The Secret Life of Sororities

Last month I read Pledge by Alexandra Robbins. As guessed by the title, the book is a study and discussion of the effect of sororities on women, their fraternity brothers and the campuses that host them. Ms Robbins takes her readers through one year in four young women's lives. Each at a different stage in their college careers, each from different ethic and social backgrounds. While the stories are individual voices, their experiences line-up with one another, easily illustrating the similarities of the experience. While I was in college the first time around, I toyed with the idea of pledging to a sorority. At that particular campus they were a minor part of the college experience and I decided against it for a few reasons -- fees, requirement to live in the house, the attitude of the person who gave us a tour, and no one else I knew was interested. I have to wonder if that small college in the backwaters would have prompted the same experience. The study Ms Robbins performed took place in Texas, where being Greek is expected of most college students. Definitely worthwhile to read. I was excited to see that I could find out what else happened to the four main characters by visiting the website but disappointed to see that I needed a password, which was easily accessed in the book, provided that I had not returned it to the library. I'll have to reserve it, look-up the last word on page 183 and come back to the site. Unless, of course, one of my readers decides to do the same.