Did you know Netflix and DVDs are not the only way to get a Gilmore Girls fix? That’s right…there are BOOKS. Now, before you get too excited, there aren’t many (four, to be exact), they focus on the first/second seasons before the show had really found its legs, and as such, they have nothing to do with the reboot that got GG fans all in a tizzy and has officially started shooting!
Anyhoo, I’ve been a diehard Gilmore Girls fan for years now and don’t know how I only found out last year that there were novelizations of the show. I don’t usually go in for novelizations (unless it’s the amazing My So-Called Life and the even better sequel that came out after the series was cancelled My So-Called Life Goes On) but since this is probably my favorite TV show, I had to give them a whirl. And in this day and age of Amazon and reselling, I was able to pick up the first book for $4 total, with S&H.
To be honest, I was slightly underwhelmed. That book didn’t strike me as interesting as the My So-Called Life ones, which is probably because of the choice to make them solely from Rory’s POV and first person in her voice. It makes sense, since they were geared towards YA audience, but it gets disconcerting when you know there were things Lorelai was going through or that happened in the town, but you have to wait to see it unfold once the news gets to Rory. However, since I read that last year, and my husband bought me 2-4 for Christmas, the reviews are starting with book two.
This book covers episodes 1.14 (That Damn Donna Reed), 1.15 (Christopher Returns), 1.16 (Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers), 1.17 (The Breakup, Part II), skips right over 1.18 & 1.19 (the series introduction to Trix, Rory’s great grandmother, Rory showing Emily around Stars Hollow, that whole Rachel finds the future Dragonfly thing, and ugh…Rune.) to fairly seamlessly pick back up with 1.20 (P.S. I Lo…) and 1.21 (season one finale Love, Daisies and Troubadors).
And can I just take a moment to say that I’m sad they started with “That Damn Donna Reed” for this book? Because the episode right before (1.13 – Concertus Interruptus) where Lorelai and Sookie take Rory, Paris, Madeline and Louise to a Bangles concert…would’ve been GOLD to read from Rory’s perspective. Anyway…
This book focuses on Dean and then the lack of Dean in Rory’s life. I find it hard to say it covers their breakup because I still don’t understand that as a breakup. Rory ran away from him when he said he loved her, but they never actually broke up. She just started telling people that because she got wigged. The book didn’t clear it up and I was really hoping it would. I mean, maybe when you have your first really awkward moment in a relationship when you’re 16, you think that you’ve just broken up, but I don’t get how Rory went from awkward moment of boyfriend telling her he loved her and not being ready or able to say it herself to “we broke up.”
Granted, later in the book, it turns into a mother-daughter bonding thing (cause, duh, Gilmore Girls) where Lorelai worries she hasn’t been a good role model for Rory to help her express her feelings for a partner in a healthy way, leading to Rory flipping out when love was brought up.
The book also covers Christopher’s return, Tristan and Rory’s ill-fated kiss (though not the following plotline when Rory set Tristan and Paris up on a date), Rory’s decision to surprise Dean by preparing him a Donna Reed night, complete with dinner and a poofy peach Donna Reed dress. Which still boggles me. Where did she get the dress? The TV show doesn’t cover it and neither did the book. They show where she got her ambient music (Lane, of course), but suddenly Rory is able to do a full-on Donna Reed cosplay that takes her own mother and BFF by surprise and they never explain it? Le sigh.
Anyway, if you’re a fan of the show and you want some insight into specifically Rory’s perspective, I’d recommend tracking these these books down as quick, light reads. If you’re not a fan of the show but want to live the Gilmore life vicariously through me, stay tuned, because there are two more books left and I’m in the middle of the third!
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