Fraternity House

New author Arthur Jay calls himself `America's latest philosopher, writer, and satirist. When he's not tilling the corporate soil, Arthur Jay is watching football'. Little did he know when last year he published this memoir about his experiences in fraternity house life that it could at this moment - 2015 - become a potential bestseller as people are ever more curious about college fraternities with the racist scandals of Oklahoma and the other social media scandals that seem to be rising across the university and college campuses all across the US. Though it is not his purpose to address such activities, his book does offer some insights on how jokes pushed too far can be injurious, not only to the `pledges' but to campus women and minority groups as well. This is a debut novel and deserves attention as such - primarily because it now is more important a release than it was at its original time.The author's synopsis covers the contents: `Sigma Magma Delta is just one of many fraternity houses whose innocuous brick walls hide a secret, underground world of drugs, sex, and violence. Join Brother Cleaver, Sig Mag's intrepid chef, as he bravely leads you on an all-access tour of the fraternity house. Part memoir, part anthropology, Fraternity House is a witty, fast paced story in three parts that will appeal to anyone with an interest in pop culture, coming of age, or the unobserved human condition. In part one, discover the physical and political world of the fraternity. Learn how this fascinating society organizes itself, how leaders use violence to maintain order, and what happens when the cook burns the rice one too many times. In part two, explore the racy side of frat life, including parties, girls and big drug deals done wrong. Then, with startling clarity, the story reaches its climax in part three, as the pledge process breaks down Cleaver and his classmates and rebuilds them as brothers. What humiliations did they endure? What happened in the pits? What did they do it for?'After a quasi hilarious open about bongs and weed and a lads need to be delivered groin kicks to feel like a man, Arthur offers an Introduction that sets the tone: `Welcome my friend, to the Fraternity House. Please come in and make yourself at home. My name is Arthur, though you can call me Cleaver. In my college years, like many young men of my generation, I was a member of a fraternity. Like many of those young men, I lived in the fraternity house. This book is the story of that fraternity house, and all the tales that its walls never told. This is not your traditional book, for this story has no beginning and no end. There are no heroes. Only survivors. The story that I'm about to tell you is a story about a time and a place and an organization of young men, left on their own for the first time in their young lives without adult supervision. Living communally and going to school, life could have been oh so simple. But the long hours between school and sleep left us plenty of time for mischief, mayhem, and the maintenance of our beloved shelter. So come on in, and join me on this behind the scenes tour. Hold on to the guardrails, and stay with me. Though you might be shocked, surprised, stupefied, dumfounded or bewildered by the tales before you, do not run away. For better or worse, these heady days of my youth were some of the most influential. Hang with me, and you might learn a thing or two about life and human nature. At the least, maybe you'll have a good laugh.'These words are now far more pregnant than when originally written, given the current fraternity scandals. To Arthur's wise writing benefit he describes the structure of his fraternity house, the social and political structure (`On the most basic level, our brotherhood was organized around a caste system. At the bottom of the organization were the pledges, who we called Poops. The only people that were beneath the Poops were non-brothers. Even the dogs were ranked above the Poops.'), crimes and punishments (within our society there were two rules, mob rule and house rule. Mob rule used acts of mischief and justice to punish crimes committed against brothers or common decency. If someone had kept you up late at night, slept with your girlfriend, broke your stereo, crashed your car, peed in your shampoo, told too many bad jokes or was generally annoying, they could be punished swiftly and without need for executive intervention. With the help of another brother or several brothers, those who were wronged could have offenders thrown in the shower or dumpster, have their head dunked in the toilet or the cold fryolator, be duct taped and rolled down a hill or punished in any other non-life threatening way. Some disagreements were settled by wrestling on the carpet.'), the house manager cooking, parties (The parties and the girls; they were the reason that most recruits sought out a fraternity house in the first place. Over time, drugs became the reason some brothers never left the fraternity house, physically or mentally. LSD. Magic Mushrooms. Cocaine. Opium. All these flavors of fun filtered though the house at one time or another. For some brothers, hard drugs brought them ruin.), etc. The chapters on recruitment and Rush and pledging are particularly well written, but then the entire book is as accurate (and hilarious) description of life in a fraternity.A well-timed book to read - especially for those who know little about fraternities. Just don't forget to notice the important fact that writer Arthur Jay happens to be a VERY fine writer! Grady Harp, March 15

As someone who has only ever seen the world of a frat house from the outside looking in, it was interesting to finally stumble across an author not afraid to peel back the ugly truths and actually give the world a proper peek into what being in a frat really means. Obviously, there was a certain level of fictionalized content, and every experience of fraternity life must surely be different, but I think that pop culture eventually gets things as close to the truth as they're ever going to be, and if what Jay tells us is true, then movies, tv, and books have gotten pretty darn close to revealing the dark (and hilarious) sides of fraternity life, but they still miss that personal touch.There is an element of brotherhood and camaraderie that can be powerful and beneficial, and between the binge drinking, drug deals, hazing processes, and dictatorships that occasionally arise within those brotherhoods, there are powerful connections and lifelong opportunities to find your way as well. I don't know exactly how I feel about fraternity culture, although recent black eyes have made it easier to lump them all in as "bad guys", but this book helps to shed light into all the strange and bizarre corners of the fraternity world, even the dark ones.

Fraternity House by Arthur JayThis book will give you excruciatingly clear insight into the inner workings of fraternity life, both the positive aspects, and the negative. Before reading this novel, I really did not understand just how strong the bond of fraternity brotherhood could become, nor how complicated are the lives of the men that belong to such fellowships. In Fraternity House, author Arthur Jay takes us not just into his memories of his college fraternity house, but also into the heart of the darkness, and light that dwells there. There were many pages of this book that caused me to clench my jaw and close my eyes against the pain, rage, and sorrow that I felt while reading the words written upon them. However, there was something compelling about the emotion that I felt from the author, and the writing style that he used to convey that depth of feeling, that kept me turning page after page to the very end. I am very grateful that he survived to tell this tale.

Fraternity House is a fantastic book. It really is a book in two parts. The first part is a bit slow, but it details the rules, customs and world of the Fraternity House. If you have ever wondered how fraternities are organized, you will get a systematic view of the day to day life of a frat brother, with funny anecdotes along the way. The first part reminded me of The Forest People by Colin Turnbull.The second part reminded me of Lord of the Flies. If you start reading Fraternity House and are thinking about putting it down, DON'T! By the time Arthur Jay gets onto the topic of drugs and the stories of Gangrene and Marijuana, you will not be able to put this book down. The narration picks up from there and takes you on a rapid, haunting tour of the pledge program and hell week. This book will leave you a different person. Arthur Jay's insight into the human psyche is unrivaled. If this is what he has done with his debut novel, I can't wait for his second.