I am not sure where to begin with this one. It’s a satire that follows Nina, a sophomore pledging to a sorority, and Sloane, an adjunct professor who is asked to be the Academic Advisor for the sorority. Nina is an ambitious student who hopes that joining The House will open doors because it has an abnormally high success rate of alumni who have become successful. Sloane is going back to work after giving birth and struggles with being a good mother. Before she had her child, she had a tenure track at a small private school, but now she’s only an adjunct professor because her husband has a tenure track job. The narrative goes back and forth between their points of view, and while they are both in different places in their lives, they are still grappling with how to deal with the unrealistic expectations of being a woman. Nina is only at the beginning of her journey, and being in The House and the sisterhood that comes with it all that she ever wanted, but she soon starts to realize that not everything is as it seems. Sloane meets Alex, who is a former sister of the sorority, and is immediately thrown by how perfect her life is and how easy things seem to come to her and her fellow sorority sisters. Well, Spoiler Alert, the answer is cannibalism. The sisters have been sacrificing people and absorbing their nutrients that come with it. It makes them look younger, work harder, healthier, and just more focused. The satire is not just about the girl boss ethos, but also the wellness trends. I found this book to be really intriguing, but not sure it stuck the landing. I have very mixed feelings about the ending. It came out of left field, but it also makes sense, but I wish it had gone in a different direction. So yeah, I enjoyed it but think it could have been a bit better.
