—Oh, I’m sorry your sister’s death was an inconvenience to you, Deirdre said. I’m so sorry that you had to fill out some paperwork and fake cry at her memorial service, you fucking—
—Shut up, Elina said.
The room fell completely silent.
Footsteps plodded upstairs.
—It’s him, Twyla whispered, and the whole room turned to stare at her, this strange sister, covered to the wrist in a gray cardigan.
—Are you all right? Amanda asked. She touched Twyla’s shoulder, but the girl didn’t move.
—My father’s here, Twyla whispered.
Corinne had hit her threshold. —That’s great. I’m sure he’s a swell guy. Now, if you could all kindly pull your shit together so we can get to—
And then the unearthly keen of the fire alarm sounded and the entire Chapter Room was doused in the rusty water of the sprinklers overhead.
Candles extinguished, girls shrieked, Tracy threw herself over the meeting notes as if they were a newborn, and in the commotion of flood and fury, no one noticed that Twyla stayed in her chair, chattering, staring at a spot in the corner of the room. And no one saw Deirdre in the back stairwell, bent double, laughing. And no one saw Eva step outside and take a drag, no one saw Tracy frantically shielding her fake eyelashes from the downpour, no one saw Lucy and Shannon shove past each other, hard, and no one saw the newly initiated pledges ever, so in that regard, at least, things went on as normal, even in the exodus to the dry first floor. It was the last time no one was seen.
Upstairs, the girls found a manifesto taped to each bedroom door. It read:
A sleeting night in the heart of February, two weeks before the fall pledge class is initiated, and our housemother, Nicole, is burning white sage in her apartment. We can smell it on the first floor. Ice pings against windows . . .
But this is not a ghost story.
Acknowledgments
I am forever grateful to my agent, Robert Guinsler, who left me a voice mail that changed my life. I owe many thanks to kindred spirit and editor Alison Callahan, and her ever-patient assistant, Brita Lundberg, along with a team of heroes at Scout Press, especially: Jennifer Bergstrom, Jennifer Long, Jennifer Robinson, Meagan Harris, Wendy Sheanin, Abby Zidle, Diana Velasquez, Lisa Litwack, Jaime Putorti, Monica Oluwek, Caroline Pallotta, Alicia Brancato, and Chelsea Cohen.
I’d like to thank my colleagues at Monroe College, especially Carol Genese, for giving me the luxury of time to write.
I would not have written a scrap of this without the guidance or encouragement of Lou Ann Walker, Susan Scarf-Merrill, Ursula Hegi, Andrew Botsford, Terrence Lane, Chris Cascio, Jessica Johnson, or my literary dad, Roger Rosenblatt.
To my family: I love you and hope none of you ever read a word of this book.
Ten years ago, on another continent, I met someone who believed me when I said I was going to be a writer. It was the luckiest day of my life. Max, you are my best friend and biggest supporter.
Finally, to my real-life sisters, Greek and otherwise: Many people have asked me if I’ve modeled the women in this book off you. I always tell them no, my real sisters are much kinder, funnier, and smarter, and therefore far too wonderful to put in a piece of fiction. How did I get so lucky?
Sorority
Genevieve Sly Crane
Scout Press Readers Group Guide
This readers group guide for Sorority includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
Introduction
Prep meets Girls in White Dresses in Genevieve Sly Crane’s deliciously addictive, compulsively readable exploration of female friendship and coming-of-age that will appeal to anyone who has ever been curious about what goes on in a sorority house. . . .
Margot is dead.
There’s a rumor she died because she couldn’t take the pressure of being a pledge. You may not ask what happened to her. It’s not your business. But it wasn’t a suicide, if you’re wondering.
Spring Fling will not be canceled. The deposit is nonrefundable. And Margot would have wanted the sisterhood to continue in her absence, if only to protect her sisters’ secrets: Shannon is the thinnest girl in the house (the other sisters hate her for it, but they know her sacrifice: she only uses the bathroom by the laundry room); Kyra has slept with twenty-nine boys since she started college (they are all different and all the same); Amanda is a virgin (her mincing gait and sloping posture give it away); and while half the sisters are too new to have known Margot, Deirdre remembers her—she always remembers.
With a keen sense of character and unflinching, observant prose, Crane exposes the undercurrents of tension in a world where perfection comes at a cost and the best things in life are painful—if not impossible—to acquire: Beauty. A mother’s love. And friendship . . . or at least the appearance of it.
Topics and Questions for Discussion
1. The book opens with a sneak peek into the rooms of the chapter house and the sorority sisters’ lives. What is your first impression of each girl?
2. Lucy and Shannon were once friends. How did their friendship ruin them? Is one girl more culpable than the other, or are they equally responsible?
3. In Chapter 3, why did Jennifer write the note accusing her drama teacher of sleeping with a student (p. 49)? What did she have to gain from making this false accusation?
4. Deirdre does not seem overly disturbed by the suicide she witnesses. How would you describe her temperament? Does this foreshadow how she will deal with the tragedy to come?
5. Chapter 6 exposes Twyla’s darkest secrets. What finally forces her to reveal the truth about her father’s suicide? Has she always been haunted by his ghost or did something trigger her delusion and self-destructive behavior?
6. When describing her sisters, Marcia says, “The good thing about liars, though, is that they are so busy playing defense they never notice when you are trying to hide something yourself.” How does this apply to her relationship with her father? Does she consider herself a liar or just exempt from this rule?
7. The world has clearly changed since the founders created the sorority, but at its core, how much has really changed? What fundamental struggles remain that connect these women? Could the women of the past ever relate to the sisters today?
8. Deirdre discovered Margot’s body, but we first hear the story as observers in the chorus. Why, when we could hear Deirdre’s first-hand account? What is the purpose of the alternate deaths the chorus suggests for Margot? Are any of them easier than the truth?
9. In Elina’s chapter, we see how the sorority deals with Margot’s death. What is their priority? How does it change what you think of the sisterhood?
10. We have witnessed Margot and Deirdre’s relationship from both girls’ perspectives. When Deirdre admits to Elina that she and Margot were in love (p. 169), does that ring true? Did Margot feel the same way?
11. With the exception of the coroner’s personal interjections, the autopsy report is cut and dry. Did it reveal anything about Margot that you did not learn from her chapter? Did the coroner’s musings color your thoughts or humanize the experience?
12. Cynical, adoring, direct, and sarcastic, Chapter 16 is as close to the truth as anyone on the outside will ever get to knowing what it means to join a sorority. As you read each girl’s statement, were there any that you identified with or that struck you as relatable in other situations? We have an intimate relationship with the girls so far. Did any response surprise you?
13. Margot’s death has a ripple effect throughout the sorority and well into its future. The sisters romanticize her death, turning it into myth and legend; are they, like the figures in Greek mythology before them, doomed to repeat this tragedy?
14. How have your first impressions
of the girls changed from their introduction in the first chapter to the end of their vignettes?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Each chapter delved deep into the psyche of the sorority sisters. Talk about who you related to the most and least. Even if you did not agree with their thoughts and actions, could you empathize with any of them? Would you have chosen to be their friend? Their sister?
2. In every Greek myth, fate is unavoidable. Here, each girl’s life is laced with tragedy of one kind or another. Some themes are prevalent regardless of time and civilization; do any of these stories reflect back to the Greek tragedies? Which stories and how?
3. Share your own experiences with sororities. Do you believe this kind of darkness lurks in every sorority and in every girl who joins? Discuss what, if anything, is redeemable about such sisterhoods of women.
About the Author
ANDREW BARIS
GENEVIEVE SLY CRANE was the pledge mistress of her own sorority. She graduated from Stony Brook University with an MFA in creative writing and literature in 2013. Her work has appeared in The Southampton Review and her story “Endings, Bright and Ugly” was a finalist for the 2017 American Short(er) Fiction Prize. She teaches in the English department at Monroe College.
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Scout Press
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Genevieve Sly Crane
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First Scout Press hardcover edition May 2018
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Interior design by Jaime Putorti
Cover design by Rodrigo Corral Design
Cover image © Natalie Tepper/ArcaidImages/Getty Images
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-1-5011-8747-6
ISBN 978-1-5011-8749-0 (ebook)
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