"Pledged"
 

What is everyone's opinion on the book "Pledged"? I am about to start reading it, and I figure it is a very biased and stereotypical book. What do you guys think? Has anyone read it?

thanks!

I looked at the 1st few pages but I didn't understand what I was reading.

Even the writer herself -she's so beautiful by the way- posted in this forum about the book. :)

I just read the book last week actually.

In many respects it strikes me as honest, but I have some strong issues with it and the movitation of the author.

What bothered me most was the chapter in which ritual secrets were revealed. I did not read it all- out of respect I skipped ahead once I realized what that chapter was about- but I fail to see how revealing the meanings of sorority names and rituals did anything to contribute to what the author was trying to do.

For anyone on this forum who is an initiated Greek member, you know as well as I that there are no deep and dark secrets in ritual or in the meanings of our letters. But still those meanings are sacred for a reason.

And when the author of this book revealed many of those secrets, I lost respect for the entire book. The author is clearly a very intelligent person- so I have to assume that she only revealed ritual information out of spite since it added no value to the message of her book.

I also did not care for the chapter toward the end where she purported to tell sororities how to run their affairs. That came off preachy and, again, added nothing to the value of the stories she told.

Overall the stories were fairly reflective of what I know to be true for certain sorority girls- but hardly reflective of them at large, and certainly not of the women I dated in college.

All I will say is that at Georgia and Texas, the top sororities do NOT have men spending the night in the house or members smoking pot on a daily basis etc. etc. I practically needed an Act of Congress just to check out the room of girlfriends I had in college, and I sure as hell never spent the night up there- nor did my fraternity brothers.

So I would hardly call those 4 girls a representative group of sorority life. In terms of the eating disorders and internal pressures to conform- yes it was accurate.

But in many ways that was not an accurate book, and the author took her chances- as so many Greek expose writers have- to imply there are far more sinister goings-on than is really the case.

Ummmm... have you seen her without professional makeup? Not so much. And you obviously haven't spent any time around sorority women to see REAL beautiful women.

Whether or not that was really her is debateable.

Anyway, there's no sense rehashing it here, guys, bump one of the other threads.

Oh Dani, admit it. You're just intimidated by her hotness.

(slight hijack)

Alexandra Robbins was on The Colbert Report last week talking about her new book.

Stressed: The Secret Life of Overachievers
Is that the one? I saw it in B&N a little while ago, don't know if it's new or not.

That's the one. It came out a couple weeks ago, I think.

Yes. It was in the Children's section. She follows around a bunch of middle and high school students who are on sports teams or clubs and have to balance that with their school work. Fascinating.

Not very original with her titles, is she??:rolleyes:

When you're just hot or are that good of a reporter, silly things like creativity and originality really just don't seem to matter.

Caked On: The Secret Life of Alexandra Robbins' Makeup

Can we please merge this w/ one of the other Pledged threads or close it? Ugh.

Most often, the publisher selects the book title, not the author. They do that for "marketing" reasons. Since the publisher is paying for the book, they want to make sure that it has a "catchy" title to sell the most copies.

Alright, then the publisher is sooo original. Whatever.:rolleyes:

I agree with you.. I think the title is pretty lame.

I think the subject is pretty lame. When I was in 8th grade, I got home at like 8pm every night and then had to do homework. And you know what? I survived. I really could care less about some 13 year olds whining about how stressed they are. Wait until they get to the real world and have to work 12 hour days.

I know! I was in so many lessons, activities, etc. I loved it! I made friends; I gained wonderful experiences. And I got good grades, too. If grades suffer, the activities should go, but if the child is happy, fulfilled, and academically strong, then they should keep on keepin' on.

I have seen kids and parents that were definitely over the edge though. Balance, balance, balance...

I did, too.

But I have to say that what I see with many kids today really has gotten out of hand. If you were like me, you were doing those things that kept you out until 8 because you wanted to -- they were fun and you enjoyed them. I doubt that at 13 you were thinking about how it would look on a college application, except for the general belief that it was a good thing to be involved and have varied interests.

But I have actually heard school counselors talk about being asked by parents: "We want little Billy to be able to go to [you fill in the college], and first grade isn't too early to start building his resume. Which after-school classes should we enroll him in to give him the best shot." (I've actually heard one first-tier college counseler say that she was asked by parents which preschool they should enroll their daughter in so that she would have the best chance of getting in that college.)

Sounds insane, I know, but it's more widespread than you would believe. And it puts a very different spin on the fun activities we used to be involved in after school. I would have been stressed too if my parents were grooming me for the "right college" that early in life.

As LouisaMay says, balance. And the if the kid is doing the activities because he or she wants to, great. But if mom and dad are pushing them not because they are fun or because they are good for the kid's overall development, but because they're focusing solely on college and career (or simply to make sure that the kid's hours are filled -- activities as babysitters), the pressure the parents are exerting is going to pulverize the kid.

Admissions by Nancy Lieberman is a good take on this insanity. It's about private school admissions in NYC. It is fiction, but it's a pretty funny take on the extreme measures parents can take.

When I was in prep school, our kindergarten had an orientation for new parents. The yearbook advisor went to it and was telling us at a meeting how all that the parents asked about was "what are your rates of placement at Ivy Leagues?," "is it true that there's drug use in HS?," etc. No questions about the actual kindergarten.

If you want to hear any private school admissions craziness in NYC, just ask me. I went to two private schools and have seen and heard it all.

Thanks. I'd be more likely to read that than Ms. Robbins' Stressed.

If you want to take the pulse of the school-obsessed crowd, once again I refer you to http://talk.collegeconfidential.com. There are many threads focusing on the highly competitive prep and independent school admissions as well, of course, on the top-ranked LACs and research universities.

Oh God...does she profess she is young and cool enough to look like an awkward 8th grader and is accepted by them no questions asked as the BFF of the cheerleading team? Sounds absolutely like something that is a **MUST** read for my next book club.

Is it true they make you wear Ugg boots with jeans at the winter forml?

I wore them last year to my company's formal Christmas Ball. Here I am modeling them

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/..._300x341,0.jpg

UGG boots are last season. No respectable Park Avenue Princess would be caught dead in them.