Noteworthy

My mom wants to read Pledged, so before I lend it to her, I want to share a passage with you all. This exerpt, taken from page 209, is a conversation observed by the author. She was visiting a sorority during a meeting where the members were being prepared for rush/recruitment and how to make small talk with prospective new members. Two sisters are acting out a scenario and explaining how to deal with the situation.

"So, are you excited?" asked the girl pretending to be the rusher.

"I've been waiting for this day my whole life!" said the siter who was acting as a rushee.

"What kind of classes do you take?"

"I'm an engineer and I'm trying out for band!" The room laughed.

"Oh, that's... nice. How many credits are you taking?"

"Twenty-three!" The audience laughed again as the rushee turned to them to explain, "You get to talk to a lot of dorks."

"So," the rushee turned back to her partner, "do you like veggie burgers?"

An older sister addressed the room: "Even if this girl is the biggest tool, you still have to say hello and smile. You don't know who she lives with, so you want her to go home and say we're awesome, because her roommate might be like our number one choice."

Commentary and/or analysis of this passage is left as an exercise for the reader.

[Don't worry, this is the last you'll hear from me about this book -- by the end of this week, it will be on its way to Schenectady.]