I Could Tell You More, But . . .
ENTRY #23
0712.14


Book Review
SECRET SOCIETY GIRL by Diana Peterfreund
(Random House, 2007)


I hereby confess: This review is going to go off on a number of tangents.

Sorry, but it can't be helped. As I was trying to organize my thoughts to write this review, my brain kept shooting off in a number of wildly different tangents -- and the occasional cosine as well. I realized that the easiest way to write this review was to incorporate them into the review. I'm hoping that it will make some sense out of the review.

The first tangents came as I was reading the text on the cover summarizing the book. Both of those came from TV. First came the announcement that was delivered in a stentorian voice at the beginning of Dragnet (slightly altered here to match the medium):

"DUM-DA-DUM-DUM! DUM-DA-DUM-DUM-DUMMMMM! The story you are about to read is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent."

The other came from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and was an exchange between Dr. Bashir and his friend Garak. (The following lines may not be precise quotes, but they are close enough.):

"How much of what you told me was the truth?"

"My dear Doctor, it was all the truth."

"Even the lies?"

"Oh, especially the lies!"

That is my overall impression of Secret Society Girl. Diana Peterfreund takes truths, partial truths, and outright lies, and weaves them together in a way that equals the guile of the "plain, simple" Cardassian tailor. (Though I suspect that she does it without having to spend hours in the makeup chair that Andrew Robinson did to bring Garak to life.)

Peterfreund's playfulness with the truth begins with the setting of the novel. Her bio at the back of the book states that she is an alumna of Yale University, graduating with degrees in geology and literature. (Definitely an . . . interesting combination. Of course, I don't know how much room I have to talk, seeing as how I had a double major in journalism and theatre arts, and a minor in radio-TV.) So when she has the novel set at "Eli University," it doesn't take too much of a stretch of the imagination to conclude that Peterfreund is staying pretty close to home.

Amy Haskel is a junior at the aforementioned Eli University. As the editor-in-chief of the university's literary magazine, she expected to be selected for Quill & Ink, Eli's literary senior society. (The phrase "secret society" might also apply, but to hear Amy talk, Quill & Ink isn't that particularly secretive.) Amy's predecessor as editor of the lit magazine is in Quill & Ink, and had told Amy that her own selection was a fait accompli.

Amy would probably find great wisdom and understanding in the words of Gerald R. Ford. In his first address to the US Senate, Vice-President Ford began by saying, "A funny thing happened to me on the way to becoming Speaker Of The House."

Yes, Amy did get interviewed by one of Eli's secret societies. But instead of Quill & Ink, she soon discovered that she had been tapped by Rose & Grave, the oldest and most secretive of the secret societies. This was a source of puzzlement to Amy. She doesn't come from a rich family, she doesn't have any political connections, and . . . well, she doesn't have a Y chromosome. It was Amy's understanding that Rose & Grave was all male.

But Amy soon learns that she is one of the first women ever to be tapped for Rose & Grave. She is swept up in an initiation that the book's cover text describes as "a blend of Harry Potter and Alfred Hitchcock," and given the society name Bugaboo. (Were he still alive, I think Sir Alfred would probably find the juxtaposition more than a little amusing. Come to think of it, I think J.K. Rowling would more than likely get a chuckle or two out of the phrase as well.)

But Amy and the other new members of Rose & Grave also soon learn that they are at the nexus of a giant hornet's nest within the society; a hornet's nest that has been whacked with one equally giant Louisville Slugger. There are a group of alumni (or patriarchs, to use their jargon) who are less than thrilled at the induction of Amy and the other female members. These patriarchs (who include the Chief Of Staff to the President) want to keep the "NO GURLS ALLOWED" sign on the Rose & Grave tomb firmly in place. And they have no compunction about using whatever means necessary to punish both the new inductees, and the seniors who selected them.

At first, Amy wonders if this is all more trouble than it's worth, and is on the verge of quitting. But then, she and the other juniors get mad; mad enough to confront the patriarchs in their lair (well, the alumni club in Manhattan).

There are a lot more twists, turns, and convolutions to Secret Society Girl than the primary plotline I just gave. But trying to go through even a handful of those twists would more than likely result in a review that approached book-length itself. (Okay, maybe novelette-length. Still much longer than necessary.) And if I did that, what purpose would you have in reading the novel for yourself?

There is one minor tweak in the plot that I found particularly . . . interesting. At the beginning of the confrontation, the patriarchs tried to make the new members return their Rose & Grave pins. Amy and the others dug in their heels, and flatly refused to do so. Later, when talking about it in a ladies' room discussion, Amy comments that all of them probably would have either swallowed the pins or pinned them into their flesh before giving them back. And when one of the other "Diggirls" (as they dub themselves) says that it's too bad they aren't permanent, all of the girls immediately decide to get tattoos of the Rose & Grave seal (a rose within an elongated hexagon). As tattoos on fictional characters go, it's pretty cool (and for a trypanophobe like me, that's saying something), but I still think the coolest fictional tattoos belong to Jim Brass, Angelus, and Chakotay.

I also identify with Amy in at least one respect. During the course of the book, several people comment that Amy tends to overanalyze everything. Amy herself admits to this. And she also has the habit of making lists on any and every topic. Oh, yeah, I know those characteristics quite well. I possess those qualities myself to some degree.

Some people may have trouble keeping track of some of the characters, as Amy will refer to them both by their real name and by their society name, often on the same page. For me, it wasn't that much of a problem. For me, it was the same as when I was reading Karma Girl. There is no difference when Carmen Cole refers to Sam Sloane and Striker, or when Amy Haskel refers to Clarissa Cuthbert and Angel. In each case, you know both names refer to the same person, or at least you do after the first two or three times. (I suppose it helps if you've been a lifelong fan of superheroes.)

Secret Society Girl is Diana Peterfreund's first novel, but there are more to come. Amy Haskel's adventures are far from over.

I hereby confess: I enjoyed this book.

I hereby confess: I'm looking forward to the second book.


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