Review: Pledged by Alexandra Robbins

Title: Pledged
Author: Alexandra Robbins
Publisher: Hyperion
Publish Date: April 2004
Source: Library

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're looking for an engaging non-fiction read.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Alexandra Robbins wanted to find out if the stereotypes about sorority girls were actually true, so she spent a year with a group of girls in a typical sorority. The sordid behavior of sorority girls exceeded her worst expectations-drugs, psychological abuse, extreme promiscuity, racism, violence, and rampant eating disorders are just a few of the problems. But even more surprising was the fact that these abuses were inflicted and endured by intelligent, successful, and attractive women. Why is the desire to belong to a sorority so powerful that women are willing to engage in this type of behavior-especially when the women involved are supposed to be considered 'sisters'? What definition of sisterhood do many women embrace? Pledged combines a sharp-eyed narrative with extensive reporting and the fly-on-the-wall voyeurism of reality shows to provide the answer."

My Two Cents:

I had heard a lot about this book but I hadn't ever gotten around to reading it so when I came across it in the library, I finally picked it up. Robbins follows four girls in a couple different sororities in order to better understand first, what goes on in sororities and two, why women join sororities. I was not in a sorority in college. It wasn't something that I was really interested in nor was Greek Life really a big part of my college campus. I knew a lot of people that were part of a sorority or a fraternity. Some said the experience was great, some said that the experience wasn't so great.


This book gives a little insight into sororities. Robbins is right there as the girls she follows rush and then are accepted into the sorority. This book is not really all that surprising. Robbins doesn't cover anything that no one could figure out about the sororities. This book almost reads like a novel. Robbins does a great job of showing all of the motives of the different players in the sorority. For a sorority outsider like me, it was very interesting (although I'd love to know what someone who was in a sorority thought about the book).


Bottom line: This is a great non-ficition pick!