Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities
by Alexandra Robbins
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alexandra RobbinsEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2005-07-06
ISBN: 1615596496
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Hyperion
Book Reviews of Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities
Book Review: An eye-opening and somewhat alarming read
Summary: 4 Stars
SOME SPOILERS BELOW:
This has been a difficult review to write. I've had to do a lot editing to make sure I was actually reviewing the book rather than expounding more on my own experiences. But I did find this book very interesting, regardless of how much was "dramatized" in order to conceal certain girls' identities as well as the identities of their schools and their Greek letters. The author inadvertently gives away just a little bit _where_ "State U" might be: when she mentions that a mid-October evening was balmy with temps in the low '70's, or that it was pleasant enough weather in January for a poor girl who had been date-raped to stand OUTDOORS to talk to the police about the incident, and the fact that the girls seemed to wear "sundresses" and micro-miniskirts throughout the year. There are a huge number of universities above a certain latitude that can be dismissed as possible sites. Then again, maybe she dramatized that part, also, in order to conceal State U's identity even further. But if these details are accurate, it's very possible that State U was in Southern California, Southern Florida or a Texas school south of the DFW metro area.
As a person who started rush at my large Texas U, only to drop out once I found out how expensive and time-consuming it was (I was working 25 to 30 hours/week to put myself through college as well as being pre-med and needing to study hard to get the best grades possible) I have always felt just a little bit of regret that I missed out on something that could have been a valuable aspect to my university career. That is, until I read this book.
The author repeats many times that the experiences of the 5 or 6 girls she followed were not necessarily the experiences of EVERY girl in EVERY sorority. But there were some things mentioned over and over that cannot be dismissed as peculiar only to the 2 or 3 sororities she followed. The almost-nightly partying and clubbing (much of it an unwritten requirement,) very heavy drinking to the point of binge drinking, casual sex with the brothers in the "right" fraternities, constant pressure to remain stick-thin to the point of eating disorders, extreme emphasis on clothes and appearance, the selfishness, vanity, and snobbery of spoiled little rich girls, and the cattiness and hostility of some girls to others even within the so-called sisterhood. To various degrees, these aspects are a fact of life in the vast number of sororities in the country. As I was never a heavy drinker, tireless club-hopper or promiscuous, I would never have lasted even if I had pledged.
I found myself wishing she had followed more girls; it would have provided a larger base of comparison. But that probably just wasn't possible; she was probably fortunate to get as many as she did. Still, I think she failed a little in her effort to present a balanced picture as the good and the bad were not really given equal emphasis. Try as she might, the negatives ended up overwhelming the positives. Rather than continuing to feel wistful about my lack of a Greek sisterhood, I've begun to feel relieved that I was saved from it.
One thing I did find ironic: these girls who were all so desperate to stay as close to emaciated as they could, nevertheless drank enormous quantities of alcohol. If it ever occurred to them that the calories in the amount of alcohol they consumed in a week's time probably was equal to that of 3 or 4 large brownies a day, it was never mentioned. Each of them could have dropped as much as 5 pounds in a matter of a few days if they just cut in half the amount of alcohol they drank. The more they could cut down, the more weight they could lose in a matter of just a few weeks' time. Surely from time to time an intelligent and pragmatic sorority sister must suddenly realize that her "freshman 15" has more to do with what she's drinking than what she's eating.
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