Long-Standing Tensions

Hate each other with a passion? Love each other without passion? This novel is a quirky but original debut told from the point of view of three narrators. The husband, the wife and her best friend are often at odds and the author brings the reader into the story at a turning point.

The first narration is told by the married woman whose lifelong friend, Temi, arrives late as usual with snacks. She learns that the wife and husband have been trying to get pregnant and Temi is jealous.. Apparently Temi and husband loathe each other.

Each section distinguishes each character but the husband’s is quite humorous. Without giving away a substantial part of the plot, the ending is ingenious.

A good read, unusual, and one wonders what to do if your two favorite people hated each other?

My gratitude to NetGalley and Putnam for this pre-published book. All opinions expressed are my own.

This story is written in three very long paragraphs, each narrated by one of the three people: a wife, her husband and her best friend. There is no actual plot, just three different perspectives of this three way relationship.

Temi, the best friend, isn’t happy that she’s no longer the most important person in her friend’s life. She tries desperately to sabotage the relationship so she can have her best friend back. The husband grows increasingly angry about Temi always being in his home, taking up too much of his wife’s time and wishing he was the one his wife chose more often. 

The husband, in my opinion, is the most stable of the three, and I was drawn to his side of the story most. Temi was aggravating and not in the least bit likable, and the wife was just plain boring. There was no happy ending to the story, no ending at all really. It’s hard to describe the story because nothing happened. I’m sure plenty of people will enjoy this book, but I was bored and just wanted it to end. I give it 3 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This review will be posted on May 16, 2023 to: https://instagram.com/amandas.bookshelf

Buckle in, kiddos, for the most lit(erary) ménage à trois you'll EVER read about. I said what I said. This novella is divided into three parts and each one is from a different perspective: The Wife, The Husband, and Temi (The Wife's childhood bestie). It's absolutely a character study, so don't expect a dynamic plot with lots of twists and turns. In my opinion, this is the BEST example of a story that takes place over a finite time frame. (Literally, the novella spans just a few hours.) I'm still thinking about how The Wife was caught between the other two characters, morphing between their visions for her. I also don't believe Temi was completely altruistic either; she had her own reasons for what she did and those reasons weren't for the benefit of The Wife. #TheThreeOfUs Rating: 😊 / really liked it
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This book is scheduled for publication on May 16, 2023. Thank you @putnambooks for providing me this digital ARC via @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of a husband, a wife and the wife's best friend, told in three chapters. The story takes place over the course of a day, but there are many flashbacks to fill in the history of these relationships. I was very intrigued by the synopsis as this seemed like an interesting relationship to explore. Does a long time friendship overshadow a spousal relationship? Can friends be too close? I was curious about these characters from reading the synopsis.

While I thought it was an interesting story to tell, the way the author chose to reveal this story didn't quite work for me. More stream-of-consciousness than dialogue since no dialogue punctuation is used, I just could get into the story or these characters. I didn't care about them or like them, which made it difficult to get into the story. And when the punch of it all finally comes, I wasn't invested nor was I interested in learning more about what happens.

So, overall, an interesting look at friendships, family and spousal relationships and asks the question on whether there is some sort of pecking order based on longevity. Definitely worth looking at, but the delivery just didn't help me to relate or engage with the characters.

I didn’t get this book. Readers are only given the name of the friend but not the husband and wife.
It’s like a very weird threesome with them. The friend is the third wheel.
This book was completely detached and devoid of emotion.
I finished it but I didn’t enjoy it.

3.5 stars. Whew - there's a lot of toxicity stuffed into this short novel. It's difficult to reconcile lifelong friends when they marry or have a significant life change with the person you knew before. Often it's difficult to recognize yourself. This is a short novel, told in 3 parts, over the course of one day as a woman hangs out with her best friend, while her husband simmers. Best friend and husband hate each other, and have radically different views of the wife. First part is wife's view, then husband (shortest part), and finally Temi, the best friend. It's definitely an interesting (and fast) read.

"What if the two most important people in your life hated each other with a passion?

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 above all else.

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."

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for gifting me a digital ARC of the debut novel by Ore Agbaje-Williams - 4 stars!

What if the two most important people in your life hated each other? The wife is content - doesn't have to work, lives a good life with her husband, and has a best friend that fills all her other needs. The husband is content with having his wife at home but is bowing to parental pressure and wants to have a baby. The best friend in the middle wants her relationship with her friend to be like it was before she got married.

This was so intriguing - the story is told from each of their viewpoints. Both the husband and wife remain nameless, and only the best friend, Temi, is named. I loved seeing the same scene play out through different eyes. This was an exploration of married life, of the way we change for the people we love, the compromises we make for them, and what we'll do to keep things status quo. A short read that I really enjoyed!

I think this was a really interesting read. I enjoyed the characters, the pacing, and the way the story was structured. I felt like the banter was really well done. As we switched POVs, I became very invested in each character and loved how that progressed. I didn’t love the ending being so abrupt and felt like we could have gotten a little bit more background information on the actual conflicts, but overall, it was a great read.

The life of the main character of this story centers around two people: her best friend since childhood and her husband. Each of them wants to be the most important person in her life, and each is jealous of the role the other plays in her life. Over the course of one day that starts off unremarkably, the book reveals what happens when the tensions between the three finally explode -- raising questions about their relationships with one another and together and what it means for each of their futures.

By rotating among the point of view of each of the main characters, the reader sees the ways that the characters do and don't understand each other and the consequences of this tension between familiarity and mystery for their lives. This is a well-written and perceptive examination of family, friendship, and identity.

Highly recommended!

This story takes place over a single day and with three perspectives: the wife, the husband, and the best friend. I really enjoyed the exploration about how we are defined and who we become in relation to other people. The below-the-surface tension simmered throughout the book and made it hard to put down. I found this book to be compelling, unique, and a refreshing change to what I've been reading lately. I can't wait to read more from this author!

The Three of Us is told from three points of view: the wife’s, the husband’s and the wife’s best friend, Temi. I went into this book not knowing much about it. First up was the wife. The author uses a stream of consciousness method for the entire book. I fell in love with the author’s writing as the wife. Pages turned quickly as we learn that Temi and the husband battle for the wife’s attention. My thoughts as I was reading was this wife needs to speak up and put both in their places and quit acting like children. After the first section, the book slowed down for me and I found myself needing to go back and reread parts of he last two sections. The characters became boring and unbelievable. Just did not work for me! My thanks to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

I finished reading this book about 30 hours ago and I'm still not sure what I think of it. It's an unusual book. I loved the premise of it, which was to explore the relationships between a group of three people (a woman, her husband, and her best friend), with each character being the narrator of one chapter (the whole book is three chapters). So the reader gets to learn the thoughts, motivations, and viewpoints from each character as they read.

It's a quick and short read, and it did keep my interest throughout. I was curious to see where it would lead, but about halfway in, I got a sneaking suspicion that it was going to "go" anywhere at all. Unfortunately, I was right. The story ended really abruptly and very little actually "happened" over the course of the book. I'm okay with character-driven novels, but I like to see the characters have an arc or some kind of growth over the course of the book. I did not get that here from any of the characters.

Also, it's worth noting that all three characters are unlikeable. There was no one in this book that I cared for or was rooting for.

Reading this book was ultimately just a strange experience. I was invested in it as I was reading, but I didn't walk away feeling that I got anything from it. I'm just not sure what to think about it.

The concept of The Three of Us was quite intriguing, and it is a very quick read. I liked that the story is told in three parts, from each of the characters' POV, and that it takes place over the course of a single afternoon. The book ended up not quite living up to my hopes, and while I liked it, I did not love it.

I really didn't like or feel much empathy for any of the three characters. I never got a feel for whether the husband and wife loved each other or whether the marriage was a good one. The best friend was the least likable of all three, and seemed to actively interfere with her friend's relationship. All in all, I was left feeling like the book had little substance and was a story of three not very good people sitting around and getting smashed while backstabbing each other. Not my favorite kind of book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the digital ARC of The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams. The opinions in this review are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group for letting me read this ARC. The Three of Us is a book by Ore Agbaje-Williams. I give this book two stars. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. The characters felt like they were lacking and the story just ended abruptly. I think it needed some more work. Just my opinion though.

This book was so unique. At first, I was skeptical and unsure it was for me. The format is different and the fact that it's only three chapters may feel a little off-putting or daunting to some readers. However, it's a very short book and I finished it in just about one sitting.

This is one of those books that really makes you think. It's the story of a woman, her best friend, and her husband. The unnamed woman is one person to her friend and another person entirely to her husband. Both think they know best for her and know the real -- and better -- version of her.

I thought it was really interesting that the woman and her husband weren't named but the best friend was. There were a lot of details like this that made me wish I was reading with a friend so we could analyze and unpack some of them.

Had this book been any longer, I probably wouldn't recommend it. But, it really is short and makes you think. It's so unique and pretty well done. It definitely held my interest and would be a good one to discuss.

Thank you to Putnam Group and NetGalley for the copy.

The Three of Us tells the story from the perspective of three people - a woman, her husband, and her best friend, Temi. Tensions between Temi and the husband have been simmering for a long time now, and after a night of excessive wine consumption, things threaten to finally boil over to the point of no return.

I'm honestly unsure how I feel about this book. The premise was interesting one, but I wanted more drama. The three perspectives didn't really offer additional nuance on the events we were witnessing. It was also a bit hard to follow, as none of the dialogue had quotation marks around it. I absolutely hated Temi most of all, although the husband and wife are both unlikeable in their own ways. The wife lets Temi control her in the same way her parents did and never stands up to her friend when she is being rude and disrespectful towards her husband. I also wish the husband would stand up for himself and tell his wife he no longer wanted Temi in their home. I think he could have expressed his own boundaries without her completely cutting Temi off. Temi kept referring to "our plans" when discussing the idle dreams she and the main characters discussed as university students, but it seems they were really HER plans and she just wanted her friend to go along with them! The ending was very abrupt, and although the story was pretty entertaining, I wish it had some sort of resolution.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

This is my review, as posted on Goodreads:

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Honestly, I did not like this book. First of all, I found the writing style very difficult to read. Someone pointed out that it may be cultural, and if so, I do not want to be culturally insensitive, but I found it very difficult to read paragraphs that went on for full pages without any quotation marks or new paragraphs for new speakers. Secondly, none of the characters were likable. At. All. They were all petty and entitled and annoying. It actually brought my mood down and made me cranky when I read it. Lastly, nothing happens. Literally nothing. The ending feels like it was supposed to be open-ended and make the reader like 😱, but it really just left me annoyed. The only redeeming quality was that it only took 3 hours to read, and at least fulfilled a prompt for my reading challenge. Unfortunately I cannot recommend this book to anyone.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Temi hasn't seen her best friend for a while, so she visits for some day drinking, while her friend's husband is at work. She doesn't care for her friend's husband--she makes that perfectly clear--and the friend seems to enjoy Temi's snarky commentary. But at the same time, she worries about her husband, and indeed sneaks out for a bit to visit him at work.

Told over the course of the day, from three different points of view (Temi's, the friend's, and her husband's) this is a story where nothing much happens, except for a lot of drinking and quiet drama.

It's significant that either the friend and her husband's names were either never mentioned or I promptly forgot them. They are identified primarily from their relationship to Temi, who is completely self-absorbed. She cannot forgive her friend for choosing her husband over her--not just by marrying him but by being loyal (but not extremely loyal) to him. I was also distracted by the quantity of alcohol consumed by the characters. My goodness, they have strong constitutions!

I read a lot of books and sometimes seem to forget them as soon as I'm done, but this one will stick with me, even if the characters' names didn't (because that's kind of the point). #TheThreeOfUs #NetGalley

More thought experiment than story, but nevertheless interesting and entertaining. The dynamics between the characters are put in even more stark relief by the switching of POV, the looks into the thoughts of each bringing clarity and consternation alike. The structure is unique and I enjoyed glimpses into Nigerian familial politics.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.