Book title: One Two Three
ISBN: 9781250236777 (ISBN10: 1250236770)
Author: Laurie Frankel
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication year: 2021
Price: RM63.00
If you look closer, if you go slowly, there can be story even without progress or plot, life in small change, like Dante and Beatrice, like fish swimming hard against the current just to stay where they are. They’re not getting anywhere, neither Dante nor the fish, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t effort, growth, triumph, and beautiful poetry. Trust me, stasis is challenging. And challenge is story.
– Laurie Frankel, author
Laurie Frankel’s book One Two Three tells the story of the Mitchell sisters, an unusual pair of 16-year-old triplets who provide perspective on a town named Bourne that was ravaged geographically and physically by toxic chemical runoff in the local river.
Mab (one) is very ambitious and intelligent, and she is always on the top track at their school, where she is preparing for college and her SATs.
Monday (two) is on the spectrum and has difficulty understanding issues at times, but she is able to perform well with the help of her sisters.
Monday has only one favourite colour, yellow, and all of her clothes, foods, and decorations in her room are yellow.
Mirebel (three), the third born, is brilliant and much beyond what her school’s classes have to offer; unfortunately, she has various physical handicaps and is unable to walk or speak, but she has a voice machine into which she can type.
Mirebel is able to move around in her wheelchair because they live in a small town with a friendly and caring society, and everyone looks out for her.
Nora, the triplets’ mother, has been fighting for compensation from the Belsum Chemical Company, which was responsible for the town’s water turning green and causing residents and animals to get sick since before the triplets were born.
Nora’s husband died of cancer at an early age, just weeks before the triplets are born, and many others in the community have been harmed by this company; some are either too poor or too sick to relocate.
The company has maintained its denial of any wrongdoing or knowledge of the contamination of the water. Nora’s lawsuit lacks sufficient physical evidence to show exactly what the company did to their water source. She has never given up fighting for her girls and the future of the town.
They say nothing ever happens in Bourne, so when a large land-moving equipment begins to come into town, everyone knows something is wrong!
Nora learns that the Templeton family, Nathan, his wife, Apple, and their son, River, the owners of Belsum, are relocating to town and intend to reopen the plant.
River’s enrolment at Bourne Memorial High School causes commotion among the local youth, who begin assaulting him on a regular basis. But it also raises a ruckus in the Mitchell sisters’ emotions.
They wrestle with their misgivings about this possible enemy in their midst until they befriend him and bring him on board in their mother’s nearly lost cause to prove that Belsum has evil intentions for Bourne’s remaining resources.
This would be a compelling plot told simply. It becomes richer, funnier, and more poignant when told in the voices of Mab, Monday, and Mirabel.
Their adolescent ideas of their neighbours include a wonderful elderly neighbour nicknamed Pooh, their aspirations and goals for the future, and their commitment to fight for justice, making this one of the season’s most exciting novels.
For me, the story’s advancement is a slow burn, as it takes time and patience to dig into and discover the dynamics between the sisters, as well as the ecological concerns that the town’s citizens must deal with.
However, as the characters grow on me, I start to enjoy each chapter.
In my opinion, the work has four different aspects: environmental issues, betrayal, sisterhood, and dysfunctional family dynamics, all of which complement each other perfectly, much like the triplets’ polar opposite characterisations.
To summarise, One Two Three is a moving and subtle tale about hope, human frailty, and love.
The author takes a clear-eyed look at the mess we create of the world when we prioritise profits over people and, wonderfully, allows no hint of contempt, disgust, or hatred to enter the conversation.
