Alexandra Robbins
Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities (2004)
Author: Alexandra Robbins
Genre: Nonfiction (Inside Encounter)
Book Summary:
Journalist Alexandra Robbins boldly goes where only some women have gone before: she goes undercover and blends into "Greek Life", interviewing, observing, and documenting the lives of several sorority girls as she attempts to shed light on the truths, lies, and stereotypes of America's Greek system. As Robbins explores the Greek system and the various facets of it, she brings puts personalities and faces to her facts in the form of her four chief subjects: shy Viki, ambitious Sabrina, cheerful Amy, and energetic Caitlin. These four sorority girls are bright, beautiful, and willingly expose themselves to a world of insecurities, sexual exploitation and objectification, drug use, racism, and a host of other social ills that lurk behind the facades of seemingly pristine fraternity and sorority houses. Throughout the 2002-2003 academic year, Robbins documents the lives of these four girls, and eventually comes to several uncomfortable conclusions about Greek life in America. Although she provides suggestions for how to rememdy the various problems that plague the Greek system, this book still comes across as something of a salacious soap opera with a social message. Nevertheless, readers wanting a non-fiction book that reads like fiction yet presents them with knowledge and information will not be disappointed with this account.
Geographical Setting: unidentified university in the southern U.S. with a strong Greek system
Time Period: 2003-2004 school year
Appeal Characteristics:
Although Robbin's account is fast-paced, the amount of information and the often-emotional tone somehow makes the book feel as though it were moving at a very deliberate pace, too. The lives and stories of the four "sister" Robbins observes gives this work a character-centered feel. Her use of anecdotes provides the material with a solid, believable, non-preachy feel, and readers will also appreciate her descriptiveness, which leaves them feeling as though they have been given an active description of what it means to be a "sorority girl."
Read-alikes: For a similar storyline and plot (young females and the trials they face in American society), readers might try Girls on the Verge: Debutante Dips, Drive-bys, and Other Initiations, by Vendela Vida. Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, while more deliberately paced, nevertheless packs in a lot of details as it reveals the truth behind the public image, and has a similar tone as Pledged. For a different perspective (as Robbins' work deals mainly with historically-white sororities), readers might try Lawrence C. Ross, Jr.'s The Divine Nine: The History of African-American fraternities and sororities. If readers wish to consume a fiction book that deals with the same subject, they might try Tajuana Butler's Sorority Sisters, which has a descriptiveness that will appeal to those who enjoyed it in Pledged. Also consider Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons, a fictional account based on Wolfe's research on campuses like Michigan and Stanford. This story has a focus that wider that Robbins' (looking beyond sorority life to modern campus life--though the Greek focus is still there), but still makes a good readalike despite being a novel.
Red Flags: Occasional foul language; frequent mention of drug use; frequent descriptions of pre-marital and/or "promiscuous" sexual activity; occasional violence; excessive amounts of pettiness, meanness, and pointless snobbery.
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