Reviews - One Two Three | The StoryGraph

1.48k reviews for:

One Two Three

Laurie Frankel

3.98 AVERAGE

onkenzisshelf's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

What I Liked:

This book is pretty far outside of my normal comfort zone, which is something I'm trying to push myself to do in 2022. This was a BBBC pick, and I went into it knowing NOTHING about it. I was absolutely blown away.
Firstly, the characters. I've never seen characters painted so beautifully. Each sister was SO unique and shaped by their small town in different ways. I loved each one of them. The town's residents were also wonderful - I particularly loved Tom, who devoted his life to making the disabled residents' lives a little easier with the minimal resources they had.
The disability representation was OTHER WORLDLY. Mirabel can only move her right hand, and sometimes, on a good day, her head. Yet she is the smartest, most caring person. In this story, there are 3 tracks at the school, a top, a middle, and a bottom. In the bottom tier are all the disabled kids, of which there are a lot. The issue this book paints is that the disabled kids are automatically placed in those classes, regardless of how smart they are. This is a perfect example of how ableism is ingrained into our society. Mirabel literally assigned herself extra work to keep on track. Then we get to Monday, who one can only assume is autistic. I love how we got to see the way her brain works - from only being "allowed" to eat yellow foods and wear yellow clothes, unless it rains, in which case the color is green. We got to see how she does not understand the line between sarcasm and being literal. We saw how upset she got when things changed or didn't go "the way they were supposed to", but that the way Monday reacted was perfectly okay.
A small detail, but I loved how this town was set up to make the people who were disabled's lives easier. There were ramps everywhere and doorways were bigger to allow for large, electric wheelchairs. Even Mirabel states that if she were to leave Bourne, her life would be infinitely harder.

jolson's review against another edition

3.0

So slow! If I believed in half stars, I’d give the book a 2.5.

melindareads's review against another edition

4.0

I just finished “One, Two, Three” but I already know that I will be thinking about these characters for a long time. The book is about a town that was wronged by a chemical company. Years later, it is a town that’s depressed and fading fast. Three sisters (triplets!) each have a role to play in saving the town from the company’s second pass at “improving” their hometown.

I loved most of the characters in this book (except for the obvious villains, of course). Monday was my clear favorite as she has some of the best lines of the entire novel! If you are a reader who likes a plot-driven story, well, this probably isn’t the book for you. It moves slowly until the very end. The characters and sense of place are what make this book shine.

nicoleholmqvist's review against another edition

5.0

A strong mix of family and town drama with a really great and inspiring ending.

I loved the main characters and think that Laurie Frankel does such a great job of creating characters that fall outside of what society considers "normal." Her books always push readers to consider how we make communities work for every type of human.

jaryn594's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. I “read,” via audible and loved how 1,2,and 3 all had their own voice. It really brought the story to life .
If I were to give a quick pitch of what this book is about I would say it is Erin Brockavich meets Rome and Juliet. It a good story with likeable narrators/characters.
The only beef I have (spoilers coming..) is how Nora never seemed to comment on Man’s choice of boyfriend and further more the extent of their relationship. It feels like a plot point worth exploring.

aimee_fortheloveofbooks's review against another edition

4.0

This was my favorite combination of sad, uncomfortable and unsettling content told with a youthful, hopeful, joyful buoyancy. It wrestles in the grey areas of wright and wrong, good and bad of a struggling small town. Told through alternating perspectives of 16-year old triplet sisters, Mab, Monday and Mirabell (1 syllable, 2 syllables, 3 syllables inspiring the title and helps keep them straight). The connection between these three uniquely different sisters was precious. I loved Laurie Frankel’s writing style and the way she introduces the characters right away while the story of this town unfolds slowly. As a reader, we zoom in close and then pull away to see the bigger picture. I went in not knowing anything and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

As a school counselor and previously a special education teacher, I appreciated the wide range of disabilities respectfully represented in a way that inspires and broadens what we consider “normal”.

I will be thinking about this one for a long time. This is my first book by Laurie Frankel and will not be my last.