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. 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.
... bizarre, surreal and heartbreaking all at the same time, especially as Bonnie’s artificial reality starts to break down. It’s easy to imagine, given the novel’s premise, that her story is farcical or jokey, but it’s really not. Instead, it’s a fascinating and at times painful exploration of grief, an absurd and tragic vision of what life looks like when someone desperate to erase one’s self from one’s own life is given an unexpected outlet in which to do so.
Engaging ... The conclusion might not satisfy everyone, but there’s much to appreciate in Hutson’s deft exploration of the toll trauma takes as well as both the lure and dangers of disappearing into a fantasy world.
Affecting and ingenious ... This darkly clever work dramatizes the necessity and fragility of illusions, showing how they can crumble when broadcast to the world. Hutson is off to a brilliant start.
