Review: The Beginning (An Original Glee Novel) by Sophia Lowell

Title: The Beginning

Author: Sophia Lowell

Release Date: August 5th, 2010

Publisher: Poppy

Age Group: I’m really not sure. I think if you can watch Glee you can read this book.

Pages: 216

Source: Library

Series: Glee #1

Other Titles in the Series: Foreign Exchange (Book #2)

Summary (goodreads.com): Calling all Gleeks!

Get more of your favorite characters in this official Glee prequel!

All great performances deserve a warm-up! Enroll early at McKinley High--before New Directions was even a glimmer in Mr. Schuester's eye. When did Rachel first decide Finn was more than just a jock? When did Puck and Quinn start their secret romance? And how did the fledgling Glee Club function without a fearless leader? Hint: It wasn't exactly a perfect melody.

Break out the gold stars and refill the slushies: It's time to find out what happened to all your favorite characters before the show-mance began.

My Review:

First off, I’m a gleek and proud of it so I just had to read this book. There’s a lot of depictions in this book that completely contradict things that actually happened in the show. One thing that REALLY bothered me was that they said that Puck’s name was “Puck Puckerman” as if Puck was his real name and not just a nickname (his name is Noah). I can’t figure out when exactly the show’s plot is supposed to fit in. I know this is a prequel but it's like the beginning of the show is completely disregarded. It's almost as if the author didn’t bother watching the series before she wrote it. But even with all the problems I really liked it because it captured the essence of Glee. I thought the characters of Coach Sylvester and Rachel were written splendidly; they both annoyed me just like they do in the show. I liked how this story develops the relationship between Puck and Quinn as well as the friendship between Kurt and Mercedes. So basically, if you’re a Gleek read it, if you’re not don’t bother. My rating of this is 4 hearts because I really liked it as a fan of Glee. However, I can see why other fans would hate it because of the discrepancies.