"Goat: A Memoir" by Brad Land

About to begin his second year of college, Land agrees to give a stranger a ride home from a party. The stranger brings a friend, and the two men abduct, rob, and beat Land, leaving him bleeding on a country road. His wounds heal more quickly than his psyche; the already awkward young man spends the year recovering, then transfers to a new school where his brother is already enrolled. Though he is the elder, Land has always played catch-up to his handsome, confident, and athletic sibling, and despite a warning inner voice, he pledges to the same fraternity. Hazing is barbaric. The author escapes with crippled self-esteem, but another pledge pays a far greater price. Land's prose lends this memoir a feeling of immediacy.