I loved the idea of Fraternity way more than the execution of it. A rare miss for Alexandra Robbins but still adore her books and would eat up a book on Bama Rush by her!

This is not quite what .I expected this book to be. I did not finish this book at 15%.
I expected it to be a more interesting anecdote of fraternity life, but instead it is more factual which is also fine.
Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

I think this was a well researched and well written book delving into a secret background of what life as a member of Greek Life on a college campus looks like, specifically fraternity life. I think this told some of the pros and cons of Greek Life and is a great resource for anyone (parent or college-bound young adult) who is thinking about this for themselves.
What I’ve seen, looking at the short-term view of Greek Life is that you are instantly “in a group”. And hopefully they are people that you click with and have common interests together. Long-term view is that Greek Life really is probably best for those needing to make lifelong connections in the business world (or similar career path). Some careers don’t need this and can be hurt by choosing this, but if you need to have connections all over the place, even at chapters from different schools, this gets you there.
Thanks for bringing back some memories. A lot is the same and a lot has changed. But I enjoyed this book all the same.

#Fraternity #NetGalley

I loved this book, an easy read that took me back to some of the best years of my life! This book is a must read even if you didn't pledge, it's a vicarious ride that reminds us what it was to be young with everything ahead of us.

Fraternity: An Inside Look at a Year of College Boys Becoming Men by Alexandra Robbins was quite the astonishing read for me. Going behind the scenes and hearing about what goes on during rush and hazing actually made me sad. I feel the one boy profiled, Jake, completely changed over the year, and not necessarily for the better. Saying this, I do understand that fraternities can offer a wonderful brotherhood, home away from home environment for college males. Most definitely everything is not about drinking and sex, but it is a huge part of what goes on, at least in some chapters at many schools. The author also talked about fraternities that are doing a lot of good and acting responsibly, I appreciated hearing both sides of fraternity life. The book is very readable, I did not want to put it down once I started.

I've read several other Robbins' books, including the companion sorority piece and I felt this one was lacking. I would have liked to see WAY more about non-white fraternities and I honestly was more interested in the narratives above all else. That said, I found the narratives redundant too. I wish this had been a longer timeline OR more narratives. The parts about stats and hazing seemed like information that anyone who picked up this book might already know, but I could be wrong.

Fraternities have a bad rep - and often, for a good reason. The way fraternities are presented in movies pales in comparison to the true stories we hear about on the news of deaths due to hazing or date rape scandals occurring across college campuses.

Why then are the numbers of young men growing at an astonishing rate? That is the question that best-selling writer, Alexandra Robbins, attempts to answer in her latest investigative nonfiction novel, Fraternity: An Inside Look at a Year of College Boys Becoming Men.

In a behind the scenes take, Robbins follows different young men throughout one year of fraternity life. The results are vastly different.

One young man is an introverted nerd going through rush (recruitment) and his pledge period. He desperately wants connection and has a father who was in a fraternity in college. He enters the fraternity scene with hesitation and strong views against hazing, the negative treatment of women, and alcohol abuse. However, as he joins a traditional fraternity, his views change drastically. By the end of the novel, he has done almost everything he said he wouldn't. And he defends his new brothers and himself for the things they do. Many of which come straight out of the papers or movies.

However, Robbins also follows the new sophomore president of a more inclusive fraternity that is more focused on brotherhood than partying. While he encounters plenty of obstacles, this young man's experience within his fraternity is vastly different. His fraternity does set him up to be better prepared for leadership roles in his career and paves the way for genuine relationships.

Robbins argues that today's young men are drawn to fraternities because this generation is seriously lacking genuine social connections. As they interact primarily through technology and then leave home, these young men are desperate to find a new family. Unfortunately, the family they find can vary greatly depending on the school and chapter. No two fraternities (even of the same name) are alike.

Packed with statistics and insider information from the brothers themselves, the book was insightful. I also really appreciated that Robbins ended the novel with a section for parents or young men considering joining the Greek system. It includes tips on how to decipher the types of fraternities based on clues found during recruitment events and other tips for finding a fraternity that will empower rather than weaken young men.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy to read and review.

When I saw that Alexandra Robbins had a new book out, I knew I needed it. I always appreciate the story in whatever it is that she is researching. This time she follows two students and their fraternity experiences. The book was an interesting read that kept me wanting to know what would happen all the way through. I appreciate the real-world details. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.


Disclaimer: I was awarded this book from NetGalley/the publisher. Though I did not pay for the book, the opinions are strictly my own.

Prior to reading Fraternity, my only exposure to frat culture came from my friends' stories about parties in college and from the worst news stories. I came into this book with a fairly low opinion of Greek Life on the whole. I can honestly say that now my view is a lot more nuanced and I can see what would lead a young man to join a fraternity. There are many fraternities that are more progressive than I was led to believe. I appreciated that the book focused on two young men at very different fraternities and also included voices from historically Black and Latino fraternities. Though I am not a parent, I appreciated that there were resources for parents who might want to discuss fraternity membership with college-aged sons. I will definitely seek out Robbins' book on sororities, Pledged, sometime soon.

Alexandra Robbins is one of my favorite non-fiction authors and journalists, so I was so excited to read her next book and get an inside look at what fraternities are really like. Throughout the book, we get to follow Jake, who is a "freshman searching for brotherhood," and not your typical frat boy. He was an overachiever in high school whose idea of a good time on a Friday night was going to the movies and not really into drinking. He really only decides to rush because his dad was in a fraternity. Over the course of the year, we see him go through the highs and lows of rushing, pledging, hazing, wanting to give up, and the mindset that he has throughout all this. We also get to follow Oliver, who is a chapter president who has to deal with trying to keep his fraternity afloat after facing so many citations by police officers. Robbins chose these two because <b>"they represent students missing from the media and contemporary literature: smart, goodhearted, self-aware, earnest fraternity members whom readers would root for."</b>

Despite it being non-fiction, she writes in such a narrative way that keeps you hooked and wondering what will happen next. Along with that, each chapter has insightful academic discussions addressing all the stereotypes about fraternities. She doesn't sugarcoat anything and lays out all the facts, from the toxic nature of <i>some</i> fraternities to why fraternities are so successful even today, and why they are such a distinctly American concept. But one of my favorite parts was the <b>fascinating social history of how fraternities began in America, then dwindled, then rose again</b> (in large part to the picture of college life portrayed in the movie Animal House, and then to alcohol companies' advertisements). And when the drinking age was increased to 21, that didn't help matters any because now instead of students drinking at bars, they moved to private places like fraternity houses, who now controlled the scene, and by the 1990s, 86% of fraternity brothers became binge drinkers.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it gave me a lot to think about besides simply the stereotypes that you read about in the news. Don't get me wrong, there are still so many racist fraternity chapters out there, but there are some good inclusionary ones too, and she highlights them both. And I am already looking forward to what Alexandra Robbins writes next!

This is tricky, because I've devoured all of her other books and loved them. I appreciate that she tried to show both good and bad sides to fraternities, and in trying, it got a little too "not all men!"-y for my taste. The good side is still... not that good, and the bad side is abhorrently toxic. If you hate fraternities like I do, this book isn't going to be likely to change your opinion.

🔎Book Review🔎
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I read Robbins’ Pledged back in 2010 and I gave it a 1 star. Ironically, in June of 2010, I had just graduated High School and wasn’t planning on joining a sorority. Less than 6 months later, I had joined, and now, I’m a national volunteer and my professional job is a Fraternity and Sorority Adviser for a University.
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I don’t remember why I gave Pledged a 1 star back in the day, but I do remember what sticks in my mind now- a woman pretending to be an undergrad so she could go through recruitment, the author seeming to search out scenarios that confirmed biases, and then revealing sorority ritual secrets, simply because she could.
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When I saw that Robbins had a follow-up coming out, I was intrigued. I knew it would be big news in my field and I was curious what perspective 15 years had given Robbins. The answer? A lot. Robbins clearly says that the book is not pro- or anti- fraternity, but is pro-student. Robbins has really balanced the good and bad of the fraternal landscape by focusing on two very different chapters.
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The narrative was both familiar and eye-opening. Jake reflecting on not getting a bid from his dad’s fraternity and wondering how he was judged unworthy through conversations over the course of an hour hit home. So did thoughts about the tier systems and the damaging role they play- perpetuated both by the community and those outside it. Robbins has done a lot of research and her ruminations on masculinity are masterful.
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I wish that Robbins had disguised the identity of the chapters better in order to protect her subjects. This time she didn’t include the names of the fraternities when she told their secrets, but you can easily Google them and find out. And she made a key mistake with providing info about one of her campuses that reveals which it is to anyone who knows the industry.
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Alexandra Robbins has created a well-balanced, insightful, and emotional look into college men and fraternities- I only wish she had given college women and sororities the same treatment 15 years ago.

Fraternity: An Inside Look at a Year of College Boys Becoming Men, by Alexandra Robbins, is an eye-opening, insightful investigation into the secrets and life in a fraternity.
The author takes us on the journey of two young men (Jake and Oliver) in the "Greek" life. The readers are exposed to the positive and negative life-changing experiences they endured.
This book is less about the "what" than the "why" of fraternities. Parents of high schoolers need to understand more about the lifestyle so that they can help their children decide where to apply to college and whether to go "Greek". Financial, physical, emotional, academic and safety aspects of fraternity memberships need to be considered so that the parents and students choose wisely.
Extremely informative advice and tips are offered making this book a very helpful tool that is long overdo and well worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The number one thing this book accomplished was to make me dread sending my (currently three-year-old) child to college someday. Much like author Alexandra Robbins's book Sorority, Fraternity examines the impact of these organizations on the individual, the group, and the institution. The focus is on two students in particular- one, a freshman pledge at a fraternity that fits the stereotypical image of a fraternity as an alcohol fueled, sexist, dangerous organization; the other, a young chapter president of a fraternity that prides itself on its service and treatment of others. Reading the second viewpoint was refreshing, as while the chapter struggled with a few incidents, they seemed to encourage each other to grow as decent human beings. On the other hand, it was difficult at times to read Jake's sections and watch him devolve as his values changed to better align with the organization's.
I attended a small women's college with virtually no Greek life, and obviously no fraternities, so this is a world that is unfamiliar and disconcerting to me. I appreciated the author's inclusion of the benefits of fraternity life to its members, as well as the issues plaguing the organizations. This book should become required reading for parents of teens considering Greek life, especially those, like me, with no real knowledge or experience with the organizations, and would also be a book I'd like in the hands of teens themselves considering pledging.

Alexandra Robbins writes books that draw you into a world a place such as a Sorority or nursing.Faternity is another eye opening book told through the eyes of two young men entering college joining faternities one the traditional path going on to become president of his faternity .The other young man not interested in this path heading out on less traditional fraternity life.This is a book that would be helpful to parents of young men heading to college Alexandra Robbins gives guides well worth taking advice.Most of all its a wonderful read following these two young men,as they enter college make choices and find their own independent ideas, #netgalley#Faternity #duttonbooks.

Thank you for the advance copy. I enjoyed reading and learning about the fraternity system through the eyes of two young men, one who belongs to what seems to be a stereotypical fraternity and the other who creates a much more positive experience as president of his frat. All aspects of frat life are covered and everything from good to bad is discussed. No issue is left unaddressed. This would be a helpful book for parents of young men who want to join fraternities.