Eph Serial Killer?
Now, this is taking the rivalry a little too far. In the latest novel from Amherst alum Harlan Coben, the villain is an Eph:
The detective comes into the story because there has been a particularly brutal, sadistic murder that, from all appearances, has nothing to do with all the other conflicts the author explores. And when a woman vanishes after a shopping trip to Target, the police wonder if a serial killer is on the loose.
The reader knows (but the police don’t, at least initially) that there’s a strong connection between the murder and the disappearance of the shopper, although the exact nature of that connection unravels slowly.
In the meantime, the reader learns a great deal about the backgrounds of the killer (oddly enough, a graduate of prestigious Williams College) and his partner, a woman who was traumatized by the brutality that accompanied the disintegration of her former country, Yugoslavia.
Perhaps it is time for Stephen Sondheim to write a sequel to Sweeney Todd set in the five college area?
Sisterhood of the Traveling Eph
The things that you learn from WSO. Did you know that one of the characters in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is an Eph? Me either. Perhaps 41 year old men are not the target demographic? America Ferrera plays the role of Carmen.
Details on her Williams experience from the fourth book in the series:
Carmen, after a year of social transparency at her new college and a self-proclaimed loss of identity, has maintained only one new friendship and because of her is pulled into attending a summer drama program at college. Her new friend is Julia, the resident Drama Diva of the freshman year at Williams, one of the few freshman widely known in the social standings. Julia is glamorous, sophisticated, exuberant, and popular — the very antithesis of the new Carmen, and because of that Carmen is pulled along behind her new companion as she forges the road ahead. Julia is in the spotlight and Carmen builds the sets. However, after having been talked into auditioning for a part in the plays performed, Carmen outshines all the other camp attendants and lands the coveted role in the largest of the performed plays (that of Perdita in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale) and Julia becomes immensely jealous while Carmen gains back her identity.
I do not think that this Julia has anything to do with our Julia. Judging by stereotypes, shouldn’t the soccer player, Bridget, have been the Eph? Readers with more knowledge of the series are invited to comment.
UPDATE: The last reference to the book at EphBlog was as a part of this discussion, (cruelly?) mocked by Gawker as Sisterhood of the Traveling Safety School.
