Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat Accurate
Review: It seemed to me that Robbins was taking a bit too much creative license in this book. The details were so particular that there's no way she wasn't filling in the gaps with what she believed had happened- or more likely, with what she believed would sell more copies of her book.
The good- As a former sorority girl, I felt like I was reliving the college years. Much of this book is absolutely true, from the eating disorders to the casual sex to the binge drinking and hazing.
The bad- Some of Robbins' assertions are patently false, obvious to any sorority member who reads this book. Robbins fell a bit too hard for some of the urban legends about sorority girls and passed them off as fact. The whole topless pillow fighting/ secret lesbianism scenarios were pretty outrageous. You will find that sorority members are about as homophobic as it gets when it comes to their sisterhood. At times, I got the impression that Robbins had been watching Girls Gone Wild infomercials and chalking it up to "research".
Overall, it's an interesting read, particularly for those who were once in sororities.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Analysis of Greek Life
Review: Robbins undertakes a complex investigative project in Pledges: The Secret Life of Sororities. The book gives an equal amount of historical information with accounts of sorority women. While the stories do seem to be out of a 90210 episode, the inside look at the lives, experiences, and rituals of the Greek system is intriguing. This is a interesting work of non-fiction and is written fairly well. It is an easy, fast read, and skims to surface about African-American Greek life, societal impact, and other deeper topics. If you are interested in the interior lives of sorority houses, this book hits its target. Robbins also has a website where the lives chronicled in the book are continued.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but weighed down with agenda
Review: Since most reviews here are about sororities and not about this book, I thought I would try to provide an objective review over Pledged's actual content and quality. Pledged is neither a wholly objective look at what it's like to be a sorority girl, nor is it a scathing expose at the wrongs of sororities in America. It is instead a collection of real life stories, sociological research, and negative opinions all mixed together into one cohesive book. Pledged starts strong in its concept and its readability. Robbins lays down her purpose for writing the book; expose the real life goings-on inside sororities. To do so she enlists the help of four sisters at a Greek-heavy state university to work as her confederates. The girls in turn report the many things she cannot get access to. The chronicling of these girl's personal lives combined with timely interjections of Robbins' own research, create an interesting narrative that also provides large insights into sorority life. However, the book begins to wane by the second half as the author takes the focus off the girl's and puts it onto many small editorials about the perceived wrongs of sororities. Perhaps this is merely an attempt to stir up controversy, or maybe Robbins', caught up in a youthful zeal for righteousness, couldn't help but express her opinions over the injustices she was reporting. Either way, it was a gross error on her part, turning a potentially good book into merely an average one. I recommend you buy this book if you are very curious about the inside of sorority houses, or if you enjoy reading about women's studies in general. Otherwise, leave it on the shelves.
Rating: 
Summary: Shocking Expose of Campus Life Today
Review: This book is a shocking expose of what its like to be a sorority sister in today's campus culture. Pledged is the result of intensive research into sororities. One fascinating aspect of Pledged is the extent to which Satanic-like rituals play a role in many sororities today. Also revealing is just how much alcohol and illegal drugs are at the center of sorority life today. Robbins also reveals how much of a role that peer pressure at sororities plays a role in young women becoming dangerously anorexic, not to mention neurotic. Another interesting relevation is that while community service was stressed back in the 1950's, today's "Greek" campus organizations perform almost zero community service. Robbins does a service in exposing the fact that sorority members generally earn worse grades, suffer more alcohol-related trauma, engage in more perversion, have a higher rate of anorexia and bulimia than the rest of the student body on campuses today. Every parent of a girl who wants to go to college needs to read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet read, fun stuff
Review: This book was the bomb - a quick read that made winter break a whole lot more entertaining. The research is solid, the characters are cool, and the writing is nailed. I have no agenda against sorority women because I'm an IFC member myself. So I Have to say to the reviewer who says that the author must be jealous of sorority girls, who are you kidding? You know she didn't make up that stuff, even if your chapter's all good. And by the way, author never says all sororities haze since duh, the three main characters belong to a sorority that does no hazing. Read the book as a book and get over it. If its not about you, its not about you.
Rating: 
Summary: Easy, boring, uninformative read
Review: When I first heard of this book, I thought it sounded interesting. I wasn't Greek at my university, and I was interested in getting more of an "insider's" perspective. However, this book did not meet my expectations.
This book does not reveal anything that a person who went to college, Greek or not, wouldn't already know. College students, again, Greek or not, drink a lot? Sometimes they have sex? Sororities cost a lot of money? No way!
Frankly, I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. The stories seemed trite; the use of the girls' away messages to introduce the new topics got old FAST. I didn't find myself caring about any of the characters [and I do mean characters; this book definitely veers towards the "fiction" end of the scale], and this further took away from my enjoyment of the book. I am just so glad I found this book at the library.
This book is presented as an exposé. It is anything but.
Rating: 
Summary: Not true
Review: While Ms. Robbins makes several excellent points in her book, I feel that she could have done more research. To truly write a thorough, objective viewpoint, she should have shadowed several sororities. Not just two. She selected a college in a part of the country where a lot of students come from particularly wealthy families. She selected sororities who have rather large chapters and houses on campus and there are more than just a few sororities on campus. Perhaps if she had gone to a smaller college where the fraternities and sororities do NOT have houses, she would have seen something totally different. Not every sorority girl walks around with a Fendi bag and Juicy Courture jeans covering their rear. I'd never even heard of Fendi and I'm a sister of a huge national sorority. Homemade canvas letter bags are a favorite of we Alpha Gams. And Target clothes are what we wear! We're not poor. We work hard for what we have. Not ALL of our moms and dads throw money at us left and right. Many of us have part time or full time jobs. We do two huge philanthropy projects per school year. We have the HIGHEST g.p.a on campus and grades are essential to us. Getting an education was our reason for coming to UWF, and our Scholarship Chair never lets us forget that. She's always praising us for doing well, and encouraging the strugglers. Our sisterhood is strong and we would do anything for each other.
The Greek system varies from campus to campus and she only saw with her own two eyes, two sororities on ONE campus. Everything else was hearsay. I really enjoyed the book, but I would like to have seen her do more research to develop a more educated viewpoint on sororities.
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