The 2018 novel “Rush” exposed the expensive absurdities of decorating a freshman dorm room. The freshman dorm rooms in “Sisterhood” seem pretty normal; the lunacy is Rush itself.
Kathleen Barber is a veteran novelist: this is her fourth. Her collaborator/advisor Amayah Shaienne is a student at UA, a “lifestyle content creator” who became popular during Bama Rush and now has a following of over 100,000. One concludes then that in “Sisterhood” the behavior of the sorority sisters and the PNMs (potential new members) is accurately portrayed.
The novel’s first third focuses on the nine days of Rush, from Convocation to Bid Day, as the PNMs narrow their choices. Each hour is scheduled, including suggestions for clothes and footwear. Days 5-7, Sisterhood Round: dress for a garden party. Day 8, Preference Round: cocktail attire.
“Sisterhood” is a kind of manual on how to rush and is a massive demonstration of product placement from Lululemon clothing, everything Kendra Scott jewelry, to Dyson hair blowers. No women since Cleopatra have spent more time on their skin, hair and nails.
At barely fictional Southern State University, we learn that the most exclusive chapter is the Gamma Gamma Alpha House, but the Thetas are right up there, too. The Gammas have spent several thousand dollars just on balloons for their reception rooms.
Madison, the president, is relentless, a perfectionist, works herself to exhaustion and is, finally, a little off. She has a disreputable boyfriend named Christian, a wastrel, a drug dealer, and as it turns out, an Alabama aristocrat. They have robust sex, to say the least.
The president of the Thetas is a very different and extraordinary woman. Shay, an African-American, is headed for law school. She has eschewed balloons; they are bad for the environment.
The president of the Thetas is a very different and extraordinary woman. Shay, an African-American, is headed for law school. She has eschewed balloons; they are bad for the environment.
Shay, like Madison, is under stress comparable to Eisenhower’s on D-Day. She has chronic insomnia and an eating disorder. She “forgets” to eat for days at a time. Shay’s boyfriend is Myles, a six-foot-four-inch paragon of virtue and understanding.
Ava, a neurotic and confused PNM, will do anything to get into Gamma, her mother’s sorority. There is, after about 100 pages, a death in this novel. Chelsea, a Theta, jumps, falls or is pushed from a balcony and lands in the street on sorority row.
For different reasons, Shay feels guilty. So does Ava. Or perhaps it was The Corpus, a mysterious, powerful group that secretly manages everything on campus. Through the long, slow middle of this story, through innumerable texts, emails, posts, and some face-to-face conversations, the community discusses the tragedy. The pace picks up towards the end and we do, finally, learn what happened.
If, as advertised, #BAMARUSH has had 4.4 billion views, this novel will probably sell.
