Welcome to the first installment of the blog post series “The Busy Parents’ Book Club.” I decided to start this series after having my second baby in two years and finding that even as a librarian *gasp* I was having a hard time finding time to read. (Contrary to popular belief, we do not read at work.) After mentioning this to a few coworkers, and finding we all had the same shared issue, the idea was born.
The goal of this book club is success! We’ll select short books and have flexible timelines (we are busy after all). We’ll also help keep each other accountable; however, if you don’t finish for the month, hey no judgment here. If you are a parent struggling to find time to read, we hope you’ll join the club and read along (as life permits).
For our inaugural “meeting” I chose The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams. This is a story of relationships — the relationship between a husband and wife, between two best friends, and between a married couple and a third wheel. Here’s a brief overview:
Husband and wife meet, fall in love, and get married. Now they’re trying to do the “logical” next thing married couples do and have a baby. All is right in the world. Except for the presence of best friend, Temi who seems ever-present. Temi’s favorite pastime is to drink, gossip, and make fun of husband. She brings out the worst in wife. You can guess where things go from here.
After reading the synopsis, I thought the book sounded light and humorous, something all busy parents could probably enjoy. Sadly, I was wrong. The story takes place over one day and, although the tone is tense, the pace is sloooooowwww. I found myself getting frustrated with the characters and their inability to take control of the situation. And although I love a good character-driven novel, I didn’t care in the least about any of the characters in this book. I did listen to the audiobook and enjoyed the narrators’ Nigerian accents.
Although I needed more than I got from this novel, it did earn many accolades when it was published last year including:
One of Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2023
One of NYLON’s Most Anticipated Books of 2023
One of ELLE’s Best New Books for Summer
One of TIME’s Best Books of May 2023
One of PopSugar’s Best New Books of 2023
One of The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Best New Books of May
One of New York Post’s Best New Books
One of AFAR’s Best Books for Summer
So, it may just be me. Here are what some of my coworkers thought…
Heather Hobgood:
The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams is an investigation of the relationship between a husband and wife, and the wife’s best friend, Temi, over the course of one tense, alcohol soaked day. Temi, the only character with a name, is fiercely self-reliant and is disappointed that her best friend is living a much more traditional life than they had planned when they were younger. This disappointment emerges by way of constant snark and wisecracks toward the husband, who becomes increasingly frustrated by these attempts to poke holes in he and his wife’s relationship. Frequent changes in perspective keep the reader curious as to how, when, or even if this ongoing conflict will ever settle, and the expectations inherent in the Nigerian culture that all three characters share create an additional layer of insight into each participant’s motivations and behaviors. The overall vibe for the reader is that of being a guest at a very small and tense party. If you enjoy this book, please consider This Could All Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews or Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi for your next read, as they contain similar themes in terms of culture, relationships, and how they can affect one another.
Sarah Fenninger:
A book about a wife, a husband, and the wife’s best friend/husband’s nemesis. I loved the premise of this book and wanted to love the book itself, but it fell flat for me. It was a short book that felt long. The characters’ unlikability and the varying POVs did provide entertainment and interest. Ultimately, though, we heard the same exhausting, rambling, and maddening story three times, and as a result the big epiphanies landed as a whisper rather than a shout because you saw them coming all along. (The one exception was the cliffhanger ending. JUICY! Even still, I feel we needed one more chapter from the wife’s POV to wrap the story up nicely.) My biggest takeaway from this story is that I’m glad I don’t have a friend like Temi!
Ben Himmelfarb:
I failed to read the book. I read the first chapter and then carried it around with me for about 10 days. I feel like this is a very honest representation of a busy parent book group experience.
Next Month’s Read:
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
