Content warning: this review includes discussion of suicide, violence, and rape.
Ever since I heard the premise of One’s Company, it’s been on my TBR. So when I was choosing the first book to read in 2025, this seemed like the perfect kind of weird, thought-provoking literary fiction I was in the mood for—and it didn’t disappoint.
Bonnie is obsessed with the 1970s sitcom Three’s Company. It’s her comfort show, and she watches it constantly, using several sets of DVDs rotated regularly to ensure none of them wear out. If she could, she’d crawl through the screen and live inside of the show. So, when she wins an obscene amount of money in the lottery, she decides to exactly recreate the setting of Three’s Company and live there in total isolation, rotating between embodying each of the characters. As you do.
This is such a strange, fascinating premise. The first part of the book follows Bonnie as she makes preparations for this project, which is equal parts escapism and creative endeavor. Who hasn’t wanted to be someone else for a while, especially one of your favourite fictional characters? Her windfall means that money is no object, so we get to see this idea live up to its full potential.
Despite the zaniness of the premise, this isn’t exactly a fun read. We quickly learn that the reason Bonnie wants to isolate herself and escape into her comfort show full time is that she’s deeply traumatized. First, her alcoholic father committed suicide when she was a child. Add on top of that a distant mother, and she didn’t have a great foundation to start from. But the incident that changed her life was when the grocery store she worked at was robbed. During the robbery, she was raped and beaten. She also saw her best friend’s parents and brother—who had become the closest thing she had to family—shot and killed in front of her.
With that background, it’s understandable that Bonnie wants to withdraw from the world completely. Her relationship with Krystal—the friend whose parents and brother were killed—is strained. She’s judgmental of Krystal’s grief, as she was of her mother’s. She finds displays of emotion embarrassing. Bonnie has clearly repressed these feelings in herself, which makes her angry and bitter, viewing the outside world as annoying at best and dangerous at worst. The only place she feels safe is immersing herself in Three’s Company.
I was a little surprised by how little time we spend with Bonnie living this fantasy. (Vague spoiler warning) Years are skimmed over in a few pages. I understand that reading about someone living in isolation performing a pretty repetitive routine may have gotten boring quickly, but I was expecting to get more inside Bonnie’s head while she lives as someone else.
It’s also interesting to see the debate in the reviews about what society owes to people who want to withdraw completely. Obviously, Bonnie’s strategy is not coming from a healthy place, but doesn’t she have the right to isolate herself? Krystal is insistent about trying to drag Bonnie back to reality, and I was conflicted about how to feel. I think this would be an excellent book to buddy read or read in book club (if your book club is game for something weird), because it would be so interesting to discuss. Another discussion-worthy topic here is how the media we love can both comfort and isolate us.
I can’t really talk about the queer content of the book without some spoilers, so consider yourself warned. I had heard that Bonnie had some gender questions, which is true, but it’s more of an undercurrent than something explicitly stated. She does, however, have a relationship with another woman at some point… while living as a male character. Given that they sleep with each other and frequently lapse out of character, though, I think it’s safe to say Bonnie is not straight and cis, at the very least.
I’m so glad I finally picked this up, because it was such an experience to read, just as I had hoped. Bonnie is a complex, flawed character, and it was so interesting to be inside her head. There was one scene I didn’t quite understand, but I think that was just me. This is one I’d love to discuss, and I have a feeling I’m going to be thinking about it for a long time. If you’re up for a weird, dark, and thought-provoking read, I highly recommend One’s Company.
Leave a Reply