From sneaking in the back entrance of a debutante ball in Houston to watching young brides tie the knot in drive-through wedding chapels in Las Vegas, from observing quinceaneras in Miami posing for their "sweet fifteen" photographs while wearing tiaras (and sometimes even bikinis) to participating in a witches' Halloween gathering in Salem, Vida interviews, imitates, scrutinizes, and socializes with young women who are making a commitment to a group of other young women, a gang, or a boy - all before they're twenty-one years old. Some of these initiations are sanctioned, and even organized, by their parents, while others are done in spite of - or perhaps because of - their parents' objections. FROM THE CRITICS Publishers Weekly In an attempt to investigate the rituals that help American girls develop their adult identities, Vida, a graduate of the Columbia University M.F.A. program, infiltrates a sorority, attends a Wiccan Sabbath and observes Las Vegas drive-through weddings, among other events. Unfortunately, the terms of her study are loosely defined (how does each ritual lead to adulthood? What distinguishes the child from the woman?), and, despite the vast body of work on adolescent behavior and the author's interviews with hundreds of girls, the book lacks sociological rigor. For example, Vida compares debutantes, young brides and gang girls without carefully considering their differences in class and race, presenting them as similar because they all yearn for a stronger sense of community. Given her subjects' age range (13 to 18) and how widely their personal circumstances vary, it is difficult to believe that they are all trying to make a dramatic leap into adulthood. Although the young women she interviews make many surprising and self-aware remarks, Vida tries too hard to portray her subjects as searching for meaning. After describing the significance of a girl's 15th birthday (quinceanera) in Cuban culture, she writes of a teenager who had photos taken but couldn't afford the large traditional party: "This is, after all, a place and an environment where pictures mean more than the truth, where a day in a young woman's life is special because photographs are taken of her various poses." While the segments on each group of girls might work as magazine pieces, taken as a whole, they don't quite coalesce. (Aug.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. VOYA What do gang drivebys, sorority rush week, and Wicca circles have in common? They represent a few of the elaborate rituals practiced by girls and young women as they select their path from childhood to adulthood. By taking part in these initiations, they are entering a community of acceptance with privileges and responsibilities otherwise unknown to them. Twentyfiveyear old Vida investigates firsthand by participating in these and other initiations including the traditional Hispanic quinceañeras (similar to a "sweet sixteen" party), debutante balls, and early marriages. What develops is an intimate, sometimes kind and sometimes judgmental portrait of experiences that define community for different groups in different ways. Vida's style is personal, witty, and wrythe ultimate insider playing an outsider. While going undercover and posing as a sorority sister wannabe, she finds herself hoping to be selected by her toppick Greek house. By choosing to interview girl members when researching female gang life, the author lets their stories and experiences take the place of her own infiltration. Vida does an excellent job of tying these various experiences to the common theme of longing to belong and be accepted. Though this book is marketed for adults, the readership most invested in the topic are young adult women aged fifteen to twenty.