Rush

Rush at Ole Miss is the event of a life time for some young ladies. Cali is determined to go through Rush. She is from a small, rural town in north Mississippi so, Ole Miss is a bit of a culture shock.


Pearl is a housekeeper at the Alpha Delt house and has been for twenty- five years. All of the young ladies are her children. She gives advice, cleans up their messes and is a second mother to all of them. When the new pledge class finds out Pearl has no benefits with her job, they are determined to create a change in the old traditions.


There is good and there is bad in this novel. First off...The bad...is this the best written book I have ever read..NO! The conversations are stilted and the author states the obvious many times. That show more being said, I still love this book.

Now the good! The good definitely out weighs the bad. The setting is outstanding. Who does not love Oxford and Ole Miss. Yes, I am an Ole Miss grad, so of course I am going to say that. But the author really nails the location. Plus, one of the main characters in this book is Cali. Cali is from Blue Mountain, MS. Blue Mountain is in my county. It is just down the road from me. With all of this, I was on the look out for mistakes. And there are a few, but not even enough to mention. The characters fit so well together and really build a story about strength of character and love for others. There are several story lines running throughout this read, Cali and her adjustments, Pearl and her life-struggles, Lilith and her "traditions". All of these combine to create a unique tale of overcoming obstacles and old customs.

I read some reviews about this book. I think a lot of people got it wrong. They focused on racism. That is not really what this book is about. Well it is and it isn't. It is focusing on changing a system which should have been changed years ago and caring for others regardless of race, creed, or color! I think the author nailed it!


Ireceived this book from the author for a honest review. show less

Rush by Lisa Patton
Source: Netgalley and Overdrive Audio/Public Library
My Rating: 3/5 stars

Since Lisa Patton’s Rush is told in alternating points of view, I find it most appropriate to deal with my review in much the same; that is, I shall deal with this review in terms of the characters and how each impacted my overall impression and liking of the book.

Miss Pearl: I absolutely adored Miss Pearl and so much of that had to do with the voice artist who narrated her character in the audio book. Miss Pearl is what my granny would have called a “salt of the earth” person, a genuine, kind, caring, and generous soul without a mean bone in her body. For 25 years, Miss Pearl has looked after the young ladies of Alpha Delta Beta sorority show more and she has done so with gladness in heart. Miss Pearl sincerely loves her “babies” and she has given selflessly to each and every girl in the hopes of bettering their lives and not her own.

Wilda: Wilda is an admitted worrier and much of her worry is centered around what others think of her. Though Wilda is a nice person and wants to do the right thing, she is so wrapped up in what others think that she often veers off track and makes mistakes she later deeply regrets. It isn’t until Wilda has her moment of enlightenment that I was able to really get behind her as a character and root for her. When Wilda pulls her head out of her a$$, she is something of a force and sets about righting a whole host of wrongs.

Cali: If ever there was a kid to root for, Cali is absolutely that girl! From the minute she shows up on campus, Cali has a burning need to fit in and she feels deeply that she will fit in if she can just get a bid to a sorority. For much of the read, Cali involves herself in the plans and activities necessary to secure her place in a sorority house and though she never compromises her principles, she does come close to the line a time or two. When Cali realizes how close she’s come to compromising herself, she gets head on straight, strengthens her friendships with good people, and makes sure her efforts to get into a house are because of who she is. By the end of this long and winding tale, Cali emerges as a strong leader driven her by her own moral compass and need to see many situations put to rights.

The Whitmore Family: In truth, this entire family doesn’t make me ashamed to be any particular skin color, but ashamed to be a human being. From start to finish, the Whitmore’s are simply disgusting human beings with outdated and abhorrent views they aren’t afraid to vocalize. Even with the late in the game change of heart, I couldn’t get behind these characters or feel even an ounce of sympathy for any of them.

The Bottom Line: Rush is indeed a long and winding tale I am sincerely glad I listened to rather than physically read. The narrators for the audiobook are spot on and they very much impacted my overall enjoyment of this book. Overall, I did like this book, but I found the ending, though certainly sweet and endearing, to be completely implausible. Make no mistake, I WANT the ending to plausible, possible, and even a reality, but there are simply too many Whitmore’s left in the world for that to happen. With this in mind, it was the ending that kept me from rating an otherwise very good book a bit higher on the rating scale. The things I did like include Miss Pearl and Cali, the relationships between the various characters that do evolve over the course of the read, and the peek inside the world of sorority life. I suspect many will like this read, especially the relationships and generally uplifting nature of the story. I further suspect, many readers are far more tender-hearted than I and will absolutely love the ending 😊 show less

Lisa Patton’s Rush is set in 2016, on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford, Mississippi. Pearl is a 44-year old black woman who has worked as a housekeeper for 25 years at the Alpha Delta Beta sorority house, along side her Aunt Fee, the house cook. After 25 years, she earns just $11.50 an hour, and barely makes it on unemployment during the three summer months when school is out.

She loves her job, but it is hard work, cleaning and caring for the young girls who live in the house, and the four hundred girls who belong to the sorority but live elsewhere on campus. Pearl is the heart of the house, and the girls turn to her when they have a problem and need sage advice or a shoulder to cry on.

Lilith Whitmore is a former Alpha Delta Beta, now show more is scheming to make sure that her daughter gets invited to join the house during rush week. Lilith and her husband are beyond wealthy and use their money to get whatever they want.

Lilith contacts Wilda, a former sorority sister whose daughter Ellie is also going to Ole Miss and pledging the sorority. Wilda and her husband are upper middle class, and when Lilith hires a dorm room designer that costs $20,000, she bullies Wilda into sharing the cost, which is more than Wilda can afford.

Cali is a smart, ambitious young lady whose ultimate goal is to become governor of the state. She was raised by her grandparents, and she and Ellie become good friends. Cali wants to pledge a sorority as well, but Lilith intends to thwart those plans.

Rush tackles racism, class, tradition, mother/daughter relationships and the broken healthcare system. Even though I felt the ending was bit too tidy, I loved the characters (especially Pearl and Cali) and being dropped into this sometimes foreign world of sororities. show less

This is another book from the pile that keeps showing up on my doorstep.

My undergraduate college didn't have Greek life, and I've never been further south than Nashville, so there was a lot of cultural and historic references that I didn't quite get (the pledges? the pins?). However, having worked with college students for many years, I definitely understood the drama and the socioeconomic struggles in class differences.

While I understand the desire for a redemption arc, I really felt that things wrapped up way too quickly at the end -- that is, we all want to see Lilith get her comeuppance, but the suddenness of her change of heart made me wary. It also made me feel a bit like the white savior trope a la "The Help" was being played show more in that, oh, suddenly a bunch of white girls think systematic racism is a problem so they'll swoop in and fix it all by appointing one black House director. show less

Story delves into the Sorority Rush process at a prominent Southern University (Ole Miss) ... the legacies, racism and the nerves girls go thru to get a bid. This books reminds me of a modern day ‘The Help’. The book shows different points of view from a parent caught up in it, the help that work at the Soriety House, and the girls pledging. The author does a good job of showing the good, bad and ugly, and makes no excuses for any of it. The story is interesting, characters are both likeable and despised, writing is clear and to-the-point. Thoroughly enjoyable read. Couldn’t put it down.

I received this ARC for review.

Setting - Alpha Delta Beta sorority at Ole Miss University in Oxford, Mississippi.
438 sorority sisters - 437 white and one black

Miss Pearl is a black domestic worker at the house but more importantly she is the heart of the house - the girls rely on her for advice and for motherly love. When Miss Pearl is faced with blatant discrimination, the sorority sisters have to decide whether to take a stand or let things stay as they are.

The story is not only about Miss Pearl but also about Lilith and her daughter Anne Laurie, Wilda and her daughter Elle and Cali and her grandparents. These three daughters cover the social ladder from both ends but being high on the social ladder doesn't equal caring and compassion for others. The story is told show more by three main characters - Miss Pearl, Wilda and Cali and it's all about RUSH week on campus when the students find out if they've been accepted into a sorority.

I found this book to be funny and smart and very well written. From the parent's perspective it's about family and letting go of your children. From the student's perspective, it's a real coming of age story. And for Miss Pearl, it's the story of love and creating a family with people who mean the most to you.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own. show less

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Having worked in a Greek Life Office at a Large SEC school, the main theme of this book was/is very interesting to me. Although I no longer work with the population, it is very interesting to me especially in contrast with Black sororities that I amore familiar with. I learned enough of the lingo that I understood most of what was going on, but the author gives great description and backstory to help those unfamiliar with Panhellenic Recruitment.

Overall the 90% of the story was hard to put down. I found myself trying to read snippets anytime I had downtime because I was so drawn into the story. I did not care for the ending- it reeked of white saviorism show more and that was almost enough to turn me off the book until I read the authors notes/story.

My biggest complaint with the book was the Ms. Pearl character. At times she seemed like a trope- a modern day version of someone from the Help. I felt that her character just didn’t really ring true. At first she “read” much older than 44 and she just really seemed like a caricature. At times I think the story could have been told from the Wilda/Callie POV and been just as good an effective.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story. I liked the Wilda/Callie POV and the overall pace of the book. I almost stopped and put it down after reading the first chapter ( Ms. Pearl) but I’m glad I kept on- until the last chapter with everything wrapped up in a neat and tidy bow show less