While the love that the authors have for Gilmore Girls shines through, this works feels more like a research paper or essay written at a college level. At times it is too formulaic.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. I love anything Gilmore Girls so this book did not disappoint. I loved feeling like I was behind the scenes.

Great book with a great subject. I loved all the things in this story. Definitely a delightful read. Add this one to your list.

I am extremely pleased to have read Gilmore Girls. I think it's a nice companion piece for the show, whether you are a die hard fan or a newbie. The analysis of relationship's is probably what I appreciated most, as I always thought that was the best part of the series. Relationships are complicated and family is not always created by blood. The section of episode synopsis' wasnt necessary to me, however I think it is appropriate to the book. Overall, I was entertained and interested in this book.
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

I'm a huge fan of Gilmore Girls, I've seen the show twice all the way through. This is perfect for any fans!

An in-depth look at GILMORE GIRLS on many levels, from relationships to cultural contributions. I feel like it’s the kind of book that a few fans could read and treat as if it’s a book club, debating the authors’ stance, etc. (Actually, that’s an idea I may now ask friends to consider.). As an avid fan of the show, the discussion of so many of these topics is still a constant discussion, even after all this time, and I enjoyed the book, it’s topics and some viewpoints I hadn’t previously considered.

This was a lot more episode recap and a little less analysis than I expected. Perhaps because I'd seen the show recently, I found myself skipping the recap parts and moving on in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed a great many things about this book. Characters were fleshed out and the plot was well spaced. Some of the secondary storylines could've used a bit more page space but all in all an enjoyable read!

Filled with great facts and thoroughly researched this book weaves together the facts to turn an interesting tale of a wonderful topic into a must read.

Here are my thoughts on the book: if you are Team Jess or Team Luke, this is a series of essays you will, for the most part, like. That being said, there are a lot of things about this book that I found lacking.


My main criticism of this book is that the author cherry picks the examples she wants to use to prove her point and fails to mention other ones that don't add to it. Specifically, she very rarely addresses anything in season 7 (which, okay, different writer, I get it), and does not address Luke's daughter at all (okay, once, in a parenthesis), despite that fact that much of the essays talk about Lorelai as a mother, but nothing about her as a potential step mother to either April or Gigi. Further, in the entire section on Luke as a father figure to Rory, she does not address the fact that Luke does have a daughter and his handling of that, but only uses examples of his guardianship of Jess.

On the whole, this book makes some compelling arguments and I wouldn't write it off just because I disagreed with something that the entire internet has been debating about for over a decade (AKA who was Rory's best boyfriend). I was just not able to get over this one aspect of the authors argument because it happens to run throughout the entire book. That being said, the essays do focus on other parts of the show (class, money, culture, feminism, etc), and those are worth looking into. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the most contentious topic in this series of essays is the most contentious topic in all debate about the show.

I love the Gilmore Girls and everything that goes with it but this was dry. It needed more than just summaries.

If you've seen every episode too many times to count, you deserve this book, and this book deserves you. It's an analytical peak into the world and references of Gilmore Girls. Not too academic to be a drag, but not fluffy either. Actually, that's a good description of the show too!

I really enjoyed reading this book, and reflecting on my favourite show. The book is broken into 2 main sections: Relationships and Culture. We dive into parental relationships, romantic relationships, and friendship. In the culture section, I found the chapter on feminism to be the most interesting.

The authors are clearly major fans of the show, but they know it's not perfect. This book is not a love letter to the show. It's an analysis by two people who have clearly thought long and hard about Lorelei and Rory.

This is a must read for any fan of Gilmore Girls. You can tell that the author is a fan, as well. I loved how the first part of the book introduces the series to any reader that is not familiar with it before diving into reliving classic moments from the show further along in the book.

The Gilmore Girls was a show that my mother and I finally found our connection, after a turbulent period, and found our way back to being besties, just not as crazy as 'the girls'. The show kept both of us on our toes, with so many cultural references, that we ended up with movie nights for movies we hadn't seen (though Mom passed on the music sampling, LOL).

In this book, the authors LITERALLY went through all the shows, and found the commonalities,and offer different essays on them. You might just be surprised at HOW well rounded the series was, and how the central themes of writing were always there (well except for that last regular series year, we all want to forget THAT one)- love, family, upset, recovery, and success. The authors really give the fan, a reason to say proudly, "Yes, I love Gilmore Girls, and I'll tell anyone!". The episode breakdown is also very helpful, if you're tying to remember WHICH DVD to pull out/ episode to select on streaming, that you want to show someone else! The book is literally the book fans need and have truly wanted. And just in time for the holiday season, it has arrived!

As an avid Gilmore Girls fan, I was elated when I received an advanced copy to review. Alas, it was quite the letdown, and my expectations are never high for books about well-loved shows/movies. Nearly a third of the book is filled with summaries of the episodes, which if you're a fan, isn't necessary - if you're not, the information can easily be found on IMDB, please don't waste the readers time with this. It was nice to reflect on some of my favorite moments, but the writing overall almost took away from the great messages we love from the show.

Gilmore Girls is one of my favorite American TV shows, with its quirky characters, rapid-fire dialogue and the plethora of pop culture and literary references. This book explores its social and cultural impact on gender roles, class distinction and personal and career relationships, and how (somewhat) atypical the show was when it aired from 2000 - 2007 (with brief mentions of the Netflix revival series in 2016), with its rapid-fire dialogue, pop culture references both famous and obscure. Also included are the authors' (slightly biased) commentary and recap of all seven seasons.

It would have been better (at least in eBook form) that the footnotes and such appeared after each section/chapter instead of at the end of the book. Nevertheless it's a fine collection of essays that analyzes and celebrates the show's popularity and brilliance.

This book was received as an ARC from Rowman & Littlefield in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

When the Gilmore Girls was on the WB I was not awake to binge watch it like I have other shows but when the episodes from 2000-2007 became available on Netflix I could not stop watching them with my mother in law and wondered why I did not get into this show sooner. Lorelei and Rory have a relationship that every mother and daughter crave and the drama and the people involved in their lives including Dean and Luke. It was very refreshing and interesting to hear behind the scenes details and secrets between the cast. This was similar written as Cary Elwes As You Wish with all the behind the scenes secrets. Because I have read this book, I am now going to watch even more Gilmore Girls and have a different perceptive in watching the show.

We will consider adding this title to our Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

As a recent fan of the Gilmore Girls I was excited to receive an e-arc of this book. The book goes into detail about the cultural phenomena of the Gilmore Girls and references the show in various ways. It also shows the faux pas that were made. Although this book would probably be great for someone who originally watched the show and wanted to rehash the happenings, I feel I didn’t take much from it being a recent convert.

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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I'm a huge fan of the show Gilmore Girls, and am a bigger fan of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino. So when I saw this title, I had to jump on it. A cultural history of the show? 200+ pages about the show in more than just a raving-fan mode? Sign me up! The authors are big fans of the show, it must be said, but they can be critical of it, which makes all the difference. This book is an examination of both the show's reflection of the culture around it as well as what impact it had on the culture—the medium of TV, the casual viewers, and the fans. For a show that depends so heavily on pop culture, the former is easy to demonstrate (it's more of a question of how to focus the examination and when to stop), but the latter is just as important.

In Part I of the book, the authors look at the various relationships depicted in the show—mothers and daughters; fathers/father-figures and children; romance (with mother/daughter relationships, this is obligatory for the show); and friendship. I thought they were spot-on when it came to mothers and fathers. The romantic relationships they concentrated, and the points they raised about them, were what anyone picking up the book expected (although there was a stronger anti-Logan/pro-Jess bias than one might expect)—I did like the way that Dean and Luke were paralleled, and didn't appreciate the way that Christopher and Logan were (mostly because I think they were right, and I had to lower my regard for Logan if he's Rory's Christopher-equivalent). I thought the looks at Lorelai/Sookie and Rory/Lane and what they said about female friendships was just fantastic.

In Part II the authors switch to themes addressed in the show—feminism, class, pop culture and small-town life. I'll talk more about the chapter on feminism in a moment, but I thought it was exceptional. The Pop Culture chapter was fun and insightful. I appreciated the Class/Wealth examination, but thought they could've done more with it. This is part of the book that you probably can't find much of in discussions about the show—you can't swing a LOLcat* online without finding someone talking about Luke and Lorelai or Dean and Rory, but thoughtful takes on the greater cultural themes are rarer (not impossible to find, but harder.) The book doesn't shine as brightly as it could in this Part, but it handles the subjects deftly.

* I feel like I should apologize to Babette for using this expression.

The chapter examining the show's depiction of feminism features an extended look at Episode 1.14, "That Damn Donna Reed." This is at the same time the best and worst part of the book. Let me explain: the authors examine this episode and the main storylines in detail and while reflecting about what those stories say about the feminism of Gilmore Girls and the contemporary American culture (and our contemporary culture). I was entertained and satisfied with the book, but when they hit this high point*—and didn't accomplish anything like it in following chapters—I was disappointed. If we'd gotten that kind of examination of popular culture and class as shown in particular episodes, I'd have probably rated this book higher. I may have rated it higher if that chapter didn't have the 1.14 section, too—it just made everything else seem a little more shallow.

* I'm not saying I agreed with all of the analysis, but I appreciated what they did.

Chapter 8, "Small-Town Livin'," is—like most of this book—a look at the depiction of something and a celebration of it. In this case, it's Stars Hollow as an ideal small town. We're shown many examples of the peculiarities of Stars Hollow (taken in every sense of the word)—notably some of the characters, the way the community acts as a large family, how it supports (and doesn't support) each member, and so on. Then the authors talk about how it represents something in our contemporary culture that many, many feel is missing from our communities and how we yearn for it. I don't know what it was about this chapter precisely that struck me the way it did—but I didn't expect it, and the sentiments expressed really resonated with me. Perhaps it's because the rest of the book focuses (as it should) on Lorelai, Rory, Richard, Emily, Luke, etc., and it's only here that we focus on everyone else that made this show delightful.

My main complaint is that the authors depend on the same handful of examples too often. Luke did X, or Emily said Y are each trotted out to support 5 or 6 (or a dozen) points rather than finding 5 or 6 (or a dozen) other examples to show the same kind of thing. Luke didn't just act in a certain manner one time in one episode to cite repeatedly, he does repeated things along certain lines that could be used in a variety of contexts. I don't want to get bogged down in the details on this, so I'm keeping it vague, but it often felt like I could sing along with Stache and Davidson when they started to illustrate a point with one of the frequently used points. I can understand that it's easier to keep going back to the same well so that they don't have to explain the citations as much each time, but it got a bit tired.

There's an appendix (of sorts) wrapping up this book that is worth the purchase price—"The Episodes: An Opinionated Compendium." The compendium lists every episode, with a one-paragraph synopses (some are short, some aren't) and a Best Line (except for in Season 7, which almost doesn't count for the authors as a real season—like the mythical second and third Matrix movies, the fourth Indiana Jones, or third X-Men). I don't recommend reading that straight through, you'll burn out—but it's a great way to revisit the episodes and refresh your memory. I don't know the page count on this section, but it's not inconsequential—it's 27% of my eARC. Any fan will appreciate this part, even if they're unimpressed with the main text (and I doubt many fans will be unimpressed with anything in these pages).

This is a fun read, a thought-provoking read, and a comfort-read. It's like spending a couple of hours talking with some pretty intelligent friends about a TV show you all really like. It's impossible to watch the show without thinking about it in the terms the authors choose to focus on—relationships, feminism, wealth, community, family—but most fans probably haven't focused on it to the extent this volume does. I wanted more, but not much more. Not only is this a good book and a good way to examine a beloved show, it's a great introduction to this series of books. I know I'll be picking up more of them.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Rowman & Littlefield via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this opportunity, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

This was a really fun analysis and reminder of everything that made Gilmore Girls so much fun to watch (and some of the things that didn't quite make sense about the last season and the miniseries). I would have liked a bit more analysis of the series but it's a great way to return to Stars Hollow while we wait to see if there's more to come from the Gilmores!