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Oct 30, 2007

Lani rated it:

I have a love/hate relationship with everything Alexandra Robbins writes. She is a total sensationalist and I feel a bit guilty every time I pick up one of her books. But... they're always very fun. I found this one more amusing than some others because it seemed so unabashedly self-centered. It really seemed like the author just wanted to join a sorority and wanted to make sure we all knew that she could still do it - AND pass for a college girl!

Read anything by Robbins with a GIGAN More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 15, 2007

Kristie rated it:

As a past chapter President and current Greek advisor at a college, my expectations of this book were exceedingly high. The women in the sorority I advise all read it and passed it along to me. I was hoping they might learn some valuable lessons about hazing and the consequences of taking part in hazing related activities. Unfortunately, this book primarily focused on the day-to-day lives of four sorority women. While I can say with certainty that the things in this book do happen in sororit More...

2 comments like (14 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2008

Jordan rated it:

This book was not smart enough for me to get behind the author's arguments. Having not been in a sorority for the beginning of college and then joining one after transferring schools, I felt that the author had a definite bias in her "reporting" even though she presented it as though she was without. She greatly missed the fact that binge drinking, casual sex and a disinterest in philanthropy is a cultural phenomenon and one of the college age group. Her criticism of sorority members n More...

0 comments like (11 people liked it)

Jul 27, 2007

Kaitlyn rated it:

I heard about this book last year in one of my courses at school. Most of my lectures had involved women who were active members of our campus sororities. Some days I did not think much of them especially when I felt like they were expressing feminist view points and then in actions contradicted them entirely. I liked that Robbins discussed sororities and the relationship between sororities and feminist ideals. I certainly don’t see them going hand in hand but it doesn’t appear Robbins does eith More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2008

Katie rated it:

An interesting investigative report on life in historically white sororities in the 2000's South. Having been denied access to sororities by their national offices, in the wake of MTV's expose, the young (thin, pretty) Robbins accompanied four young women undercover through for one academic year, at the risk of their being disaffiliated. She does not disclose the location or name of the university (although it is in a warm climate) or the sororities. She says that she deliberately chose ordi More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 28, 2008

Lynn rated it:

I have a love/hate relationship with this book, but my biggest word of warning is that it needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

The book follows the lives of four sorority girls, their personal lives, and their personal choices. By the end of the story we still don't know these girls well - partially because anything that would characterize them as themselves is hidden or diluted. I still don't know what kind of women these are, would I be friends with them, would I trust them? I do More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2009

Ashley rated it:

I went to a college in the South and was a member of a National Sorority all four years I was in school. Let's just say I did not have the same experiences that Robbins describes in her book.

First of all, my sorority had very strict rules on hazing. We were not even allowed to let our new members go on a fun camping retreat to get to know one another because it was considered "hazing" if all sisters did not participate. That being said, my experiences before I was intiate More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

melissa rated it:

I didn't do the college thing, instead choosing the School of Life and Hard Knocks. Hey, what you can't learn through watching Jeopardy! you don't need to know. (okay, maybe not. I am taking classes now.) But since my "sorority" during the post-high school years were my stoner buddies, reading this book provided insight on what I missed out on. I'll use "missed" lightly. Oh my god this is horrible! Shit, more debauchery in here than I saw in the dimly-lit bathroom of any gay More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Doug rated it:

What this book is about in fewer words than this sentence:
Every rumor you've ever heard about sororities are true.

What I learned from this book:
All rich, popular white girls are exactly the same.
Sorority stereotypes are true.
Women tend to treat each other like shit.
College students make boring subject matter.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 28, 2007

Toni rated it:

I learned many fascinating things that never happened to me during college. It was interesting to see what "really" happens behind the closed doors of sorority row.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2009

David rated it:

Sororities! Training your daughters and future girlfriends to be alcoholic, bulimic, self-absorbed whores.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 30, 2011

Maryann rated it:

The closest we come here to a Sorority is an all girl's boarding secondary school. Apart from that I don't have much of an idea of Greek life apart from what we learn from watching Greek. It was a good read, basically just following the lives of four sorority girls and all the happenings behind closed doors. It might have been biased for other readers but I thought the author did well to emphasize that not all "Sororities" or "Fraternities" were like that. However, many of th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 05, 2011

Christina rated it:

My mom, in an attempt to turn me against sororities, picked up Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities at our local public library. At first, I was hesitant about picking up the book because I didn’t like the fact that my mom is trying to make decisions for me. I chalked it up to the fact that she just wants me to be well-informed and picked up the book this morning for after-TAKS reading.

Robbins introduces us to Vicki, Caitlin, Amy, and Sabrina and immediately I began to identify with More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2008

Carrie rated it:

I really have mixed emotions on this book. First of all, the author I think acturately portrays sorority girls, but I think this representation doesn't just pertain to sorority girls, but college girls in general. I was in a sorority and I am proud to say Delta Gamma was not portrayed negatively at all. There were a few references, but nothing appauling.
There were many things about this book that I question. I don't think the author was at many of these events, but was told what happe More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 01, 2008

Danica rated it:

I was actually really excited to read this book. I was in a sorority and was never hazed, none of the crazy stuff that people say happen in sororities never happened on my campus. It's not that we were a small campus or even small chapters of our organizations, our school simply did not allow it and there were plenty of organizations that were thrown off of campus for hazing and other things. I got about 1/2 way through this book, and was just plain bored! There was nothing really happening that More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2007

Jessica rated it:

I've been meaning to read Pledged for a while now, and finally got around to it. I have mixed reactions. A lot of what Robbins pitches as "exposé material" is more along the lines of "normal college behavior." Oh my god, college girls get drunk and do drugs and sleep around! Robbins might want to question her own gender expectations - such as, while she doesn't seem shocked at this behavior in frat boys, why does she get so worked up about it in sorority girls? And whether pe More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 07, 2007

Melissa rated it:

I found this book very off base. I was in a national sorority in college and found this book did not mirror my experience in the least. It's been a while since I read it so I don't remember all the details but I found she wasn't painting a very clear picture. All campuses and chapters are different so I will say that these things could have happened elsewhere, but in all reality, every chapter has their "screw ups" and it seems like these were the only stories she choose to mention. More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 07, 2008

Katie rated it:

So here's the deal with "Pledged," yes there are some truths to what this undercover journalist found, but for the most part it was mellow dramatic, and not in touch with my experience.

I know she was down south, and the Greek system there is very different than up here.

My main criticism would be that she only highlighted the positive of Black fraternities and sororities, but she neglected to mention the hazing issue. Because those groups are not run by a gover More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 29, 2009

Jacqueline115 rated it:

Okay.....it was not a book I truly enjoyed. the author went undercover for a year but is that sufficient? From my experience of belonging to a local sorority, I was disappointed that everything written was negative. No positive stories were published about the bond among sisterhood, nothing about doing good deeds through community service, nothing about greek sports on campus. Nothing about what happens to women post-college. I remain in touch with many of my sisters and served as an officer for More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2011

Kelly added it

Pig Run- in white T's - hosed down
plumbers to clean vomit from tubes once a month
80% of college women with eating disorders are in sororities
-sexual assault common (2/4 of her girls)
-pledges sleep w/entire frat!? ordered sisters
SMU boosters paid girls to sleep with athletes p.61. 1979-1985- credit card mercedes+fur coat
"spectrum" frat term for sex as spectator sport, pikes did it 2x / month
LITTLE SISTERS- gang raped and maids
COMMUNITY SE More...

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Mar 08, 2009

Jackie rated it:

This is Alexandra Robbins’s account of her year spent undercover with a group of sorority girls. I admittedly went into this book a bit judgmental about sororities. I neither belonged to a sorority nor had any desire to do so. Candlelight ceremonies, uniformity, and frat boys all bore me. Hazing scares me. I nearly died laughing when a friend told me that she had been lavaliered (for those unsorority types, this is a type of formal pinning when a sorority sister’s relationship with her boyf More...

3 comments like

Nov 20, 2008

Kiersty rated it:

I am a sorority girl. I love my sorority and my experience there. That being said I am pretty sure it tainted my view of this book. I did enjoy this book (I know gasp) but I also had a really hard time with it. My experience was somewhat different from the portrayal of Greek life in this book. I think it did overplay the drama and drinking and drugs a bit.
There were some similarities between girls in this book and girls in my chapter. But I also felt like she did not really go beyond the l More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 09, 2012

Tori rated it:

As a former sorority girl that deeply regrets ever joining a sorority when I could have been developing my own personality in college and not worrying about proper Greek Sing stance, I was really hoping that Ms. Robbins would have blown the Panhell system out of society. However, that did not happen with this book.

Not only does Ms. Robbins not name her "informants" but she doesn't name the sororities or the university/universities involved. This doesn't sit well with me fo More...

0 comments like

Nov 03, 2011

Jess rated it:

Having enjoyed Secrets of the Tomb, The Overachievers, and Quarterlife Crisis, I found this irresistible when it was three bucks in the Nook store. I think I enjoyed it less than the others because I definitely related far more to the other three. Having gone to a small college with no Greek system, I have no actual sorority-related experience to relate this book to, and only a vague notion of what it must be like (based mostly on having lived in single-sex dorms for three years of high school a More...

0 comments like

Oct 18, 2011

Jenny rated it:

I love how many of the reviews of this book are more about the readers' involvement (or lack thereof) in sororities. HOT BUTTON ISSUE, Y'ALL.

I was mainly curious about what happens in sororities (guilty read if I ever had one), not really interested in the stupid antics or drinking rituals, though there were many examples of both. Weeding through all of the subjective portrayals of girls gone wild was sometimes exhausting, but there was a point, or at least the beginning of one, More...

0 comments like

Sep 21, 2011

Tami rated it:

I read this book before college because MTV's Sorority Life was all the hype back then. This book made me not want to join a sorority. However, when I went to a small school in South Florida, I decided being in a small group of girls with similar interests was exactly what I needed, and being my school only had one sorority on campus at the time, I did not have to go through anything that this author uncovered. Sadly, I have to say, a lot of sororities around the country, including mine in di More...

0 comments like

Sep 18, 2011

Julia rated it:

Though a crazy read, it was unfortunate that the author manipulated various facts in an attempt to suit her needs, but it didn't make sense. She would talk about how, for instance, traditionally African American sororities were so good, but then use as a prime example of hazing, a case where an African American sorority made its pledges go blindfolded and tied together into the ocean. She had a lot to work with and it seemed like she was less interested in being accurate and more interested in More...

0 comments like

Aug 25, 2011

dejah_thoris rated it:

Fast-paced and a sympathetic portrait of sorority life but there's nothing in here terribly revolutionary. Sororities are often conformist (to the point of racism and eating disorders) and sit at a strange cross-roads between the values espoused by older alumni (morality and finding a husband) and the social life (binge drinking and attractive man-hopping) that attracts most of the new sisters. And, because they attract wealthier college alumni, universities often ignore their infractions rather More...

0 comments like

Aug 22, 2011

Dani rated it:

Though I went to a college that had an active Greek Life, I am not a sorority sister nor do I have a single friend who was in a sorority. However, there is nothing in this book that I didn't already know. I believe that most people (especially those who attend college where there is Greek Life), know by now the pros and cons of sororities and fraternities. We have all heard the news reports of hazing gone wrong and sorority parties where excessive drinking takes place. While this is not the case More...

0 comments like

Jun 18, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

A simi-nonfiction book about life in a sorority. Interesting because I had just finished watching this show GREEK at the same time and they were so differ! Granted one is “real life” and the other was a TV show on ABC Family (one guess which one was “light”) but interesting none the less on why people join sororities. No one I knew from high school joined on and reading the book, it’s obvious why. Apparently, from what I got out of the book, people join sororities to feel like they are a part of More...

0 comments like