Customer Reviews

Fratire

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

You may not agree with what Darren Bryce and his friends did in college, but there is no book (other than mine, of course) that does a better job of putting you in the wild and crazy and just plain crude experiences of the modern college student. Whether it is fraternity life, club life, or sex life, Bryce did it all and tells it all from his unique perspective.

Fratire is a narrative memoir about Bryce and his random college adventures. I have to admit the central plot is a little unclear as Bryce bounces from one story to the next. With that being said, there are several continuous storylines and reoccurring themes which give this book direction and make you want to know what is going to happen next.

First and foremost among these is "The Scene," which is what Bryce calls the in-crowd of FSU that rules the bars, clubs, and gyms. Bryce starts out on the outside of this crowd, but seems to demonstrate a natural leadership among his boys and a desire to propel them to popularity. He does this with extreme behaviors that show both shrewdness and recklessness. For instance, Bryce and his crew are quick to throw punches and this does not occur without consequences. One of the underlying messages of Fratire seems to be that you have to be bold to make a name for yourself in the college town of Tallahassee. You also have to spend a lot of time worrying about what you look like in the mirror. Things like steroids, tanning beds, fighting, partying, seducing freshmen girls, and working at bars are the tickets to fame.

Darren's relationship with his girlfriend Allison is also a major storyline that accurately reflects the jealousies and sexual energy that give college relationships so much polarization. Allison is the type of girl to punch women who hit on her man which is probably why Bryce dates her, because girls like that are awesome! Allison is definitely a cool chick who gets along with his boys, but I see the writing on the wall that she will probably be tossed aside when Bryce achieves the popularity he wants.

Darren's relationship with his boys, especially Blake, Mickey, and Mitchell, is another central story thread that revolves around the normal alpha male pastimes like hitting the gym, talking about women, fighting at keg parties, and finding drugs when the town has gone dry. There are also fraternity chapters that deal with things like hazing.

The nightclub stories dominate the end of Fratire and I suspect will become more prevalent in the books ahead. Darren is a rookie bouncer who is learning what "The Scene" is really all about and you get the feeling that he is a quick learner who has the potential to become one of the big shot bouncers he admires like Seth. I look forward to reading about how Darren uses this position to propel himself to greater things.

I enjoyed Fratire. Darren is a promising new writer with potential. He knows how to takes the otherwise despicable behavior chronicled in this book and spin it into an honest blend of humor, violence, and drama. You will laugh about a lot of the fratire antics, but you'll also shake your head at some of the choices Darren and his friends make. I definitely recommend this book and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Michael Ferrari
Assault on the Senses

The good: I thought the writing was really good and the dialogue completely accurate. The plot was about young men trying to be "cool" and it was more intelligent than I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong. This is a book about guys behaving like the drunk jerks we hate to love, but the memoir component gives you a unique look into Bryce's head and shows you some of the insecurities that most guys try so hard to hide. I give Bryce much credit for opening up like this. Honesty about inadequacies and self-doubt is what makes memoirs like this so great.

The bad: I liked that it was a fun and fast read (4 days), but the book ends rather suddenly because there's a part two. I'm going to buy the next one which is probably why it's being sold as two books in the first place. To make more money. Jerks.

The ugly: Bryce and his friends (especially the bouncers) are manipulative guys who treat women like little more than sex objects. Yes, I know some women DO bring it upon themselves with the way they choose to act, but the rest of us don't deserve to be labeled "sluts" just because of the way some women act. There are also too many characters. There's a list at the end of the book with character bios, but I think the book would probably read better if the author had combined some of the minor characters into composite people.

I wanted to read a book about college students with real goals and real struggles, but this book is about very shallow people who only care about popularity, looking good, and having sex. Just about every chapter I read had violence or sexism in it. None of the characters were what I would call admirable people. Yes, I made mistakes in college, but at least I look back on them with remorse. This book seems to say "Look at what I did, ain't I great?" Sorry, Bryce, there is nothing great about hurting people or yourself just to get ahead.

I almost went to a party school like FSU and I'm glad I didn't because I was able to build meaningful relationships with friends that I will have for the rest of my life. We did our share of partying, but we were not fixated on things like what we look like or what other people thought of us. We went to college to learn about the world around us and experience life living among eager minds. I think far too many people from my generation are wasting their college years trying to have the meaningless type of fun that fills the pages of Fratire. When they look back on their college experience, many of the "great" memories they have will be forgotten and the mistakes they make will haunt them.

Now let me get down off my soap box and admit that I did like this book for purely self-indulgence reasons. I agree with Bryce that scandal and decadence are entertaining, especially when they are real life events happening to people around you. A lot of the college experience is about dealing with lies, sex, drugs, and violence and I think Bryce writes about this subject matter in a way that reads true. Some of it is vile, violent, and immature, but that's how many guys in college do act.

The best part of the book was the sociological analysis Bryce does about Tallahassee because it shows you what can really be learned from the college social experience. It also gives the reader the feeling that the author disliked much of what was going around him, even if he himself failed to withstand conforming to these pressures.

As far as the actual writing goes, it's clear the author has talent that would be better served writing something aimed at an audience that seeks more stimulation than beer stories, fight stories, and fart stories. I'd probably give this book higher marks, but to do so would endorse much of the immoral behavior that Bryce and his friends participate in.

I went to FSU at the same time as the author--I am even present on some of the photos he has on his website. Many of the situations he writes about are exaggerated, glorified or exploited for his own benefit. He makes unfair generalizations of the student body and portrays the school to be the opposite of what it really is--a respected educational institute with competitive academics. Shame on him.

I read the first two books and was amazed at the lack of values among young people today. Hazing, violence, and derogatory behavior towards women occurred in just about every chapter. Maybe Darren's story does not reflect the behavior of most college students, but I suspect his experiences as a bouncer and fraternity member are not uncommon. I understand college is a time of learning in which we discover who we are and who we want to be, but I didn't get enough "feelings of regret" in Darren's writing to excuse the things he and his friends did. Maybe he wanted to keep the story completely in the present and writing about his regrets would have hindered that goal, but it seemed to me that the book is an attempt to justify what he did rather than to show what he learned from it.

I'm a sorority girl at USC and I love this book. It's about the crazy lives of college students and has nothing to do with classes or anything like that. Darren acts exactly like my boyfriend and even he thought so to when he read it. I feel like I am kind of like the character Allison even though I'm in a sorority and she hates sorority girls, but I guess I'm not really a typical sorority girl. I like shoes but I also like rock concerts and fist fights and I laugh at dirty jokes and even have some of my own. LOL. I will mostadefinitely get the next book. :) :)

Read some of the other reviews and I'm confused. When did bathroom oral sex, shooting people with guns, and fighting people in Walmart parking lots become typical college behavior? Funny that some people claim Bryce's stories are mediocre or typical and others say he is exaggerating or glorifying. One person even says both. So which one is it? My humble opinion is that these critics are all wrong. Bryce's stories are true and they are awesome. The best review I can write for Fratire is to warn readers not to make the mistake I did and try to jump around from chapter to chapter. This is not a bunch of stories that have nothing to do with each other. Fratire is written like a novel, so you need to read the chapters in order. The main storythread is about how someone becomes popular at a college like FSU. I didn't read the introduction until I read part two so it took me until the last four chapters of part one to figure out what Bryce is trying to do with the plot. The biggest difference I see with Tucker Max is that every story doesn't end with a bang because the story itself is continuous. Many of the chapters do have a bang and some are explosive, but others are just setting things up for later like some of the early chapters that introduce characters, but even these are plenty funny. The day semen in the eye is typical or the day elbowing people unconcious is mediocre is the day every college should shut it's doors and send all their students home.

I graduated from FSU in 2004 so I knew Darren Bryce and his friends. Everything he says is true. Tallahassee is an amazing party town and the things that go on there are ridiculous. It's a fantasy land where all that matters is what time you're going to the gym that day, what bar you're going to tonight, and what excuse you're going to have to offer your girlfriend tomorrow morning for why you never came home last night. This book exposes the wild lives of college students and it shows what really goes on in the heads off young men. I definitely approve.

Okay, I hate fratboys, but I still liked this book. It's awesome actually. You really feel like your their smoking weed with them, laughing it up about women and the crazy crap you and your boys have done. FSU is a lot more violent than my school, but I liked the fight stories. We also don't have a lot of nightclubs, but I thought the bouncer stories were good to. These dudes are hilarious. Huggies is a great nickname for a girl who wets the bed. I hate when they do that.