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One’s Company: A Novel
Bonnie Lincoln just wants to be left alone. To come home from work, shut out the voice that reminds her of some devastating losses, and unwind in front of the nostalgic, golden glow of her favorite TV show, Three's Company.
When Bonnie wins the lottery, a more grandiose vision—to completely shuck off her own troublesome identity—takes shape. She plans a drastic move to an isolated mountain retreat where she can re-create the iconic apartment set of Three's Company and slip into the lives of its main no-nonsense Janet Wood, pleasantly airheaded Chrissy Snow, and confident Jack Tripper. While her best friend, Krystal, tries to drag her back to her old life, Bonnie is determined to transcend pain, trauma, and the baggage of her past by immersing herself in the ultimate binge-watch.
When Bonnie wins the lottery, a more grandiose vision—to completely shuck off her own troublesome identity—takes shape. She plans a drastic move to an isolated mountain retreat where she can re-create the iconic apartment set of Three's Company and slip into the lives of its main no-nonsense Janet Wood, pleasantly airheaded Chrissy Snow, and confident Jack Tripper. While her best friend, Krystal, tries to drag her back to her old life, Bonnie is determined to transcend pain, trauma, and the baggage of her past by immersing herself in the ultimate binge-watch.
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First published June 14, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,295 reviews
June 28, 2022
4.5⭐️
“The world was so haphazard and frightening, why not arrange it the way I wanted it? Why not?”
Our protagonist Bonnie Lincoln finds solace in watching reruns of Three’s Company, a popular sitcom originally aired between 1977-1984, after a traumatic event that alters her life irrevocably. Some years down the line, when she comes into a large sum of money after winning the lottery she decides to leave everything and everyone behind and create her alternate reality, modeling her new life along the lines of her favorite television show.
"Other people can ruin a dream just by knowing it."
What starts with purchasing property in a secluded location and building a replica of the apartment shared by the main cast members evolves into creating a facsimile of the whole world of the television show down to the minutest detail and acting out the lives of her favorite characters, turn by turn, while maintaining minimal contact with the outside world.
“Three’s Company was a door into a new way of life, an immersion into a different decade, into lives and histories that were different from my own, into a family that could not be broken.”
As the narrative progresses, we see how Bonnie gradually immerses herself into her new world but will she truly find what she is looking for? Will her meticulously planned illusion truly provide the comfort and security she craves?
"I planned to manipulate time itself, to escape it and warp it, bend it to my will."
Narrated by Bonnie in the first person, One's Company by Ashley Hutson is an intense and immersive experience. I have never read anything like this before. The premise is so unique and the writing is excellent. Parts of it are difficult to read especially in parts where we bear witness to Bonnie’s traumatic past and her loneliness. The author addresses some important themes in this book such as trauma, depression and mental health. In Bonnie, the author creates a flawed individual who is unable to navigate her way through the loss and darkness in her life. Many of us have dealt with grief by seeking refuge in television, movies and books and I could fully empathize with Bonnie’s need for solitude and her need to create a safe space for herself. But after a point, the story takes a bizarre turn and some moments are quite disturbing, the ending in particular. Though the story is unrealistic and far-fetched, to say the least, I found this hard to put down.
"It was always easier, talking to someone who wasn’t there. Who was dead. I tried not to do it too often, but funny things happen sometimes, when a person is alone."
I remember watching Three’s Company as a child ( or rather sneaking peeks while my late father watched it ) in the 80s. I’ll admit to sometimes catching the reruns broadcast on television even now. The show and the humor never cease to make me laugh (I try not to judge a show from the 70s based on present-day sensibilities). Now I’ll be thinking about this book every time I hear the theme song. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
“The world was so haphazard and frightening, why not arrange it the way I wanted it? Why not?”
Our protagonist Bonnie Lincoln finds solace in watching reruns of Three’s Company, a popular sitcom originally aired between 1977-1984, after a traumatic event that alters her life irrevocably. Some years down the line, when she comes into a large sum of money after winning the lottery she decides to leave everything and everyone behind and create her alternate reality, modeling her new life along the lines of her favorite television show.
"Other people can ruin a dream just by knowing it."
What starts with purchasing property in a secluded location and building a replica of the apartment shared by the main cast members evolves into creating a facsimile of the whole world of the television show down to the minutest detail and acting out the lives of her favorite characters, turn by turn, while maintaining minimal contact with the outside world.
“Three’s Company was a door into a new way of life, an immersion into a different decade, into lives and histories that were different from my own, into a family that could not be broken.”
As the narrative progresses, we see how Bonnie gradually immerses herself into her new world but will she truly find what she is looking for? Will her meticulously planned illusion truly provide the comfort and security she craves?
"I planned to manipulate time itself, to escape it and warp it, bend it to my will."
Narrated by Bonnie in the first person, One's Company by Ashley Hutson is an intense and immersive experience. I have never read anything like this before. The premise is so unique and the writing is excellent. Parts of it are difficult to read especially in parts where we bear witness to Bonnie’s traumatic past and her loneliness. The author addresses some important themes in this book such as trauma, depression and mental health. In Bonnie, the author creates a flawed individual who is unable to navigate her way through the loss and darkness in her life. Many of us have dealt with grief by seeking refuge in television, movies and books and I could fully empathize with Bonnie’s need for solitude and her need to create a safe space for herself. But after a point, the story takes a bizarre turn and some moments are quite disturbing, the ending in particular. Though the story is unrealistic and far-fetched, to say the least, I found this hard to put down.
"It was always easier, talking to someone who wasn’t there. Who was dead. I tried not to do it too often, but funny things happen sometimes, when a person is alone."
I remember watching Three’s Company as a child ( or rather sneaking peeks while my late father watched it ) in the 80s. I’ll admit to sometimes catching the reruns broadcast on television even now. The show and the humor never cease to make me laugh (I try not to judge a show from the 70s based on present-day sensibilities). Now I’ll be thinking about this book every time I hear the theme song. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
July 8, 2022
Quite a unique and clever story!
I used to love the show, "Three's Company" which aired in the late 1970's to mid 1980's. I watched the 80's show in real time and I caught the 70's episodes in re-runs. It was a great show! That's what made me decide to try this book out.
Well, Bonnie Lincoln is obsessed with the show. Like really obsessed! As it goes she wins the biggest lottery payout in U.S. history and guess what she wants to do with it? Build a real-life replica of the show's sets and live all by herself in an isolated area as the characters themselves!
This reminded me of when I was very young and played imaginary games like house or when we actually acted out tv shows with my friends. Although we were young and just pretending. Poor Bonnie tells the story throughout the book and it's not a happy circumstance.
This was so different and entertaining. A really great audio!
I used to love the show, "Three's Company" which aired in the late 1970's to mid 1980's. I watched the 80's show in real time and I caught the 70's episodes in re-runs. It was a great show! That's what made me decide to try this book out.
Well, Bonnie Lincoln is obsessed with the show. Like really obsessed! As it goes she wins the biggest lottery payout in U.S. history and guess what she wants to do with it? Build a real-life replica of the show's sets and live all by herself in an isolated area as the characters themselves!
This reminded me of when I was very young and played imaginary games like house or when we actually acted out tv shows with my friends. Although we were young and just pretending. Poor Bonnie tells the story throughout the book and it's not a happy circumstance.
This was so different and entertaining. A really great audio!
December 8, 2022
"One's Company" by Ashley Hutson is mind-boggling Absurdist Fiction!
How do I begin to describe this audiobook? It's a bit out there. No, it's more than that, it's completely out there!
Remember the sit-com "Three's Company" from the late 70's with John Ritter, Joyce Dewitt, and Suzanne Sommers? Yeah, that one! Well, Bonnie, our protagonist in this story is obsessed with it and the measures she takes to live her life vicariously through these characters is what this story is all about...mostly!
I should add that money is no problem for Bonnie because she's just won the biggest lottery payout in US history! She moves to a remote locale and uses her winnings to build a replica of the show's set, including the apartment building the cast members lived in and the surrounding businesses that resemble a small town. Then she begins living her 'dream come true' by immersing herself in becoming the cast members. Bizarre, right?
It's just Bonnie and her imagination in this way-out-there, crazy premise. Well, not just Bonnie, but almost!
So why did I enjoy this story so much?
The main character is believable despite her over-the-top "Three’s Company" fixation. The writing is fantastic and the narration of the audiobook by Rachel Jacobs is compelling and emotional. The story is primarily written in a first-person narrative from Bonnie and it's deep and raw, thought provoking and mind-bending, with triggers and touches of themes that nightmares are made of.
Y'all know I enjoy stories that are different and original, creative and imaginative, right? Absurdist Fiction is a new sub-genre for me but believe me when I tell you this one delivered and I was all in!
Thank you to NetGalley, Orange Sky Audio, and Ashley Hutson for a free ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.
How do I begin to describe this audiobook? It's a bit out there. No, it's more than that, it's completely out there!
Remember the sit-com "Three's Company" from the late 70's with John Ritter, Joyce Dewitt, and Suzanne Sommers? Yeah, that one! Well, Bonnie, our protagonist in this story is obsessed with it and the measures she takes to live her life vicariously through these characters is what this story is all about...mostly!
I should add that money is no problem for Bonnie because she's just won the biggest lottery payout in US history! She moves to a remote locale and uses her winnings to build a replica of the show's set, including the apartment building the cast members lived in and the surrounding businesses that resemble a small town. Then she begins living her 'dream come true' by immersing herself in becoming the cast members. Bizarre, right?
It's just Bonnie and her imagination in this way-out-there, crazy premise. Well, not just Bonnie, but almost!
So why did I enjoy this story so much?
The main character is believable despite her over-the-top "Three’s Company" fixation. The writing is fantastic and the narration of the audiobook by Rachel Jacobs is compelling and emotional. The story is primarily written in a first-person narrative from Bonnie and it's deep and raw, thought provoking and mind-bending, with triggers and touches of themes that nightmares are made of.
Y'all know I enjoy stories that are different and original, creative and imaginative, right? Absurdist Fiction is a new sub-genre for me but believe me when I tell you this one delivered and I was all in!
Thank you to NetGalley, Orange Sky Audio, and Ashley Hutson for a free ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.
September 13, 2022
The mortifying ordeal of being known vs. dealing with trauma through completely submerging yourself in a recreated sitcom fantasy of your own creation
July 10, 2022
2.5
Not all weirdos are wonderful
Usually I’m all excited when there’s a weirdo, but this one, Bonnie, left me cold. (Note to self: just because a character is weird or batshit crazy, it doesn’t mean she’s interesting or fun to be around.)
Loner-loser Bonnie has lived through a trauma and then she wins a hugundous lottery. I expected to see some excitement, like a yahoo or two, but she is one of the most stoic winners in history. (There should be a lottery police that requires the winner to go cuckoo with happiness; if not, the police should renege and give the dough to someone who will appropriately flip out when they win!) Also, the traumatic event she had been through is weirdly downplayed, though I’m thinking maybe the writer intended that—like Bonnie is repressing it so we readers don’t get a dramatic replay. Still, the lack of info and emotion about the trauma bugged me.
Bonnie is obsessed with the 70s sit-com, Three’s Company, and with her huge winnings, she buys a place in the country and replicates the set. And I mean REALLY replicates it. I scream, “Give me some juice, give me some interaction, knock off explaining what wall is painted what color and what dishes are in the sink!” I didn’t find her obsession interesting in the least.
The author got too carried away with description, like her writing assignment was to be very articulate and dig deep into the appearance of the set, leaving nothing out. Bonnie hired a huge crew to create the elaborate, multi-room setup exactly how she wanted it—she was pretty overbearing when it came to the worker bees.
The author gets an A for creating such a detailed set—it was clever and thorough. Come to think of it, an architecture or design magazine would have a field day with this. But this is a novel, folks, and character is sort of a major factor here, wouldn’t you say? I like it when the author looks carefully inside a character, not a static set. I couldn’t stand it—building the set went on forever. Meanwhile, what we had here was an anti-social, bossy missy who rubbed me the wrong way.
Bonnie hates people, even her supposed friend (who she treated terribly), so she stays away from everyone. This added to my dislike of her. I wanted interaction—and bring in someone with heart and soul, please! But we’re left with a domineering set-creator who doesn’t like anyone or anything.
Well, halfway through the book, another person enters the scene, and finally, there’s some dialogue and some action besides set building. Also, we get to see inside Bonnie’s head a little more, and I did feel some sympathy for her then. She has some major head disorders, though I’m not sure they are always presented in a way that seems on the mark. And I apparently held a big grudge against Bonnie. I had washed my hands of her in the first half of the book, and damn it, she couldn’t butter me up in the second half, no matter what; I wouldn’t be swayed and like her, oh no. I did calm down enough to realize there was depth to the writing and some improved character development (and yes, some excitement), and I enjoyed it more. This led me to giving the book 2.5 stars, rounded up, instead of doling out 1.5 or 2 stars.
The book is advertised as being quirky, and as I said, quirk doesn’t have to work just because there’s weirdness. I will say that lovers of Three’s Company will be in hog heaven. Bonnie discusses the traits and clothes of all the characters and takes on their lives. If I had loved the show, I’m sure I’d have been drooling over Bonnie’s trip down memory lane, all the minute details she gives about its characters and setting, and the perfect replication, which was indeed clever.
This book is getting high marks from most other readers, so be sure to read their reviews when considering this book. I’m definitely the outlier.
Thanks to Edelweiss for the advance copy.
Not all weirdos are wonderful
Usually I’m all excited when there’s a weirdo, but this one, Bonnie, left me cold. (Note to self: just because a character is weird or batshit crazy, it doesn’t mean she’s interesting or fun to be around.)
Loner-loser Bonnie has lived through a trauma and then she wins a hugundous lottery. I expected to see some excitement, like a yahoo or two, but she is one of the most stoic winners in history. (There should be a lottery police that requires the winner to go cuckoo with happiness; if not, the police should renege and give the dough to someone who will appropriately flip out when they win!) Also, the traumatic event she had been through is weirdly downplayed, though I’m thinking maybe the writer intended that—like Bonnie is repressing it so we readers don’t get a dramatic replay. Still, the lack of info and emotion about the trauma bugged me.
Bonnie is obsessed with the 70s sit-com, Three’s Company, and with her huge winnings, she buys a place in the country and replicates the set. And I mean REALLY replicates it. I scream, “Give me some juice, give me some interaction, knock off explaining what wall is painted what color and what dishes are in the sink!” I didn’t find her obsession interesting in the least.
The author got too carried away with description, like her writing assignment was to be very articulate and dig deep into the appearance of the set, leaving nothing out. Bonnie hired a huge crew to create the elaborate, multi-room setup exactly how she wanted it—she was pretty overbearing when it came to the worker bees.
The author gets an A for creating such a detailed set—it was clever and thorough. Come to think of it, an architecture or design magazine would have a field day with this. But this is a novel, folks, and character is sort of a major factor here, wouldn’t you say? I like it when the author looks carefully inside a character, not a static set. I couldn’t stand it—building the set went on forever. Meanwhile, what we had here was an anti-social, bossy missy who rubbed me the wrong way.
Bonnie hates people, even her supposed friend (who she treated terribly), so she stays away from everyone. This added to my dislike of her. I wanted interaction—and bring in someone with heart and soul, please! But we’re left with a domineering set-creator who doesn’t like anyone or anything.
Well, halfway through the book, another person enters the scene, and finally, there’s some dialogue and some action besides set building. Also, we get to see inside Bonnie’s head a little more, and I did feel some sympathy for her then. She has some major head disorders, though I’m not sure they are always presented in a way that seems on the mark. And I apparently held a big grudge against Bonnie. I had washed my hands of her in the first half of the book, and damn it, she couldn’t butter me up in the second half, no matter what; I wouldn’t be swayed and like her, oh no. I did calm down enough to realize there was depth to the writing and some improved character development (and yes, some excitement), and I enjoyed it more. This led me to giving the book 2.5 stars, rounded up, instead of doling out 1.5 or 2 stars.
The book is advertised as being quirky, and as I said, quirk doesn’t have to work just because there’s weirdness. I will say that lovers of Three’s Company will be in hog heaven. Bonnie discusses the traits and clothes of all the characters and takes on their lives. If I had loved the show, I’m sure I’d have been drooling over Bonnie’s trip down memory lane, all the minute details she gives about its characters and setting, and the perfect replication, which was indeed clever.
This book is getting high marks from most other readers, so be sure to read their reviews when considering this book. I’m definitely the outlier.
Thanks to Edelweiss for the advance copy.
December 19, 2022
I was functionally human. Why, then, had that life always felt like a pastime, just something I was doing while waiting for my other self, the actualized, better version of myself, to come along and make it real?
▴▴▴
damn. this book fucked me up, and i loved it. it's about grief, unhinged. it's about escapism as a coping mechanism, and about surrendering yourself to obsession until it becomes routine.
haven't you ever wanted to live inside a tv show? haven't you ever wanted to walk through that door on the set of a familiar sitcom and be greeted by familiar faces? such safety in a sitcom's predictability, especially a sitcom from byegone days. since childhood i've often harbored this desire (albeit casually), so i was drawn to this story of bonnie, a lonely and traumatized character who takes her desire to another level.
rather than be defined by the trauma and grief of her reality, bonnie brings her dream to fruition. after winning the lottery, she sets out to create replicas of the many sets of three's company. not just the main apartment, but every one of the show's 1970s locales. she wants her three's company home to be safe in total isolation, hers and hers alone, so no one can disturb her dream of living deep inside the show itself.
that's a lot, right?
this novel is sharply relatable in ways that are often difficult to articulate. the reader is immersed in bonnie's loneliness, her longing, and her determination to escape. after surviving a horrible assault and losing the only parent figures in her sad life, the only thing that gives her comfort is three's company. she is so sure that living within her favorite show, with all its familiar details, will be the transformation she needs. she will leave behind the old bonnie and live as the show's characters. she will leave behind all the pain of her old life. i feel for her so much. even as we learn that she is perhaps not the most reliable narrator, and even as she makes unkind and unlikable choices, her emotional resonance never ceases.
Inside every person's head is a set of films, each a spool of memories, and one of these reels features the most trivial things a person does over the course of a lifetime, including ordering a ham sandwich from the local market's deli counter years ago and the girl who handed it to you, and I hated that the films in these other people's brains were still running, and that I was in them. The humiliation of being alive, and being seen!
the shame of being perceived! the pleasure and relief of retreating from humanity!
one of my favorite details of the book is a comparison bonnie makes between loving a piece of media and being devoted to a religion. it is a one-sided love for an unreachable thing, but that love can be sacred and deep, "to own an appreciation so big that its gravity felt like returned love."
as much as i enjoyed this book, i'm really uncertain about the ending.
A subterranean longing would pass through me at those moments, a sharp, wrenching desire for wholeness, for the correct way of living. When I saw it up close it didn't seem funny, or lame, or maudlin. It wasn't anything but beautiful. Whenever I witnessed these moments of domestic perfection, the thing that good people were born into, I had an odd feeling that I was floating somewhere beyond myself, in a far corner, watching my heart grasp at the scene like a drowning person inches away from a life jacket, clutching at the water of love, ecstatic and terrified.
February 9, 2025
From the first sentence, I found myself caught up in this odd novel about obsession with and devotion to comforting throwaway TV culture as escape from horrific trauma. The narrator's lottery windfall recreation of the sets of dopey entertainment while denying the needs of real-world friends made weird sense.
July 8, 2022
The afternoon I walked to the gas station, I received the mission of my life, the plan, and it was channeled through the television show Three’s Company.
Bonnie finds herself the sole survivor of an armed robbery at the local mom and pop market where she works. Raped and battered, Bonnie was witness to nearly her entire “adopted” family being gunned down. Unable to deal with her trauma, Bonnie self isolates and immerses herself in her idea of utopia – that which belongs to the residents of Apartment 205 – Jack, Janet and Chrissy. When Bonnie ends up being the lone winner of the biggest jackpot in lottery history she decides to make this dream a reality and builds not only . . . .
But also the Ropers’/Mr. Furley’s apartments as well as that of ladies’ man Larry Dallas, along with a mini city of sorts containing all of the known landmarks where her best pals go – The Regal Begal, Jack’s technical college culinary class, the flower shop where Janet works, etc. It is Bonnie’s plan to truly go off the grid and live in a revolving state as each of these characters in perpetuity. But how long can you really hide from reality?
This was totally a “you had me at Three’s Company” instant request and thanks to my wonderful library they bought a copy right away. If I were to award points solely on originality One’s Company would get about a trillion. And the parts about the building of petite Santa Monica and all of the details provided regarding the décor of each apartment really had me on the wayback machine to a show that remains a favorite to this day (dear young people, do not come shit on my sundae and tell me the problems with this masterpiece – it was a different time). Unfortunately, I really disliked pretty much everything about Bonnie aside from our shared love of re-runs and could not wait to not be in her head any longer, so this one ends up being 3 Stars : (
Bonnie finds herself the sole survivor of an armed robbery at the local mom and pop market where she works. Raped and battered, Bonnie was witness to nearly her entire “adopted” family being gunned down. Unable to deal with her trauma, Bonnie self isolates and immerses herself in her idea of utopia – that which belongs to the residents of Apartment 205 – Jack, Janet and Chrissy. When Bonnie ends up being the lone winner of the biggest jackpot in lottery history she decides to make this dream a reality and builds not only . . . .
But also the Ropers’/Mr. Furley’s apartments as well as that of ladies’ man Larry Dallas, along with a mini city of sorts containing all of the known landmarks where her best pals go – The Regal Begal, Jack’s technical college culinary class, the flower shop where Janet works, etc. It is Bonnie’s plan to truly go off the grid and live in a revolving state as each of these characters in perpetuity. But how long can you really hide from reality?
This was totally a “you had me at Three’s Company” instant request and thanks to my wonderful library they bought a copy right away. If I were to award points solely on originality One’s Company would get about a trillion. And the parts about the building of petite Santa Monica and all of the details provided regarding the décor of each apartment really had me on the wayback machine to a show that remains a favorite to this day (dear young people, do not come shit on my sundae and tell me the problems with this masterpiece – it was a different time). Unfortunately, I really disliked pretty much everything about Bonnie aside from our shared love of re-runs and could not wait to not be in her head any longer, so this one ends up being 3 Stars : (
July 1, 2025
Honestly shocked it took me this long to read this as this was right up my alley! Someone who loves surreal darkly comedic lit-fic (me) 🤝 someone who grew up watching TV Land/classic sitcom shows on repeat (also me). I am the target audience! Loved this wacky ride. Could have done without the animal scenes tho :(
June 3, 2022
Come and knock on our door.
We've been waiting for you.
Where the kisses are hers, and hers, and his,
Three's company, too. *
After enduring an unimaginable tragedy, Bonnie Lincoln has found comfort in an innocuous television show. Janet, Jack, and Chrissy, and their bright, sunny imaginary world provide comfort, and an escape from an awful reality filled with dark memories of gunmen and death. Oh, how she wishes she could join her pals in their safe Santa Monica apartment building.
I understood the concept of religion, the one-sided relationship with the intangible. Like God, the show never talked back to me. It felt familiar and reassuring, yet I could find something new to love every time. It took place in a time period I would never truly understand, having never lived in it, and for all its relatability, there would always be something unreachable about it. I kept returning, returning, wanting terribly to be let in, looking forward to the day I might achieve full enlightenment. I finally know what it was like to love something sacred and deep, to own an appreciation so big that its gravity felt like returned love.
And, then . . . Bonnie wins the largest lottery payout in history.
Suddenly, things are looking up.
My plan, my dream, the thing I feared saying aloud in the presence of another human, was this: I would buy property somewhere remote, on the mountain or deep in forested country, and on it I would build a replica of the Three's Company apartment building. I would live in an identical re-creation of Jack, Janet, and Chrissy's apartment where I would wake and eat, and bathe and sleep, and around the apartment building I would build the world seen on the show---the Regal Beagle bar, the Arcade Florists flower shop, Jack's Bistro, Nurse Terri's hospital waiting room, secretary Chrissy's office building. It would be a small city. And I planned on living the lives of each character in succession, one after another, until the years ran out.
And, why shouldn't she?
The world was so haphazard and frightening, why not arrange it the way I wanted it? Why not?
This premise was so deliciously twisted, so delightfully quirky, I knew I had to read the book. And, I loved it, even as it turned out to be one of the most hilariously heartbreaking tales I've ever encountered. And, though I didn't approve of all of Bonnie's actions, and the fact that she couldn't accept her friend's desire to also inhabit a dream world, I could certainly appreciate her motives, and I was rooting for her all the way.
I demand their opinions on things, "Don't you think we become other people every day?" I ask.
Or, "Don't you think that who we are is determined by who we love?" I really want to know. "Isn't love a form of impersonation?"
How can you argue with that?
And, I'd love to have this line emblazoned on a coffee mug:
People who declare things impossible lack a ruthless imagination.
True, Bonnie is a flawed character, but she's a gal I'll never forget.
You'll see that life is a ball again
Laughter is calling for you.
Down at our rendezvous
Three's company, too. *
*Joe Raposo
We've been waiting for you.
Where the kisses are hers, and hers, and his,
Three's company, too. *
After enduring an unimaginable tragedy, Bonnie Lincoln has found comfort in an innocuous television show. Janet, Jack, and Chrissy, and their bright, sunny imaginary world provide comfort, and an escape from an awful reality filled with dark memories of gunmen and death. Oh, how she wishes she could join her pals in their safe Santa Monica apartment building.
I understood the concept of religion, the one-sided relationship with the intangible. Like God, the show never talked back to me. It felt familiar and reassuring, yet I could find something new to love every time. It took place in a time period I would never truly understand, having never lived in it, and for all its relatability, there would always be something unreachable about it. I kept returning, returning, wanting terribly to be let in, looking forward to the day I might achieve full enlightenment. I finally know what it was like to love something sacred and deep, to own an appreciation so big that its gravity felt like returned love.
And, then . . . Bonnie wins the largest lottery payout in history.
Suddenly, things are looking up.
My plan, my dream, the thing I feared saying aloud in the presence of another human, was this: I would buy property somewhere remote, on the mountain or deep in forested country, and on it I would build a replica of the Three's Company apartment building. I would live in an identical re-creation of Jack, Janet, and Chrissy's apartment where I would wake and eat, and bathe and sleep, and around the apartment building I would build the world seen on the show---the Regal Beagle bar, the Arcade Florists flower shop, Jack's Bistro, Nurse Terri's hospital waiting room, secretary Chrissy's office building. It would be a small city. And I planned on living the lives of each character in succession, one after another, until the years ran out.
And, why shouldn't she?
The world was so haphazard and frightening, why not arrange it the way I wanted it? Why not?
This premise was so deliciously twisted, so delightfully quirky, I knew I had to read the book. And, I loved it, even as it turned out to be one of the most hilariously heartbreaking tales I've ever encountered. And, though I didn't approve of all of Bonnie's actions, and the fact that she couldn't accept her friend's desire to also inhabit a dream world, I could certainly appreciate her motives, and I was rooting for her all the way.
I demand their opinions on things, "Don't you think we become other people every day?" I ask.
Or, "Don't you think that who we are is determined by who we love?" I really want to know. "Isn't love a form of impersonation?"
How can you argue with that?
And, I'd love to have this line emblazoned on a coffee mug:
People who declare things impossible lack a ruthless imagination.
True, Bonnie is a flawed character, but she's a gal I'll never forget.
You'll see that life is a ball again
Laughter is calling for you.
Down at our rendezvous
Three's company, too. *
*Joe Raposo
August 30, 2022
"After I won the lottery, a lot of strangers showed up to tell me what a piece of trash I was."
It's been days later and I still can't get over this book.
Okay. Wow. This was soooo good.
A woman who went through something truly traumatizing finds comfort in her favorite tv show but takes it way too far.
One's Company was one hell of a book and I am in love. It had everything that I enjoy about books and so much more. I cannot recommend this book enough. You honestly won't be disappointed by this wacky tale of fortune insanity.
It's been days later and I still can't get over this book.
Okay. Wow. This was soooo good.
A woman who went through something truly traumatizing finds comfort in her favorite tv show but takes it way too far.
One's Company was one hell of a book and I am in love. It had everything that I enjoy about books and so much more. I cannot recommend this book enough. You honestly won't be disappointed by this wacky tale of fortune insanity.
December 1, 2023
It is important to note that most of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the book's subject matters & those detailed in my review overwhelming. I suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters that contain reflections on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), violent crime, murder, the death of a loved one, grief, gun violence, rape, sexual violence, suicide, self-harm, the death of an animal, animal abuse, & others.
When written by an author with talent, certain stories can be like lightning to the skeletal system that holds us in place. There is no tender way to speak to the ways in which the mind can lose itself to pain.
It has become more commonplace to speak of the value of a healthy mind; the care that should be given to the ailing; the patience we all need to offer. In reality, when soaking wet the rain feels like acid; mental illness is not easy, it is not kind, it is not smooth or palatable; mental illness is painful, it is destructive, it is turmoil, & pain. I cannot fault the fallacy of misunderstanding that follows the innocent intent of the majority. It is nice to know that we are known, if still misunderstood.
In some sense, to meet people like Bonnie is a privilege. The world is very different for each of us & I remain inclined to acknowledge that we experience it in varying ways too. Sometimes, the small things feel like the end of the world; it is not bad to feel overwhelmed by the stone in our shoes. What becomes tricky to communicate is the monsoon in the heart that wallows the mind in dead water.
People familiar with life & its many facets will find in this story a character who merits a second chance. What is interesting about this story is the impact it has on its readers. Should you have come to the place where reviews live, you will see people degrade Bonnie & claim she is a horrible person who was impossible to root for. I cannot fault them for their opinions.
What I would like to propose in this critique is the opposite. Certainly, Bonnie is complex. She suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & in my unprofessional opinion, shows signs of Schizoaffective Disorder.
Our ability to share with one another has muddied our understanding of complex issues. One might feel nervous about speaking to a cashier but this does not mean that one has an Anxiety Disorder. A person who lives with conditions that shape the mind & in turn, the world around them, do not experience life in the same ways as those who do not.
Once again, I cannot necessarily fault people for not grasping the complexities of mental illness & mental disorders; if one is sheltered, one cannot know. Admittedly, I am rather happy to know that people experience life free of the burden that shadows out the light.
Unfortunately, due to this, conditions like the ones I listed above leave people upset, disgusted, & rather repulsed with the person in question. When exploring the realities that Bonnie has experienced throughout her life, it would be simple to conclude that she has had a rough go.
While growing up she lost her father to suicide; her mother fell into a Depressive episode due to grief; her mother attempted suicide; her mother died in palliative care. Her best friend adopted her into her family. Bonnie was welcomed into a home with a father & a mother; a brother, & a sister. She became a surrogate for the childhood she never got to experience; when she slept she was sound & secure.
Rather than accept that this was an experience that would advocate a change which Bonnie would be unprepared to deal with, the people in Bonnie’s life perpetrated actions that allowed her condition to worsen. This is not to say that it was their fault; Bonnie is responsible for her person. What is perhaps rather more difficult to accept is our participation in the lives of people we meet in passing & in whose precious time we nestle our hours.
Without a loving home, Bonnie would have had nothing to compare; her life would have remained a series of unfortunate events. She was accepted into a home & then these same people allegedly spoke badly about her when she was healing.
There is no easy way to reflect on the events of this book. I cannot fault the foster family for their uncertainty & annoyance towards Bonnie. In life, many things transpire; some regularly bad & others wonderfully good. At the end of each day, we remain in our own company & have the responsibility of owning the experiences we had along the way. There is no point in initiating change in a person’s life if the goal is to throw this same kindness in their face & reveal lies; cracks in the foundation of trust they thought they had with you.
The recollections that Bonnie shares with readers speak of a terrible thing. When Bonnie finally felt able to trust that life would not leave her out in the open alone, her adopted family was gunned down in their convenience store; Bonnie was violently sexually assaulted; & life was no more than a burdened reminder of everything she would never have again.
Throughout this book the main character is unlikeable, I will not pretend otherwise. For readers whose experience with the world is perhaps sheltered, or ground in the soil of a single neighbourhood, their time spent with Bonnie might feel altogether horrible. Bonnie does not have any redeeming features. What the reader will have to decide is whether or not she deserves forgiveness for the ways in which her brain chose to change as a consequence of the events that she experienced.
Again, to a certain extent, we are all responsible for the ways we act in the world. Bonnie did not need to leave the dog for dead by starving it & abandoning it in the woods. Bonnie did have a choice as to how she treated the innocent animals; she chose abuse & death.
I will not ask the reader to forgive Bonnie for the malaise she created in a sea of blue. Rather, what I want to draw the reader’s attention to is Bonnie’s inability to be a functioning human being.
Discussions surrounding mental health & disorders often integrate some of what I have already written; people are responsible for themselves & their actions. To be ill is not an excuse & an excuse is interpreted as being something that would automatically pardon or wipe clean the blood on the blade. The contrary is, in actuality, true.
People who are ill do not have the benefit of clear thought. Of course, journeys to heal open wounds help individuals flow through the seasons with more ease but, for some, the innocence of life is lost forever. It is positive to include details about a person’s mental state so as to better understand the facets of the illness or the disorder; in this way we become better informed as to the ways in which a brain can hanker down & demerit the life it is keeps breathing. This is true in Bonnie’s case.
Bonnie is a person whose personality is degrading; she is mean, insensitive, cruel, shallow-minded, simple-minded, & harbours a desire to mistreat others. As she maneuvers her way through memory lane, she presents the reader with a fulsome version of herself. This approach is odd given Bonnie has very little ability to see things in their entirety & rather views everything in fractions.
Perhaps, the author felt inclined to write Bonnie as a person who lived entirely in a darkness of their own making; a person who remains disinclined from turning on the light. On the other hand, readers might feel that Bonnie is lost in a catacomb that mazes under a city she has never visited. Regardless of a reader’s interpretation, this story allows them the opportunity to regard advanced stages of trauma on the brain.
As her dream house is built, Bonnie allows herself the feeling of excitement; soon she will evade the human world for her personal paradise built in the likeness of “Three’s Company” (1976). I have never seen this show & for most of the book, I had to check records for references to the cast or search for photos of the scenes; most of what took place left me feeling apathetic.
Instead of wondering at the distance between myself & Bonnie’s comfort, I chose to look for my own. When I was young, my grandma & I used to watch episodes of “The Golden Girls” (1985) together. As I grew up, I found myself going back to the series over, & over again. Since my grandmother’s passing I meet her in the televised security of a story I know well; one that does not change in the ways of life; a series of events yet unknown to me.
I am inclined to believe that many people will understand Bonnie’s desire to live inside a place she deems as safe. In the world in which we live, safety can be a passing fancy or a concept one rarely encounters. Rather than roll the dice, Bonnie chose to take things into her own hands—I cannot blame her for that.
There is, however, a difference between having a favourite show, film, album, blanket, food, or hat rotate through life with you & what Bonnie has chosen which is to say; it is normal to find comfort in various aspects of life. It is unhealthy to shed the skin you live in to nestle through a groove so that you are never felt by life as a whole, ever again.
Though there were parts of this story that left me confused; the convict, the pets left behind by a contractor who knew a woman to be deliriously unwell; the storm; the best friend; the story as a whole tells the tale of an experience that deserves to be shared. One is lucky to never understand what it feels like to want to hide in the ground forever.
Ultimately, within this story, I found myself picking apart the plot to reveal the inner workings of a mind that could not voice reason into the malady it suffered. Surely, Bonnie could love the cold stone facade of the wandering convict & surely, she would have it in herself to love the story that allowed her to perish within its antiquated design.
As the train track & Christmas village that waited yearly for its time to make way into the hearth; Bonnie’s life will probably never be healed, wait & pace the halls of confinement as she did. Inside the dark there is always the form the human eye cannot absorb.
In Bonnie’s recollection she murdered her friend. Perhaps, she murdered the woman she loved & instead of admitting this to herself she wrote herself a letter in her lover’s hand. Perhaps, instead of murdering her best friend, Bonnie lashed a knife against her own skin. There is no set conclusion to this story. The reader will not receive the reprieve of a final moment between the characters they met within this book.
When all is said & done, that was not the point in their meeting. Readers, people at writ large, will probably never meet someone like Bonnie but, they will rewatch their favourite series; they will settle to re-watch their favourite film, replay their favourite song, & tell someone close to them about the intimacy of their prized piece of art.
Within books, one is granted the ability to live a life that does not belong to them. We grow as individuals when we expose ourselves to the wandering eye of the skylight; the omniscient being that heaves monstrosities in our mind.
Though, I would not like to be in Bonnie’s shoes, I wish her well. I am hopeful that stories like this one remind us of who we are. Whether one is at ease or weighed down; one is in this life, if only for a moment. In as much time as it might take to read this book, one is given permission to forgive the horrible violence of invisible illness & the ways in which it cauterizes the self; preventing thy own freedom from within.
Thank you to NetGalley, W. W. Norton & Company, & Ashley Hutson for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
When written by an author with talent, certain stories can be like lightning to the skeletal system that holds us in place. There is no tender way to speak to the ways in which the mind can lose itself to pain.
It has become more commonplace to speak of the value of a healthy mind; the care that should be given to the ailing; the patience we all need to offer. In reality, when soaking wet the rain feels like acid; mental illness is not easy, it is not kind, it is not smooth or palatable; mental illness is painful, it is destructive, it is turmoil, & pain. I cannot fault the fallacy of misunderstanding that follows the innocent intent of the majority. It is nice to know that we are known, if still misunderstood.
In some sense, to meet people like Bonnie is a privilege. The world is very different for each of us & I remain inclined to acknowledge that we experience it in varying ways too. Sometimes, the small things feel like the end of the world; it is not bad to feel overwhelmed by the stone in our shoes. What becomes tricky to communicate is the monsoon in the heart that wallows the mind in dead water.
People familiar with life & its many facets will find in this story a character who merits a second chance. What is interesting about this story is the impact it has on its readers. Should you have come to the place where reviews live, you will see people degrade Bonnie & claim she is a horrible person who was impossible to root for. I cannot fault them for their opinions.
What I would like to propose in this critique is the opposite. Certainly, Bonnie is complex. She suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & in my unprofessional opinion, shows signs of Schizoaffective Disorder.
Our ability to share with one another has muddied our understanding of complex issues. One might feel nervous about speaking to a cashier but this does not mean that one has an Anxiety Disorder. A person who lives with conditions that shape the mind & in turn, the world around them, do not experience life in the same ways as those who do not.
Once again, I cannot necessarily fault people for not grasping the complexities of mental illness & mental disorders; if one is sheltered, one cannot know. Admittedly, I am rather happy to know that people experience life free of the burden that shadows out the light.
Unfortunately, due to this, conditions like the ones I listed above leave people upset, disgusted, & rather repulsed with the person in question. When exploring the realities that Bonnie has experienced throughout her life, it would be simple to conclude that she has had a rough go.
While growing up she lost her father to suicide; her mother fell into a Depressive episode due to grief; her mother attempted suicide; her mother died in palliative care. Her best friend adopted her into her family. Bonnie was welcomed into a home with a father & a mother; a brother, & a sister. She became a surrogate for the childhood she never got to experience; when she slept she was sound & secure.
Rather than accept that this was an experience that would advocate a change which Bonnie would be unprepared to deal with, the people in Bonnie’s life perpetrated actions that allowed her condition to worsen. This is not to say that it was their fault; Bonnie is responsible for her person. What is perhaps rather more difficult to accept is our participation in the lives of people we meet in passing & in whose precious time we nestle our hours.
Without a loving home, Bonnie would have had nothing to compare; her life would have remained a series of unfortunate events. She was accepted into a home & then these same people allegedly spoke badly about her when she was healing.
There is no easy way to reflect on the events of this book. I cannot fault the foster family for their uncertainty & annoyance towards Bonnie. In life, many things transpire; some regularly bad & others wonderfully good. At the end of each day, we remain in our own company & have the responsibility of owning the experiences we had along the way. There is no point in initiating change in a person’s life if the goal is to throw this same kindness in their face & reveal lies; cracks in the foundation of trust they thought they had with you.
The recollections that Bonnie shares with readers speak of a terrible thing. When Bonnie finally felt able to trust that life would not leave her out in the open alone, her adopted family was gunned down in their convenience store; Bonnie was violently sexually assaulted; & life was no more than a burdened reminder of everything she would never have again.
Throughout this book the main character is unlikeable, I will not pretend otherwise. For readers whose experience with the world is perhaps sheltered, or ground in the soil of a single neighbourhood, their time spent with Bonnie might feel altogether horrible. Bonnie does not have any redeeming features. What the reader will have to decide is whether or not she deserves forgiveness for the ways in which her brain chose to change as a consequence of the events that she experienced.
Again, to a certain extent, we are all responsible for the ways we act in the world. Bonnie did not need to leave the dog for dead by starving it & abandoning it in the woods. Bonnie did have a choice as to how she treated the innocent animals; she chose abuse & death.
I will not ask the reader to forgive Bonnie for the malaise she created in a sea of blue. Rather, what I want to draw the reader’s attention to is Bonnie’s inability to be a functioning human being.
Discussions surrounding mental health & disorders often integrate some of what I have already written; people are responsible for themselves & their actions. To be ill is not an excuse & an excuse is interpreted as being something that would automatically pardon or wipe clean the blood on the blade. The contrary is, in actuality, true.
People who are ill do not have the benefit of clear thought. Of course, journeys to heal open wounds help individuals flow through the seasons with more ease but, for some, the innocence of life is lost forever. It is positive to include details about a person’s mental state so as to better understand the facets of the illness or the disorder; in this way we become better informed as to the ways in which a brain can hanker down & demerit the life it is keeps breathing. This is true in Bonnie’s case.
Bonnie is a person whose personality is degrading; she is mean, insensitive, cruel, shallow-minded, simple-minded, & harbours a desire to mistreat others. As she maneuvers her way through memory lane, she presents the reader with a fulsome version of herself. This approach is odd given Bonnie has very little ability to see things in their entirety & rather views everything in fractions.
Perhaps, the author felt inclined to write Bonnie as a person who lived entirely in a darkness of their own making; a person who remains disinclined from turning on the light. On the other hand, readers might feel that Bonnie is lost in a catacomb that mazes under a city she has never visited. Regardless of a reader’s interpretation, this story allows them the opportunity to regard advanced stages of trauma on the brain.
As her dream house is built, Bonnie allows herself the feeling of excitement; soon she will evade the human world for her personal paradise built in the likeness of “Three’s Company” (1976). I have never seen this show & for most of the book, I had to check records for references to the cast or search for photos of the scenes; most of what took place left me feeling apathetic.
Instead of wondering at the distance between myself & Bonnie’s comfort, I chose to look for my own. When I was young, my grandma & I used to watch episodes of “The Golden Girls” (1985) together. As I grew up, I found myself going back to the series over, & over again. Since my grandmother’s passing I meet her in the televised security of a story I know well; one that does not change in the ways of life; a series of events yet unknown to me.
I am inclined to believe that many people will understand Bonnie’s desire to live inside a place she deems as safe. In the world in which we live, safety can be a passing fancy or a concept one rarely encounters. Rather than roll the dice, Bonnie chose to take things into her own hands—I cannot blame her for that.
There is, however, a difference between having a favourite show, film, album, blanket, food, or hat rotate through life with you & what Bonnie has chosen which is to say; it is normal to find comfort in various aspects of life. It is unhealthy to shed the skin you live in to nestle through a groove so that you are never felt by life as a whole, ever again.
Though there were parts of this story that left me confused; the convict, the pets left behind by a contractor who knew a woman to be deliriously unwell; the storm; the best friend; the story as a whole tells the tale of an experience that deserves to be shared. One is lucky to never understand what it feels like to want to hide in the ground forever.
Ultimately, within this story, I found myself picking apart the plot to reveal the inner workings of a mind that could not voice reason into the malady it suffered. Surely, Bonnie could love the cold stone facade of the wandering convict & surely, she would have it in herself to love the story that allowed her to perish within its antiquated design.
As the train track & Christmas village that waited yearly for its time to make way into the hearth; Bonnie’s life will probably never be healed, wait & pace the halls of confinement as she did. Inside the dark there is always the form the human eye cannot absorb.
In Bonnie’s recollection she murdered her friend. Perhaps, she murdered the woman she loved & instead of admitting this to herself she wrote herself a letter in her lover’s hand. Perhaps, instead of murdering her best friend, Bonnie lashed a knife against her own skin. There is no set conclusion to this story. The reader will not receive the reprieve of a final moment between the characters they met within this book.
When all is said & done, that was not the point in their meeting. Readers, people at writ large, will probably never meet someone like Bonnie but, they will rewatch their favourite series; they will settle to re-watch their favourite film, replay their favourite song, & tell someone close to them about the intimacy of their prized piece of art.
Within books, one is granted the ability to live a life that does not belong to them. We grow as individuals when we expose ourselves to the wandering eye of the skylight; the omniscient being that heaves monstrosities in our mind.
Though, I would not like to be in Bonnie’s shoes, I wish her well. I am hopeful that stories like this one remind us of who we are. Whether one is at ease or weighed down; one is in this life, if only for a moment. In as much time as it might take to read this book, one is given permission to forgive the horrible violence of invisible illness & the ways in which it cauterizes the self; preventing thy own freedom from within.
Thank you to NetGalley, W. W. Norton & Company, & Ashley Hutson for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2022
People who research anything, who deep-dive anything, understand that solitude is never loneliness when you have your subject. The subject looms before you like a bright city on the horizon, beckoning you forward. And you’re forever living in it, or going toward it.
One’s Company sounded like an absurdist premise — a young woman who wins the largest ever lottery prize in the US decides to bring to life the full-sized set from her favourite TV show, Three’s Company (including the apartment building, the Regal Beagle pub, Janet’s flower shop, etc.), and live out the rest of her days there — and while there is some dark and ironic humour along the way, this is in reality a thoughtful and touching examination of trauma, identity, and mental illness. Debut novelist Ashley Hutson poses a really intriguing question at the heart of this book , and the narrative arc that she creates to answer this question made for a totally satisfying read. I hope this singular read finds a wide audience; I will look for Hutson again. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
All in all I wanted to touch the fabrics, to eat the ice cream, to feel the same afternoon sunlight a model kicking up her heels in a seventies-era Sears autumn catalog was selling. The humming safety of a packaged life. I wanted to experience a whole other timeline. Through Three’s Company I would transcend the existence of Bonnie Lincoln. Time itself would no longer be an enemy. The filth of my own life would cease to be a threat.
We learn on the first page that Bonnie has won an immense fortune, and within the first chapter, learn of her plans to build the world as seen on Three’s Company in some remote location. Her backstory is revealed in tandem with the present day action and we become privy to various hurts and losses that awkward young Bonnie has endured over the years, and about an eighth of the way in, we learn of a major trauma she suffered more recently and how discovering and bingeing Three’s Company pretty much saved her life. There’s much made of fantasy and obsession and self-erasure, and what at first seemed like a kitschy nostalgia for a time that Bonnie (and the author) were not alive for, eventually becomes a piercing meditation on our own era of disconnection. Who wouldn’t want to live in a seemingly simpler time with wise-cracking roomies and all your troubles resolved in a half hour story arc? A few favourite quotes:
• After I won the lottery, a lot of strangers showed up to tell me what a piece of trash I was. Then they would ask me for money.
• Love was a sickness. It had poisoned me. People lie when they say misery or loneliness kills; it’s love. Love is the lethal agent. The more you have to live for, the more can be taken away.
• Other people can ruin a dream just by knowing it.
• Three’s Company was a farce, after all. Farce punishes everyone eventually.
Not quite an unreliable narrator, we believe Bonnie when she tells us not to chalk her new life up to mental illness (only nihilism and rage), but the longer she lives in the world of Three’s Company, the less healthy she seems. Perhaps punishment is inevitable for those who embrace farce.
I had possessed all of the things that a traditionally good life were conditional upon. I was functionally human. Why, then, had that life always felt like a pastime, just something I was doing while waiting for my other self, the actualized, better version of myself, to come along and make it real?
One’s Company has a vibe very similar to My Year of Rest and Relaxation — and perhaps for that reason this could resonate even more strongly with readers younger than I am: someone who was alive and watching Three’s Company in its initial airing — and like Ottessa Moshfegh, Ashley Hutson has a distinctive voice and much of interest to say. I was provoked and touched and intrigued throughout this and want to end by noting that I think Hutson nailed the final scenes.
September 13, 2022
This book has a lot to say — about grief, trauma, escape from your brain, desperation, loneliness — and I thought it was very well done. Very weird, but very well done.
Just circling back to say that I upped this to five stars because it will not get out of my head. This is one of the most genius portrayals of the "unhinged" woman, a woman driven to strange behavior by unprocessed trauma and an inability to open up to her friend. At one point in my read of this book I wrote "I can't tell if this is the most exaggerated or genius things I've ever read." I've settled on genius.
Word to the wise: This is a dizzying reading experience and the content warnings should be noted. But honestly, I might need to re-read this now.
Just circling back to say that I upped this to five stars because it will not get out of my head. This is one of the most genius portrayals of the "unhinged" woman, a woman driven to strange behavior by unprocessed trauma and an inability to open up to her friend. At one point in my read of this book I wrote "I can't tell if this is the most exaggerated or genius things I've ever read." I've settled on genius.
Word to the wise: This is a dizzying reading experience and the content warnings should be noted. But honestly, I might need to re-read this now.
June 22, 2022
The first section was BRILLIANT. An absolute gut-wrench of an observation on trauma and it's long-term after effects, told from a character who is clearly disassociating her way out of existence. Ironically, by the time the actual plot started to really happen, the narrative fell apart, and instead of a thoughtful exploration it became the author throwing emotional spaghetti at a wall and I found the portrayal of mental health--particularly towards the end--to be particularly troubling. Also, the gender commentary was a bit suspect. Ultimately, it felt underdeveloped.
June 28, 2022
The first third or so of this book was interesting as you slowly learned what trauma is driving Bonnie to create her world of solitude, but the longer it went on the more I was desperate to get out of Bonnie’s head. While this could have been a poignant examination of trauma and grief, it fell apart for me because the author’s half-hearted attempt at redemption for Bonnie at the end came off as both rushed and somewhat thoughtless.
Despite this, Hutton’s writing was really sharp in some portions and I would pick up another book from her if the storyline intrigued me.
Despite this, Hutton’s writing was really sharp in some portions and I would pick up another book from her if the storyline intrigued me.
November 18, 2024
I was enjoying this book so much until the main character mistreated a dog! That broke the magic of it for me and I couldn’t get over it! 2 Stars ⭐️⭐️!
October 30, 2024
Unhinged and absolutely underrated.
November 4, 2022
I really need to do better due diligence when I pick out a book. I just hated this. I guess we get to learn about what a horrible, narcissistic, borderline psychopathic brat would do if she won $1 billion. Apparently, the answer is create a magical world around her where she can push away everyone she cares about or who cares about her and kills animals if she feels like it. Basically the only saving grace of this stupid little story is that the abominable protagonist kind of gets what she deserves in the end.
Does the author give this horrible monster a backstory sad enough to justify her terrible behavior? Sure, but every serial killer has a terrible backstory. Get over yourself, Bonnie. You suck.
Does the author give this horrible monster a backstory sad enough to justify her terrible behavior? Sure, but every serial killer has a terrible backstory. Get over yourself, Bonnie. You suck.
November 2, 2022
One's Company
is dark, quirky, and unique.
After a series of tragedies and traumas, Bonnie lives a fairly solitary existence, and she’s fine with that. She has all 174 episodes of the classic 1970s sitcom Three’s Company to, well, keep her company.
One day she wins the lottery, the biggest payout in U.S. history. She’s decided how to spend her earnings: she wants to move somewhere private, somewhere she can literally build the set from Three’s Company and create the world outside the apartment, where most of the show takes place.
She moves to an isolated compound atop a mountain and brings her obsession to life, recreating the set in painstaking detail. And then she plans to settle into her fantasy. But as she retreats from the world completely, her estranged best friend, Krystal, is determined to keep her from slipping away.
This was a tremendously unique story in many ways, but at its core it is a reflection on trauma and how we process (or fail to process) it. It’s a fascinating and sad look at how something we enjoy can become an obsession and how easy it is to avoid our problems and get lost in our obsessions.
I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, so Three’s Company was definitely a show I watched frequently. But even if you’ve never heard of the show, Ashley Hutson gives you enough details to understand what it was about.
This is a thought-provoking book you’ll want to discuss with others. I felt at times Bonnie was an unreliable narrator, which is a trope I cannot stand, and that took me out of the story a bit. But I couldn’t help but be immersed in the sadness and uniqueness of this story.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/getbookedwithlarry/.
After a series of tragedies and traumas, Bonnie lives a fairly solitary existence, and she’s fine with that. She has all 174 episodes of the classic 1970s sitcom Three’s Company to, well, keep her company.
One day she wins the lottery, the biggest payout in U.S. history. She’s decided how to spend her earnings: she wants to move somewhere private, somewhere she can literally build the set from Three’s Company and create the world outside the apartment, where most of the show takes place.
She moves to an isolated compound atop a mountain and brings her obsession to life, recreating the set in painstaking detail. And then she plans to settle into her fantasy. But as she retreats from the world completely, her estranged best friend, Krystal, is determined to keep her from slipping away.
This was a tremendously unique story in many ways, but at its core it is a reflection on trauma and how we process (or fail to process) it. It’s a fascinating and sad look at how something we enjoy can become an obsession and how easy it is to avoid our problems and get lost in our obsessions.
I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, so Three’s Company was definitely a show I watched frequently. But even if you’ve never heard of the show, Ashley Hutson gives you enough details to understand what it was about.
This is a thought-provoking book you’ll want to discuss with others. I felt at times Bonnie was an unreliable narrator, which is a trope I cannot stand, and that took me out of the story a bit. But I couldn’t help but be immersed in the sadness and uniqueness of this story.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/getbookedwithlarry/.
November 24, 2022
"Back then I never shared my plans or preferences, my ambitions or desires. I never gave away the things I loved. I knew better. Other people can ruin a dream just by knowing it."
If you won the lottery, what would you do? Quit your job? Go somewhere far away? Buy a house? Bonnie, our narrator, does all 3 – except she's also obsessed with the show, Three's Company, so she decides to move to an isolated mountain where she creates a replica of the apartment from the show and lives as though she is on it, taking the term "comfort show" to a whole new level.
I know what you're thinking: "I don't know anything about a show from the 70s, how will this be enjoyable to me?" I thought that too, though I have seen a few episodes here and there so it wasn't a completely foreign concept, but it's okay if it is!
Luckily for you, this isn't really about Three's Company at all. Rather, it's about how a woman in her 30s is dealing with trauma and grief she's experienced throughout her life, and how sometimes it feels easier to turn your brain off and live in a fantasy world where everything always works out by the time the credits roll.
Though she has lived through some traumatic events her whole life which you learn about, something particularly sad happens 5 years before she wins the lottery which acts as the main catalyst for the events that follow. She does have one friend in the book, and the complicated relationship they shared was so interesting too.
I loved this; the exploration of mental health and loneliness was done so well and in such a unique way. If you're a literary fiction person, this needs to be on your list!
If you won the lottery, what would you do? Quit your job? Go somewhere far away? Buy a house? Bonnie, our narrator, does all 3 – except she's also obsessed with the show, Three's Company, so she decides to move to an isolated mountain where she creates a replica of the apartment from the show and lives as though she is on it, taking the term "comfort show" to a whole new level.
I know what you're thinking: "I don't know anything about a show from the 70s, how will this be enjoyable to me?" I thought that too, though I have seen a few episodes here and there so it wasn't a completely foreign concept, but it's okay if it is!
Luckily for you, this isn't really about Three's Company at all. Rather, it's about how a woman in her 30s is dealing with trauma and grief she's experienced throughout her life, and how sometimes it feels easier to turn your brain off and live in a fantasy world where everything always works out by the time the credits roll.
Though she has lived through some traumatic events her whole life which you learn about, something particularly sad happens 5 years before she wins the lottery which acts as the main catalyst for the events that follow. She does have one friend in the book, and the complicated relationship they shared was so interesting too.
I loved this; the exploration of mental health and loneliness was done so well and in such a unique way. If you're a literary fiction person, this needs to be on your list!
June 23, 2022
Rating: 2/5 Stars
Oh boy. This one was a doozy and quite honestly unlike anything I’ve ever read. One’s Company is the story of Bonnie Lincoln. From the start, it’s clear Bonnie has some eccentricities and prefers to keep to herself, which are a result of her own upbringing and of a traumatic incident that killed most of her adopted family and resulted in her own sexual assault. Her main escape from her memories and her PTSD is her favorite show - Three’s Company.
On a fluke, Bonnie plays the lotto - and then she wins. And not just a little bit of money - but the largest lottery winnings in her state’s history. What does Bonnie decide to do with all that cash? Move to the mountains and build a real life replica of the Three’s Company set and begin to live like each of the characters without ever having to come face to face with another human again.
This just wasn’t my cup of tea - I couldn’t relate to the character or sympathize for Bonnie. She’s incredibly unlikable and her avoidance of her trauma or even recognition of it made me insane. The story dragged for me and by the end I was so over it, that the ending felt like a relief. If you like new and absurd - this is for you.
Thanks to W.W. Norton & Company, Ashley Hutson and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!
Oh boy. This one was a doozy and quite honestly unlike anything I’ve ever read. One’s Company is the story of Bonnie Lincoln. From the start, it’s clear Bonnie has some eccentricities and prefers to keep to herself, which are a result of her own upbringing and of a traumatic incident that killed most of her adopted family and resulted in her own sexual assault. Her main escape from her memories and her PTSD is her favorite show - Three’s Company.
On a fluke, Bonnie plays the lotto - and then she wins. And not just a little bit of money - but the largest lottery winnings in her state’s history. What does Bonnie decide to do with all that cash? Move to the mountains and build a real life replica of the Three’s Company set and begin to live like each of the characters without ever having to come face to face with another human again.
This just wasn’t my cup of tea - I couldn’t relate to the character or sympathize for Bonnie. She’s incredibly unlikable and her avoidance of her trauma or even recognition of it made me insane. The story dragged for me and by the end I was so over it, that the ending felt like a relief. If you like new and absurd - this is for you.
Thanks to W.W. Norton & Company, Ashley Hutson and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!
January 23, 2023
Bonnie Lincoln, in her early thirties, used to live in a trailer park and worked at the local store. She’s solitary, bitter—and with good reason: one after another she’d lost her father, her mother and then a surrogate family who briefly gave her a feeling of belonging somewhere. The store is now boarded up and, bit by bit, we learn the full extent of the awful thing that happened there. The aftermath is a mind recoiling in on itself, “trying to make sense of the senseless”.
But then, at a stroke, her luck seems to have changed. She wins—bigtime—on the national lottery and is suddenly mega-rich: “ ‘Morris,’ I said, ‘How much money do I have now? Can you give me a figure?’ He did, and when he said the number out loud we both leaned backwards a little in its wake.” This is her chance to make a completely new life, to turn her dream into reality. But with Bonnie Lincoln it’s a dream unlike any other.
This is an unusual novel, genuinely different, and I was reading it on the bus, or while eating (something I don’t normally do, ever), one of those books I couldn’t put down until I’d seen where the idea at its strange twisted heart was going to take us. The whole thing is told first-person and after a while you begin to wonder just how reliable as a narrator Bonnie is. But if she is telling us less than the truth, her unreliability is due more to self-deception than slyness. In places it was the sheer intensity of the writing that struck me, managing to put into words the rage of someone who the world just won’t leave in peace; expressing madness and hurt and a desperate, hopeless, impossible bid for escape.
So what is the dream she uses her money to turn into bricks-and-mortar reality? Well, she’s long had an obsession with a TV sitcom from the 1970s and 80s called Three’s Company: there’s Janet Wood, Chrissy Snow and Jack Tripper sharing Apartment 201; their landlords the Ropers downstairs; their neighbours and friends. “It felt familiar and reassuring, yet I could find something new to love every time. It took place in a time period I would never truly understand…there would always be something unreachable about it…” A little self-contained world in other words. Somewhere safe. So with a small fraction of her winnings she buys a large house set in its own grounds in a remote mountain location, and sets about reconstructing the Three’s Company apartment building—every last doorbell, wall-print and pot-plant. Her plan is not just to re-create it though, not just to get the atmosphere right, nor even to then go and live in it. It’s far more: it’s to completely, absolutely, disappear into it, as if into the past or another universe, to sever all contact with the rest of the human race, utterly and permanently—to vanish.
And for a while at least, it works too…more or less…
But then, at a stroke, her luck seems to have changed. She wins—bigtime—on the national lottery and is suddenly mega-rich: “ ‘Morris,’ I said, ‘How much money do I have now? Can you give me a figure?’ He did, and when he said the number out loud we both leaned backwards a little in its wake.” This is her chance to make a completely new life, to turn her dream into reality. But with Bonnie Lincoln it’s a dream unlike any other.
This is an unusual novel, genuinely different, and I was reading it on the bus, or while eating (something I don’t normally do, ever), one of those books I couldn’t put down until I’d seen where the idea at its strange twisted heart was going to take us. The whole thing is told first-person and after a while you begin to wonder just how reliable as a narrator Bonnie is. But if she is telling us less than the truth, her unreliability is due more to self-deception than slyness. In places it was the sheer intensity of the writing that struck me, managing to put into words the rage of someone who the world just won’t leave in peace; expressing madness and hurt and a desperate, hopeless, impossible bid for escape.
So what is the dream she uses her money to turn into bricks-and-mortar reality? Well, she’s long had an obsession with a TV sitcom from the 1970s and 80s called Three’s Company: there’s Janet Wood, Chrissy Snow and Jack Tripper sharing Apartment 201; their landlords the Ropers downstairs; their neighbours and friends. “It felt familiar and reassuring, yet I could find something new to love every time. It took place in a time period I would never truly understand…there would always be something unreachable about it…” A little self-contained world in other words. Somewhere safe. So with a small fraction of her winnings she buys a large house set in its own grounds in a remote mountain location, and sets about reconstructing the Three’s Company apartment building—every last doorbell, wall-print and pot-plant. Her plan is not just to re-create it though, not just to get the atmosphere right, nor even to then go and live in it. It’s far more: it’s to completely, absolutely, disappear into it, as if into the past or another universe, to sever all contact with the rest of the human race, utterly and permanently—to vanish.
And for a while at least, it works too…more or less…
June 20, 2022
This was a very unusual book about dealing with past trauma. The narrator is the sole survivor of a robbery that took almost all of her adopted family and left her with the memories of a violent sexual assault. She turns to the old television show "Three's Company" to numb the pain and escape her life. She then wins a large sum of money via the lottery and builds her own "Three's Company" town with the various apartments and businesses that feature on the show. She brings her escapist fantasy to life and seems to live happily until the real world intrudes again. The end, unfortunately, felt a little forced and didn't seem to provide much in the way of resolution.
July 12, 2022
this was bonkers…but obviously in the BEST way. a unique deepdive into the psychological effects of a traumatic event as we follow Bonnie immersing herself so much in her favorite TV show that she uses lottery winnings to literally recreate the sets of the show and live as its characters
January 11, 2026
This but I recreate the buildings in the Psych universe instead
December 14, 2023
EDIT: This is indeed my FAVORITE READ OF 2023! <3
Original Review: This is the kind of plot that I wish I had come up with. Not just because of the original and fascinating premise, although that's part of it. The story spoke to me deeply and its themes resonated with me: obsessive love for pop culture, immersing yourself in it to the point of transforming your own identity as a means of coping with pain or trauma. (Maybe avoiding those things, too.) I related to the protagonist's anger towards other people and the public at large, and her desperation to just be left the fuck alone. I totally understand why some reviewers hated this woman, but I found pieces of myself in her personality. (Mostly in the way she interacted with other human beings and how she looked at the things that she loved.) Of course there were actions I disagreed with, too.
Fun trivia: What TV or movie set would YOU recreate and live in if you had ridiculous amounts of money? I would recreate Gotham City! I already have a few of the props and costumes.
At times this novel felt like a Charlie Kaufman film. The more I thought about it afterwards, the more I wondered if parts of it really happened within the narrative. Then I kept changing my mind, and the plot kept changing like the revolving rooms within Bonnie's "Three's Company" village. I can't know for sure, but the experience was unique and I loved it. So far, this is my favorite read of the year and I will definitely revisit it at some point. My one big criticism is the last chapter. I personally would've ended it with the previous chapter, which was great, and seemed like an ending that the character would've wanted. But then again, I keep thinking about it and wondering if I'm wrong! This book will be staying with me for a while. Probably not for everyone for several reasons, but for me it's a new fave. (If you don't like "mean" or "self-absorbed" characters then you definitely should stay away from this one.)
Oh, also wanted to mention that the writing was great! Never had any issues with it and every paragraph was smooth like butter. I think I highlighted more passages in this than I usually do, too.
(Trigger warnings: Sexual assault, animal neglect, suicidal ideations)
BTW, I don't always sum up the plot of the book in my reviews because a lot of other people tend to do that, and when I read a bunch of reviews for a book all in a row I get tired of seeing the plot over and over again. (Just tell me your opinions!) I figure that if you want to know what the book is about, you can just click on the book page. If I'm off base here, please let me know. Thanks!
Original Review: This is the kind of plot that I wish I had come up with. Not just because of the original and fascinating premise, although that's part of it. The story spoke to me deeply and its themes resonated with me: obsessive love for pop culture, immersing yourself in it to the point of transforming your own identity as a means of coping with pain or trauma. (Maybe avoiding those things, too.) I related to the protagonist's anger towards other people and the public at large, and her desperation to just be left the fuck alone. I totally understand why some reviewers hated this woman, but I found pieces of myself in her personality. (Mostly in the way she interacted with other human beings and how she looked at the things that she loved.) Of course there were actions I disagreed with, too.
Fun trivia: What TV or movie set would YOU recreate and live in if you had ridiculous amounts of money? I would recreate Gotham City! I already have a few of the props and costumes.
At times this novel felt like a Charlie Kaufman film. The more I thought about it afterwards, the more I wondered if parts of it really happened within the narrative. Then I kept changing my mind, and the plot kept changing like the revolving rooms within Bonnie's "Three's Company" village. I can't know for sure, but the experience was unique and I loved it. So far, this is my favorite read of the year and I will definitely revisit it at some point. My one big criticism is the last chapter. I personally would've ended it with the previous chapter, which was great, and seemed like an ending that the character would've wanted. But then again, I keep thinking about it and wondering if I'm wrong! This book will be staying with me for a while. Probably not for everyone for several reasons, but for me it's a new fave. (If you don't like "mean" or "self-absorbed" characters then you definitely should stay away from this one.)
Oh, also wanted to mention that the writing was great! Never had any issues with it and every paragraph was smooth like butter. I think I highlighted more passages in this than I usually do, too.
(Trigger warnings: Sexual assault, animal neglect, suicidal ideations)
BTW, I don't always sum up the plot of the book in my reviews because a lot of other people tend to do that, and when I read a bunch of reviews for a book all in a row I get tired of seeing the plot over and over again. (Just tell me your opinions!) I figure that if you want to know what the book is about, you can just click on the book page. If I'm off base here, please let me know. Thanks!
April 22, 2025
there's no other book like this one. so stubbornly wild and disturbed i am truly impressed (full review to come)
April 4, 2024
I too have a desire to be left alone, hate people and being perceived, have an obsessive personality, and would disappear if I won the lottery. Bonnie is me, I am Bonnie.
Honestly, this was such a unique and imaginative portrayal of obsession and trauma. I loved it. I only wish I had watched Three's Company so I could compare the town/apartment sets with what I pictured and have a deeper appreciation for what must have been endless research by Ashley Hutson in writing this. What an experience.
Honestly, this was such a unique and imaginative portrayal of obsession and trauma. I loved it. I only wish I had watched Three's Company so I could compare the town/apartment sets with what I pictured and have a deeper appreciation for what must have been endless research by Ashley Hutson in writing this. What an experience.
My own identity had always seemed suspect to me. Though I believed a shadowy, hidden kernel of personal essence lay within the heart of every individual—a certain absolute truth that determines one’s identity—I had never found mine. I felt I could change in an instant depending on the situation or the people around me. It all seemed so real in the moment, and so completely fake upon reflection.
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