loved that it was only three parts and each part was a different narrator. I felt closer to the characters and the story by having only one character’s name given. Definitely a different story and a cool dynamic to read about and I look forward to more from this author and will likely get a physical copy for my bookshelf!

This rarely happens, but I could not get into this book so am not leaving a review on something that I just read a chapter or two of. I very well may come back to it at a later date. To quote a cliche 'it's not you, it's me. Best wishes on a successful publication.

Loved this story and the way Agbaje-Williams wove it! Will be buying a physical copy for my bookshelf when it is released!

I was given an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. Wow what to say! An entire book devoted to the conversations between wife, the husband and the best friend, Temi. Wife and husbands name were insignificant. Characters were referred to as friend, Temi, wife, and husband. Conversations generally referred to their history together. We do learn that Temi and wife became best friends at the age of eleven.In ninth grade they find out one another is very intelligent and each very wealthy. Temi is wealthy to the max. They decide they don’t want the lives their mothers have or expect of them. They are both Nigerian which evidently requires children discover at a young age the line of business they will pursue doctor, finance, lawyer, architect, tech, etc. must make lots of money and they shall marry a spouse with means to provide for a growing family. Once married parents expect to become grandparents, news within the first few months. Husband is so close to his mother doesn’t want to disappoint and brings the topic up often. Problem is Temi and wife made a promise to soar and see the world absolutely no interest in being married or having children. Wife already defied friend and got married. Wife doesn’t see marriage as this awful institution Temi had in mind. Temi saw that wife could never tell her parents nor could she disappoint. Temi has a relationship with wife’s family and offers to intercede. Temi was part of this “throb” before they were married and continues to make herself at home in their new house. Temi comes over at least once a week and now is there three times a week which is an all consuming nonstop wine fest. Temi and wife are generally drunk before husband gets home. Temi is passed out on the couch. Wife and husband will order in. The three of them are arguing and I just know it is going to come out that Temi has always loved wife and they were always meant to be together wife will continue her silence to indicate agreement husband becomes outraged. And fight for wife and tell Temi she has to stay out of their lives it isn’t healthy or his wife to be continuously pressured.that is just the ending I gave the book because actually the book just ends when it starts getting good.leaving me verklempt. Thanks to #NetGalley, #PenguinRandomHouse,#OreAgbaje-Williams,# For giving me the opportunity to review. early.

I appreciate the three narrators, although I don't feel it allowed for enough character development in such a short book. I like unlikable characters and with a little more backstory or motivation, they would really shine. At times the wife reminded me of someone from a Sally Rooney novel. I would try this author again in the future.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. This book fell a bit flat for me. It was told from three different perspectives, but it was all very repetitive. Towards the end it picks up again, however the ending is pretty abrupt.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for allowing me to read this ARC for an honest review!

I loved this story! It was a quick read from three different perspectives about a marriage. It provides a very unique story telling experience with the added drama of each perspective being unreliable. I cannot wait to read more from this author, and pick this book up when it is published!

The plot of this is so original and jarring. I love that you get the three perspectives and they truly build upon each other giving you the information that you need. I was not expecting the plot twist.

A friend who insinuates herself into a marriage. A husband who wants her gone. A wife caught in the middle. Three separate views of the situation are told by each in their own section. The sections do not flow very well and it is difficult to understand what the premise of the story really is. The synopsis sounded really good. Unfortunately, the story was not.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The three of us is broken into three sections--the wife, the husband and the wife's best friend--and told from their respective points of view. None of the characters are particularly likeable so, if you need to read a book where you can relate to someone, this might not be for you. On the other hand, who among us cannot relate to occasional bad behavior. The writing is crisp here and the characters well-drawn; it's just that there's no one here I'd want to be friends with. The best friend is actively trying to break up the marriage because she feels her friend deserves better. Does she? The husband is no champion but neither is the wife and the best friend is the most odious character in the book. She's a busybody who should concentrate on her own life and stop trying to control her best friend. In actively trying to break up the marriage, she's trying to control her friend every bit as much as she perceives the husband is. Worth reading if 'bad' characters are your thing.

thank you so much to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This book was okay. It's about the relationship dynamic of three people. The wife, husband, and the wife's best friend. They all have there issues with each other, that eventually come to blows at the end. I feel that the book had potential if it would have been longer. The characters were not that likeable, which I do feel like was the point, but still. I didn't feel like there was a precise storyline and the dialogue was sometimes hard to read. It's hard when most of the dialogue is not in quotations. I'm just not sure how I feel about this book.

I just wanted this to be better. I felt like the story never reached a height. The multiple POV was a good format, but this just did not land for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free eARC.

Reviews like this are difficult - but I didn't care for this story at all. Three points of view, all telling "their own" story but they don't have much in the way of differing perspectives. It got slow in the middle, and then the end was just that - an ending. It felt like that book that I'd write about "my life and times" that really is only interesting to me! The narrative was not well developed and the passion described hardly seemed like even strong feelings. Hardly passionate in its delivery. A sleepy snoozy book that I can't recommend in good conscience.

This was really, really cute. I loved the family literary fiction. It’ll be cute for a book club! 4.5 stars from me.

"The Three of Us" is a brilliant exercise in characters and tension. Agbaje-Williams manages to take a seemingly every day situation and bring it to its boiling point with a few comments and glances from our three main characters. I loved the quick pace - I read it over the course of a day - which made me feel like I was experiencing this right alongside the characters. More please!

The premise sounded great and the cover is intriguing but this was not a good fit for me. I never really got into it and I didn't care for the characters. Just not my cup of tea.

Hmmm, this is a different kind of book. Basically we have a friend who can't let go of her now married friend and a wife who can't prioritize her husband over her friend. It's a recipe for disaster. It's not compelling or thought provoking it's just a story you watch play out wondering who the wife will ultimately chose. The story maintains the same cadence throughout with no high points, climaxes, or building drama. It's just a mess of unspoken truths that you wonder if someone will be bold enough to express.

I received a copy of this unedited ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not sure if this should be one star or two. It was a boring read, and nothing of substance happened, which is not what I expect or want in a book, especially fiction. However I think there are some clever storytelling elements to the book, even though I don't feel it's enough to redeem it. I recognize that I could also just not be the target audience. Maybe it will really resonate with bored, listless housewives that come from parents who expect perfection and a husband who wants a loving but passionless wife, and 2.5 kids.

The book is split into three parts, each narrated by the three characters. Only the best friend - Temi - is given a name. The husband and wife characters both somehow avoided any use of proper nouns. Is this meant to be commentary on how little they actually know or care about each other? Possibly. But I'd also say the lack of caring comes solely from the wife's side, and lack of knowing comes from the husbands side, but it does lend a strange but noticable element of distance to their relationship.

The wife's perspective is first, and I almost stopped reading halfway through, but felt like I should stick it out to at least half, and the husbands perspective was strange enough to give me the energy to keep reading. The wife sounds like she's extremely depressed and lifeless, with no desires of her own, but somehow doesn't realize that's not normal.

None of them really had much of interest to say, and nothing really happened in the book. The synopsis way oversold the intrigue. The one little bit of excitement in the story happens in the last three or so pages, and the book ends before we get any sort of satisfying ending or resolution from that. The husband and wife are both so anti-confrontational they don't even share their true thoughts or desires with each other, and when we finally could have seen them fight or share their real feelings with each other, the book ends.

I was fed up with all of them, and feel they all need to never speak to any of the others ever again. And that the husband and wife should both individually grow spines, and realize that not saying how you feel is infuriating. I just wanted to smack all of their heads together.

If nothing else, maybe it would make a good play, the kind that's more a commentary on human society, and less about having an actual plot.

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!