The Three of Us

Ugh... what a beautifully written awful book. <i>Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf</i> meets <i>The Great Gatsby</i> with a good dose of <i>Othello</i>, but entirely unique. Three characters, with not the slightest tinge of likability for any of them. Each one is shallow, soulless, growing more horrid the more we get to know them. Each pair relationship is sick and twisted; the group dynamic is, well, read it yourself.

Did I urge you to “read it” after that blast? I did. I recommend it despite everything because I found it fascinating. And, again, beautifully written. Are there really people like that? There must be. What would it be like to be one? Are they even aware that life does not need to be that way? One of the characters is almost self-aware, completely spot-on about patriarchy and capitalism and cultural expectations, but is still completely unhinged and neurotic and irresponsible and worthless but even so they are. All. So. Fascinating. Agbaje-Williams is a remarkable writer; the way she voices each character is impressive. I considered DNFing several times—usually I prefer books where I can like or admire or respect at least one person—but I’m glad I finished. The person I respect is Agbaje-Williams, who must be very wise indeed to be able to invent and share these appalling people.

Unfortunately this book is so boring. I really wanted to like it, but all three characters are some of the most unlikable characters I’ve ever read about in a book. Temi is a mean, selfish friend, the main character seems to have no direction in her life except marrying a man who will make money so she can stay home and do nothing, whom she doesn’t even seem to love. I’d even go as far as to say she doesn’t even like him. The whole book seems to be about three rich people frolicking about pointing fingers at each other. I couldn’t care less about any of them. DNF so maybe it gets better, but from other reviews I don’t think so.

Also, there’s absolutely no speech/quotation marks? This makes it SO hard to read and realize who’s talking. What the point of this could be I have do idea, it adds nothing to the story. I’ve read a lot of the books by the same publisher, Masobe, and I’ve never seen any errors in their books, so I assume this was an inexplicable choice by the author.