Three's a Crowd

by Marie McSwigan

Twin sisters fall for the same boy.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

A life-long writer, Ms. McSwigan wrote for several Pittsburgh newspapers and worked in publicity for many area institutions, including Kennywood Park and the University of Pittsburgh, before in 1947 she devoted all of her time to writing. Her first book was a biography of the primitive painter John Kane, who became popular after his death and on account of McSwigan's book. She was an award winning writer of more than 10 children's books. She died of leukemia and is buried at Calvary Roman Catholic Cemetery in Pittsburgh.

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I neither have a twin nor have dated the man my sister eventually marries, BUT I do have a sister that people all our lives have thought was my twin (literally, people have asked me all my life if I have twin, and my sister and I both work at community spots in our town, so people see both of us often and ask both of us, "Does your sister work at the Y?" or "Does your sister teach at the college?" and know this from looks and voice alone--even Tyreek at the comic store went to the Y and saw my sister and said he immediately knew she was my sister based on looks), and she is married while I am not, so this story hits home in a lot of ways.
I have a lot to say about this book, oddly enough. First, I got it from a man named John Fish from whom my dad has bought books and antiques before. One day, my dad and I walked on the Liberty Loop Trail in New York then got lunch at a Greek restaurant in a nearby town then stopped by John Fish's shop. I saw this book and thought it looked cute. I always like teen books from the 80s and 90s, and this one is from the 50s! Even more interesting because it's teen culture I'm only familiar with through movies, not also through my own experiences. There must be something about a daughter with her dad at a bookstore or antique store because, ever since I was little, my dad's book friends have given me books for free or thrown in my books with deals for my dad. So, that's what happened. Even though I was 38 and not 8 at the time, John Fish told me I didn't have to pay him for this book, and that's how it became mine.
All of that being said, the book itself started out so cute. It begins with twins Janet and Joby's 20th birthday party. At that party, the girls meet Zip, who's dating their friend, Clare. However, Clare is only dating Zip while on a break from her actual boyfriend, Dave. Zip becomes fascinated by the twins, who are identical and still dress alike but have completely different personalities. He's 26 and working in oil companies, trying to move his way up after flying planes in the war, and he's looking for a wife but a very particular type of wife. He likes both girls for different reasons but becomes more drawn to Joby and asks her out on a date. The twins do everything together, from dressing alike to catching up at night in their shared bedroom to double dating. They even cut their birthday cake together, hands on the same knife. But when Zip asks Joby out for a date, he just wants to go out with her, and Joby has to decide whether to go out with him alone or make him include Janet.
The book is great for this whole love triangle, which is obvious from the title, but it also highlights a way of life--young adult dating culture, dress styles (the clothes are described with tons of detail), and college life. I LOVE that these girls are in college, pursing B.A.s in social studies, and they're in a sorority. McSwigan takes great care explaining the life of two young adult girls in college in the 1950s. It's so much fun to read about. The girls also get a summer job in Ocean City, and reading about their work at a clothing store with other girls was really interesting. The dating culture is probably my favorite. It's so different from the way we did it and the way it's done now. So, for all these details of an era, this book is priceless. There are also war references, of course, as many of the "boys" are drafted or get drafted. Then, we have the concept of the twins, how they live their lives, how everyone thinks of them as one person, which they don't mind, but as they're getting older, they have to consider separating. Their mom knows one of them will fall in love eventually, and she wonders and worries what will happen to the other one. We get various perspectives, which makes the book interesting.
I also love that it becomes philosophical in places, from the graduation speech given to the very ending when Joby talks to a guy named Arthur, who quotes Oliver Wendell Holmes. I love the ending because there is marriage and the traditional lifestyle for one twin, but the other twin decides to go to graduate school and pursue a retail career. I love that both girls don't end up getting married and having gone to college for no reason other than to bide their time until they meet a man. The scope of the novel is also interesting as it begins with the 20th birthday, and the 21st birthday comes up later, so we have over a year of content, but it moves quickly. I also love Joby's trip to Nantucket with her aunt and how she compares it to the summer before in Ocean City with her sister.
I actually got teary-eyed at the wedding because it reminded me of when my sister got married. She and I are best friends and did so much together and both lived at home together. It was hard when she was engaged and always with her fiancé and then planning the wedding. I helped, so the day of, I was busy, but the night was hard not to have her there in the house anymore. It took a lot of time to get used to the new way of life, and I could really sympathize and empathize with Joby being fine all day then coming home and crying and crying. I also love the way that she starts to feel better and find peace with her situation and how she says she and her sister can still have a bond because the heart actually grows the more it loves. It's such a beautiful concept.
All in all, I really loved this book. It's simple, and McSwigan uses slang from the time period, and I really don't like the way the love triangle began (when Joby catches Zip and Janet kissing, Zip tells her to "drop dead twice" and to "drop dead in pieces"), but things even out, and the book is altogether much better and deeper than I was expecting.
Side note: I think Joby got the better end of the deal not having to marry Zip. I still think he's a bore, and both sisters could do better, but at least my spirited Joby dodged a bullet. I don't feel this way about my brother in law. If I could create the perfect man for my sister, it would be him, anyway, and he tolerates all of my and my sister's laughter and banter and sister time very well!

[Celine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I own this nifty little paperback and the cover is exactly as pictured above. I paid a full 50 cents for it (10 cents less than the retail price when it was reprinted in 1970!!)
Okay, I am almost embarrassed to admit that I read this in it's entirety. Alas, it was a charming and sweet story with very little sensationalism. The ending was...well, you can read it and find out. If nothing else, it made me happy to think that women no longer take marriage classes in college!

[Josephine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than I thought it would be.

The plot is pretty simple: two identical twin sisters, finishing up college, are forced to face what marriage will mean to them--they'll have to separate from each other more completely than they've ever been in their entire lives. Set during their senior year in college (and the bracketing summers before and after that academic year), it's the story of one sister's marriage and the other's choice of career, and the two girls' reconciliation to the splitting of a sibling relationship closer than most singletons ever dream of. Complicating matters is that the young man who marries Janet had first expressed an interest in Joby, and she must face not only their separation but squelch her own feelings for Zip.

I think the age of the expected readership is somewhat higher than that of most of the Scholastic books I've seen so far (or perhaps that's because I stopped reading Scholastics when I was still a tween)

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is charming primarily because it is such a product of its time. It was written in 1953, and clearly aimed for a young audience. The author goes out of her way to be "with it"--at one point the third person narration reads: "What a wing-ding of a thing the night had been! What a wooper-dooper time they'd had!" And the main character, a 21-year-old, says of one suitor: "There's no question that Arthur's a real gone guy, a mellow fellow." Hilarious. Did young people ever really talk this way? It doesn't really matter. I enjoyed re-reading this book from my childhood. (The lingo was dated even then, I'm not THAT old. Ha.)

[Linda Hanson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very old book and reflects very out dated relationships between men and women. That was very hard to get through.

[koza · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Take a hike, snakes."