The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams is the story of three people – an unnamed Nigerian wife, her husband and her best friend. The husband and best friend despise each other, and the wife is sandwiched between them, unable to take sides. Conceptually it is interesting as it gives an insight into human relationships and Nigerian culture. As a book, it’s not something I enjoyed reading or would even recommend, unless someone is looking for an absolute time-pass book.
The story occurs over a single day and is narrated from the perspectives of the three main characters. Married to a high-ranking executive, the woman is leading a comfortable life, but still feels dissatisfied. Temi, her best friend, is constantly judgmental of her marriage and is sure it would fail. Temi does not understand boundaries, and is forever third wheeling in her married life. The husband wants to spend some time alone with his wife, but Temi’s shadow is forever lurking around them.
I love character driven stories. Sadly, this is one of those books where I didn’t like any of the characters. All three of them are equally annoying. Even though the story occurs over a single day/evening, the events take us to the back. The narration gives us a glimpse of the character’s families, background, friendships, and challenges. But, the events didn’t tie properly and the narration felt clunky and repetitive.
I struggled to understand the motivation and reasoning behind the characters’ behaviour. And the ending was the greatest disappointment.
The Three of Us lacks a solid plot, suffers from repetitive narration, and has an inconclusive ending.
This blog post is part of the blog tour hosted by Random Things Tours.
Wordsopedia Rating 2.25/5
| Title: The Three of Us | Author: Ore Agbaje-Williams |
| Publisher: Vintage Digital | Publication date: May 16, 2023 |
| Genre: Fiction—Contemporary | Format: eBook |
| ISBN: 9780008527600 | No. of Pages: 185 |
Buy your copy here on Amazon
About the author
Ore Agbaje-Williams is a British-Nigerian writer and editor from North London who has written for gal—dem, Glamour UK and Wasafiri magazine. Her fiction writing has also been featured on Reflex Fiction. Her first novel, The Three of Us is published by Jonathan Cape (UK), Putnam (US) and Penguin Random House Canada in Spring 2023.
Getin touch with the author on her website.