One of the New Yorker 's Best Books of 2022 So Far and BuzzFeed 's Must-Read Summer Books For readers of Ottessa Moshfegh and Mona Awad, this fearless debut chronicles one woman’s escape into a world of obsessive imagination. Bonnie Lincoln just wants to be left alone. To come home from work, shut out the ghosts 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 characters: 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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0The premise for this book is what makes this book so unique. Following a very traumatic event, Bonnie Lincoln desires more than anything to escape the reality of her life. She's found that escape in the nostalgic glow of a 70s sticom called Three's Company.
When she wins the lottery, Bonnie decides to spend her earnings replicating the exact set of the show down to the smallest detail to recreate the show as her lived experience, in isolation, living each day just as the characters.
The reader follows along as Bonnie embodies each of these characters down to their commute, work, clothing, and conversation until she has done all she can to replicate that experience.
The problem is when reality creeps in and disrupts Bonnie's perfectly sitcom-manufactured world. Are these threats real or are they perceived? Are these people she's created real or perceived? What happened to Bonnie to fracture her mentality and what happens if someone disrupts the order in her sitcom world.
Why do I think you will love it? It is symbolic of everything we do to escape our own reality, just on a grander scale. It asks us to examine what happens when we don't process trauma. It is an immersive unique experience that I can only liken to Wandavision.
Why do I think you might hate it? Bonnie is unlikable and the evolution just isn't there. Bonnie can't evolve and that could turn people off. It is VERY weird and strange.
It won't be for every reader, but it will be for a lot of you that don't mind being transported even if that journey doesn't go into those happily ever after places that we desire...just like sitcoms.
Trigger warnings: rape, sexual trauma, mental illness
0This book is unique and I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. The book starts unsuspectingly, a main character who has faced horrific traumas wins the lottery and wants to make her dream come true - creating the set from Three's Company is a remote area. I thought this was extreme but harmless at first - We millennials often comfort-watch our favorite old shows, so why not create the original set from scratch given the unlimited funds? However, throughout the novel, she slowly descends into madness, so subtle that I found myself very invested until the end, shocked by how far gone the main character has gone with this fantasy. 4.5 stars!
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