Exactly how inaccurate is the Pledged book?
 

I was unable to rush in college after my father passed away, but did manage to complete my education at a very Greek college. I used to pass by sorority row at our college all the time and regret my inability to rush or pledge as I saw the fun the sisters were having.

Out of curiousity, I checked out the book Pledged from the library. I was immediately taken back by the fact that it read like fiction, not nonfiction. As it increasingly became like a "beach read," I stopped reading it. I find it hard to believe this was a first-hand account when it was written in such a fictional style.

What annoyed you the most about this book? What are the most inaccurate things you read in the book? Was there anything accurate in the book? My daughter will be rushing when she heads off to college next year, and I'm afraid this inaccurate (?) book has left me very misinformed. Am I correct, and if so, why?

I found nothing in that book to be accurate at all about my chapter.

Nothing. At all.

I literally laughed out loud when I saw the thread title.

...Why? It's not a totally unreasonable question OR thread title, and frankly, you should be glad that she, like many, are not simply accepting that what it says is true.

please do a search.

there are many threads (like the ones you will see at the bottom of this page) that already have ppl's thoughts on the book

:confused:

It's funny because:

ETA: Really?

Ditto this^^^^

I had never even heard of the book before Greek Chat! I read it last summer, and got quite a good laugh! For my chapter and school, nothing in that book was realistic at all!

..Yes. Really. KSUViolet said the same thing. Sorry to disappoint you.

Ok, apparently I'm going over your head. It's funny because the question was ironic. "Exactly how inaccurate is the Pledged book?" The Pledged book is RIDICULOUSLY inaccurate. You get me now?

PLEDGED should be made into a movie, and Karen Lutz should write the screenplay for it.

LOL

The spelling.

:D

So this is the mother posting with this user name again? Or the mother portion of the split personality?

I was at the school referenced during the time when she writes that some pretty sordid things were happening, and I can tell you that if what she says was happening really was, EVERYONE would have known about it - small school with no secrets - Peyton Place!! So, it's full of bull!

What? I guess you're talking about one of the ancient hazing cases she used to make her assertion that hazing is rampant (no offense, LOL).

To the OP - here's a thread that Allie-Poo herself started. Needless to say she got her butt handed to her on a plate.

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=49385

Plus another thread:

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=50220

It's refreshing to know that only the spelling is accurate in the Pledged book. Seriously, I'm surprised it was published as non-fiction. I say this not to be cruel. Despite the fact it's inaccurate as I suspected, on a separate point it's written in the style of fiction, or at least the parts I read. The author thread was intriguing to say the least. Thanks for the links to other threads. I have to remember to do more research before posting. I appreciate your replies!

To a previous poster, I'm the Mom posting (no "split personality"). My daughter and her friends have questions, but not to the point of posting online as no one is rushing until they head off to college next year. Sometimes they'll ask me a question because they know I came from a very Greek school and I'll ask the question here out of curiousity. To be truthful, I suppose I'm also interested in GLO out of regret I was never able to rush after my Dad died immediately after I entered college as a freshman and I had to not only help my Mom for the new few years but also struggle to continue on with my college education (now that's honesty, but at least it shows where my interest lies). The financial aid at my college was generous, but I still had to make up 100% of the remaining monies due myself; thus, no sorority life.

When my daughter wants to post her own questions, I'll have her make her own user name. Is that what you meant?

Thanks again everyone! Reminder to self: Use the search function before posting ;)

Forgive my ignorance but I have no idea what is in "Pledged" as I have not read it. Am i too assumptive in thinking that it is just another il-informed version of what reality is?

:rolleyes: haha!! No offense at all!

No, I was referring to the stories about SMU and sorority girls whoring themselves to football recruits, and that it was common knowledge.

UH NO, if that was going on - there would have been talk. Nobody got away with anything in those days, even before the days of face book and myspace, gossip spread like wildfire, and somebody walking around in a fur, or driving in a car, that they got from the athletic department:eek: would have been fodder for talk...

Not to say that our athletes weren't being paid!! Best team money could buy!! But, any whoring being done was most likely being done by professionals...;)

So I read Pledged last summer. I didn't take offense to it; I found it enjoyable. I looked at it from a point of view that I would take watching Animal House.

No, you are correct.

I read it right before I joined up here. Accurate or not is hard to say. The story was so vague and general that it could easily have been totally made up- but at the same time seem like a true tale.

What did bother me a LOT, and what demonstrated that the author was out to trash sorority life, was the chapter where all kinds of secrets bits of information were revealed- passwords etc.

That was just mean-spirited and offered nothing to the plot of the book- such as it was. It seems clear that the author had to talk to a lot of sorority women to get those details since I am sure most would not have said anything, so from day 1 she was up to no good.

Agreed, but what made it worse was that quite a few of her "secrets" weren't secrets at all -- they're things that can be found on the websites of the GLOs in question, like the significance of Pi Phi's carnation. (Whether there is deeper meaning, of course, I don't know, but what she put in the book isn't a secret.) I mean, if you're going to make a big deal about revealing secrets, at least reveal the secret secrets. :rolleyes:

Then there were the urban legend or decoy "secrets" she "revealed." I particularly laughed that she fell for "Thanks for Joining!" (ETA: Not that I knew what TFJ really stands for -- I've just heard enough Alpha Xi Deltas joke about "Thanks for Joining" as their stock response when asked about it that I knew that wasn't really it.)

There were other "secrets" in there that I can't say whether she got right or not, of course, but the ones that were obviously wrong or not secrets to begin with didn't help what credibility she had.

The secrets part of her book was sensational anyway, and added NOTHING to the supposed "true story." Who knows whether or not the secrets are true. She could have made all of it up just to sell books to the ten people who are interested.

As for the truthfulness of sorority life...maybe she did meet some sorority women with that point of view and experience, but it is ridiculous to paint the entire greek system with that tiny little brush. An expose that expansive should really require a little more research than she claims.

I read this about three years ago, before I started advising. I'm not going to lie -- it was fascinating. But I also coach college athletes and I can tell you - NONE of that stuff is specific to Greek life! I seriously do not understand how she can claim that with a straight face. Heck, I used to coach at a school with no Greek system whatsoever and I think I heard worse stories there than I do now!

The stuff she wrote about I've never experienced. I have very few friends or family members that were Greek at large schools, so I don't have a huge pool to pull from, but they didn't experience the kind of drama she writes about.

I'm not a fan of the book, however, I've seen more "secrets" revealed online...

I agree that it was mean-spirited, but as I read it, I could pick out girls from college that fit nearly every character in the book. It was not one chapter, but girls from several chapters. And yes, some of these girls were mean.

I thought the book was interesting, but I've never experienced anything her characters have. My GDI boyfriend is slightly more gullible, he thinks my sorority sisters will try to pressure me into breaking up with him "to have more fun". So silly!

To give my two cents...

I recently went through rush (ended last Friday actually) with my roommate who wasn't orgionally interested in Greek Life and was freaked out by the whole 'hazing' thing for most of the week of and leading up to. A friend of hers gave her the book and it did two things for us:

1.) Scare her even more (though not anymore since being with sisters)

2.) Make an awesome connection between some actives and us when we talked about it and then brought it to a girl we had been talking to just about everyday about hazing and the like...(apparently there's a whole chapter or at least a section about various kinds of 'rape' pledges might have to endure...hm)

Oddly enough our new chapter runs rampant in that book...very few things we read seemed accurate but most else was not at ALL.