Dirty Rush by Taylor Bell (2015, Gallery Books) is a novel about, well, also Taylor Bell, a freshman with “a super-cute face” and “a nearly perfect tit-to-waist ratio”. She is a Women’s Studies major with no interest in Greek life whatsoever, despite the fact that her older sisters, her mother and her grandmother were all members of the Beta Zeta sorority. But as she gets to know some of the BZ sisters – funny, pretty and powerful – she has a change of heart and ends up rushing. Everything seems great and glamorous until it starts to become apparent to Taylor that there’s a dirty, dark side to sorority life…
Dirty Rush offers a funny and frank look into what it’s like to be in a sorority, which is great – especially as that is something that Finnish collegiettes don’t get to experience. The novel feels very genuine and real and manages to portray modern college life just like it is – intense group texts that are incorporated into the novel, crazy parties, #hashtags and all. And while a lot of the book is about coke-fuelled college parties and sex and then some more parties, it’s also an ode to sisterhood, female friendship, and having each other’s back. It’s unapologetically girly, a celebration of sorts of being a young woman in the 2010’s, and as such it is a very enjoyable read despite it not being a very highbrow offering.
The foreword is by Rebecca Martinson, the infamous “deranged sorority girl” whose profanity and capslock-ridden email to her sorority sisters about them being “so f***ing BORING” went viral a couple of years ago. The email is also included in the book and it is a perfect, real-life demonstration of the kind of extreme dedication to a sorority that Dirty Rush is all about.
It may not be required reading for English lit classes in fifty years’ time, but Dirty Rush is refreshing, funny and cute, and definitely a great option if you’re looking for something more light and entertaining to read between school books. And how could you not love a book that’s dedicated to Miley Cyrus?