If you love Gilmore Girls (like I do!) you'll love this book. Such a fun companion to the series!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I am a huge Gilmore Girls fan and this book captured the true essence of Gilmore Girls!! You can tell it was written by a GG fan and I am glad she did the show justice. She really knows her stuff. Definitely a must read for Gilmore Girls fans! Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this delightful book.

While I didn't watch Gilmore Girls when it was originally airing, I have been a massive fan for a number of years, my husband even dressed up as Luke and brought a feast fit for a Gilmore to watch the Netflix series the night it came out. So I was very excited to read this book all about Gilmore Girls, but sadly it didn't live up to my expectations.

While the book started to get into a lot of the important parts of the show; from the various experiences of fatherhood, the importance of friendship, and what men Lorelai and Rory should really end up with I found that they never got really deep into anything. I did enjoy that they gave episode references when there were talking about specific events as it helped me to remember what else was happening.

I found that while it would be pretty impossible to not bring your own personal opinion into this book, there was a bit too much personal opinion for my taste as they completely ignored the episodes they didn't want to talk about. Which brings me to another point, I was surprised at how early the conclusions came up, but that was because the whole rest of the book was a (not great) recap of every episode of the show (but not the Netflix special). This is when you can really tell the opinions of the authors as they chose some odd things to write about each episode and a "best quote" with no indication or who or why it was said.

Although the book did give me some good memories of why I love Gilmore Girls so much and made me want to watch the entire series over again I found it didn't give me what I was wanting from a book about the show.

As a huge fan of the television show, “Gilmore Girls”, I was pleased to find this history of the show & it’s relevance on pop culture. I loved all of the character comparisons & reading through the episodes made me want to watch the show again & again! After all, I did name my daughter Lorelai.

<b>As someone who finally discovered and devoured all of <i>Gilmore Girls</i> within the past few years, and as a nerd who loves social science, I was really excited to read <i>Gilmore Girls: A Cultural History</i>. Honestly, my bar wasn’t even that high—I’m not a total culture snob or anything; I just thought an analysis of the sociocultural elements of a hit TV show would be right up my alley. But alas, the end product of the book was <b>shallow in its analysis, mediocre in its writing, and a bit odd structurally.</b> My excitement, it seems, was misplaced; this book was a solid <b>2.5/5 stars, which I’ve rounded up</b> because I could see it more as a textbook for an intro-level course than as a standalone read for a casual fan.

<b>It’s always hard to give a synopsis of a non-narrative book, but I’ll do my best here.</b> The book covers a range of topics related to <i>Gilmore Girls</i> as a show and a cultural phenomenon. It starts with an emphasis on relationships—familial, romantic, and platonic—and how the show plays up things that contribute to power dynamics, especially money. It then moves on to broader cultural significance, like the show’s take on feminism, the way it glorifies small-town life, and the function of its copious pop culture references.

In theory, all these topics are really valuable ones to cover, especially in the context of the show. When a program is deemed “family-friendly” but is still able to feature subjects sometimes considered inappropriate, it has the potential to normalize—not demonize—phenomena like single parenthood and teenage sexual activity. And as a show with women at its heart, <b><i>Gilmore Girls</i> does a lot for feminism, especially in its emphasis on the importance of female friendships.</b>

The writers brought up an especially interesting point about how Rory’s romantic relationships show echoes of her lingering “daddy issues” as a result of Christopher’s absence in her life, while simultaneously pointing out that she really ends up with three father figures in her life, even though none of them is a true “dad” to her. They also brought up the function of quirky characters like Kirk, Taylor, and Babette, and they explored the fragile duality between Emily and Lorelai. I am glad that the book was able to touch on such a wide range of concepts—in that sense, it was quite thorough.

<b>But what it has in breadth, this book is sorely lacking in depth.</b> With a few exceptions, most of its “analyses” felt perfunctory and unoriginal, and it had a nasty habit of turning very, very repetitive in its elaboration, especially in its section about <i>Gilmore Girls</i> and pop culture. It was like somebody needed to hit a certain word count, or page count, and decided to just rephrase the same idea over and over until they hit that limit. The book may have read a lot better if all the superfluous material was excised and more actual elaboration was added into the nuances of the material. They also could have done away with some of the author’s random snarky comments, almost all of which were about how Logan is the worst of Rory’s boyfriends. Aside from that being a purely opinion-based statement (and I’m Team Jess, so it’s not like I have a personal stake here), it also just has no place in an analytical text, even one that is written for the average reader. You can be sarcastic and funny without dropping your opinions left and right.

Oh, and there’s one more complaint. See…I forgot to mention something in my summary, which is that <b>NEARLY A THIRD OF THE BOOK IS JUST A RECAP OF EVERY SINGLE EPISODE.</b> I kid you not. It goes episode by episode, with a 2-3 paragraph summary and a quote that the author deemed the “best quote” from that episode (which, I must add, they don’t give context for, or even attribute it to its speaker). And this isn’t at the beginning, like a narrative refresher on everything that happens on the show to prepare you for the analysis; it’s the entire ending of the book. Seriously…what the heck?

<b>I could see <i>Gilmore Girls: A Cultural History</i> being used in an introductory sociology course on pop culture, but I have a hard time imagining anyone enjoying reading it on their own time.</b> While its cursory overviews of thematic concepts would be great for prompting class discussions, they’re just not deep or interesting enough to make this a memorable read for a standalone reader.

I wanted to find a snappy quote from the show to wrap this review up with, but alas, none of them seem to fit quite right. So instead, I’ll go with a classic that has zero relevance here: “Oy with the poodles already!”

Young Women Adults watching TV 2000-2007 couldn't miss a CW series called Gilmore Girls. The series reflected on the difficulties of being a parents, a daughter and mother with over bearing parents who want to protect those they love.

The series was full of sarcasm, romance, jokes pop culture reference that most TV shows avoided to keep from dating their TV show.

The book relives a lot of fun, exciting, heart breaking moments on the TV series. The first half of the book a introduction to the series, characters, locations and the basic. The second half was how the series effected those who watched the series how it opened discussion of teen pregnancies, how to raise a child, who is the adult and who is the real mother. The mental, emotional and physical side of the series and how it effected those who watched it. It covers feminism, small town life and pop cultural of the day.

The story sugar coats the series not really taking of the harder questions of Why did the daughter sometimes have to be mom? The emotional side effects of being raised by a single mom not to mention the therapy that Lorelai and Rory really needed to find a healthy, mental life to find true happiness.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Rowman & Littlefield Publishers for the advance copy of Lara C. Stache Gilmore Girls

Thank you so much for sending this book! While I feel that it's too specialized for a review on my blog, I did want to share my thoughts on it:

* For huge fans of the show (like me!), it truly was a trip down memory lane. I enjoyed how the chapters were broken up into the important themes of the show, and this allowed for an in-depth analysis of each one.

* The recap of each episode at the end was a little all-over-the-place. It was just a hodgepodge of things that happened in the episode with little connection to each one. I felt like each summary could have been written more in-depth.

Thank you again!

I loved the tv show but wasn’t a big fan of this book. Some interesting facts about the show and characters, but it wasn’t written in away that engaged me.

I remember watching Gilmore Girls with my daughters. Every week we looked forward to seeing what was happening in Starrs Hollow. The cast of characters, the wit, the charm, the patter, the place; the show was just perfectly pitched. There was Emily, aloof but somehow vulnerable; Loreli, fast talking and rebellious and Rory, the funny teen who was intense and driven to succeed. Around them were so many others from Luke to Richard to Max and to Rory's loves, Dean, Jess and Logan. Then there were all the friends and frenemies from Lane to Paris, Sookie to Michel and more. There was angst, college and love of child, friend, family, place. All these came together in a perfect mix. (For those of you who missed the Gilmore Girls phenomenon, the shows are available on Netflix).

So, as you can imagine, I was very excited about this book. It did not disappoint. Following an excellent introduction there are chapters that focus on relationships including mothers and daughters, fathers, romances and friendships. Throughout the reader learns about or is reminded of the depth of the characters. The second half of the book is about the role of the show in popular culture. There are sections on feminism, popular culture, class and small town life.

If you enjoyed Gilmore Girls, give this book a look. It will let you relive many good times in Stars Hollow with so many friends. If you missed the series, here is a chance to enjoy it and learn more.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this read in exchange for an honest review.

I was the right demographic for Gilmore Girls, being just a little older than Rory when it came out and I was a faithful viewer. This book made me miss the show! A fun look into the phenom and what issues the show raised. A must for a fan.

This book was okay, but it read a lot like a text book. It was kinda hard to get through and I ended up skimming pages. I was hoping for a more personal view of the Gilmore Girls, but it felt very analytical. Overall, not a bad book and it may have just not been for me. I don't think I would read it again though.

I was so excited when I saw this book. Even though I teach college level English, I’m a huge pop culture nut, so this kind of scholarship is right up my alley.
Except... it’s not really scholarly. The first thing you’re taught when you learn to do this kind of writing is that you need to position yourself within the conversation. This book doesn’t really do that. It makes points that are in no way revaltory—in fact, that are pretty “duh”— and then recaps episodes of the show without any additional depth or insight. As a fan, I found this fun. As an academic, I was disappointed.

Perfect for every Gilmore Girls lover! Gilmore Girls by Lara C Stache and Rachel Davidson goes in depth into the series and the cultural impact it had. The authors discuss how the show represented differences in relationships, both romantic and familial. The delve into the small town representation, class differences, and the many pop culture references. This reads almost like a research paper due to how in depth they get and the comparisons they make. As a huge fan of the series, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It made me want to go back and rewatch the series, this time in a new light.