Can Glee make it as a novel? Surprisingly, yes

by An Nicholson

Even without the singing, dancing, or adult focus, ‘Glee’ can make it as a young adult novel. The premiere novel, 'Glee: The Beginning,' surprised me with its depth and humor. If you want to know how Mercedes, Rachel, Finn and the gang fared, read on!

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Glee’s easy transition from the silver screen to the written page surprised me. The writer did a good job capturing the personalities, strengths, and weakness of our favorite gleeks. In fact, my favorite novel of the three is the premiere novel, Glee: The Beginning. It re-imagined the original FOX pilot while plugging all of its weaknesses.

Glee: The Beginning imagines if Mr. Shue had not started the Glee club and opens with a small struggling group maintaining the club with limited faculty assistance. Although Mercedes serves as the lead soloist, the group members realize they need stronger choral voices. Enter Rachel Berry who, despite her brown-nosing gold star-giving ways, wows the group with her morning announcement medleys. After Kurt invites her to fill out their voices, Rachel’s insistence that the group overcome their fear of slushy assaults at student body hands, leads them to form a strong, vocal union.

I loved this novel for a couple reasons. It gave us all of the students’ perspectives, not just Rachel’s and Finn’s. It explained the Quinn and Puck connection, provided us with glimpses into Satanna’s psyche, explained “Kurt-Cedes,” and showed Rachel as annoying yet able to confront cheerleader tyranny. Finally, it touched on semi-adult issues such as Kurt’s burgeoning sexuality and teen pre-marital sex. Glee’s initial episodes addressed those issues, but not in a way that seemed potentially detrimental to the characters. Here, you know something will go wrong between Mercedes and Kurt and Quinn and Puck. I never felt that “oh no, what will happen to these characters next” when watching Glee’s initial episodes. Here I did. I also enjoyed the author’s development of Tina and Tina’s crush on Artie. In fact I loved it so much, I couldn’t wait until the second book to see what happened next. She also did a good job capturing both Sue and Emma’s voices, while using them as side characters.

The writer corrected the elements I criticized most about Glee. I never understood how Glee gave misfits a voice, yet initially provided only the white heterosexual misfits with character development. Plus, a glee club director who shafted Amber Riley’s voice in favor of Lea Michele always befuddled me. Wouldn’t he nurture both? While I love Matthew Morrison (and his abs) to death, sometimes I felt the TV writers didn’t really need Mr. Shue to join the student songs in season two. Admittedly, Glee started working on those issues during its second and third seasons; but the author addressed them head on.

My biggest enjoyment in the first novel sprang from its detailed writing style and lack of passive voice. I tend to keep my hand in the young adult till. I loved Babysitter’s Club and Sweet Valley High as a kid. I used Princess Diaries to explain eighteenth-century literature to my eighteen-year-old students and I even led a young adult reading group for some of my friends’ kids. My biggest issue with young adult novels surrounds passive voice and weak descriptions. Yet, the author proved incredibly imaginative through her details of Midwestern life (especially the snow plow) while pointing out humorous items such as the surprising diversity in an allegedly run-of-the-mill Midwestern high school.

So, if you’re an adult and wonder if you should read, Glee: The Beginning. Don’t worry. You should. Although I shamefully hid the novel behind Glamour magazine at the hairdresser, I don’t repent reading it.

However, if you’re an adult, you might want to skip the second and third novels. They focused on Rachel’s perspective and were standard junior high fare regarding exchange students and Dickensonian experiences. Plus, they had a couple continuity issues. Characters like Mercedes who seemed vocally confident suddenly weren’t as dedicated (at the level penned in the first novel). The writing possessed the same detail, but it included more passive voice. As Sophia Lowell is a pen name, I don’t know if only one person or multiple people write under it a la Carolyn Keene.

Overall, Glee: The Beginning gets my thumbs up for adults and 14-year-olds; but I recommend the second and third novels for seventh and eighth graders. Either way, if you love Glee, glittery words and fluorescent colors, then you might want to check this out.