[Book Review] Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six: The band's album Aurora came to define the rock 'n' roll era of the late seventies, and an entire generation of girls wanted to grow up to be Daisy. But no one knows the reason behind the group's split on the night of their final concert at Chicago Stadium on July 12, 1979 . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock 'n' roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.

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 cw: cheating, drug use, abortion 

"I am not the muse. I am the somebody. End of fucking story."

This book had so much hype around the release and I just knew I had to read it because the hype was similar to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Jenkin's previous novel, and I loved Evelyn Hugo. And although I liked moments in Daisy Jones and the Six, I did come away a bit disappointed. 

The characters in this story are flawed and often unlikable, which wasn't a problem for me. I don't mind reading unlikable characters. Daisy Jones and the other members of the band's often flawed moments not only brought an element of realism to the story but it also made the characters easier to empathize and sympathize with. Even when I was annoyed at the characters, Reid weaves the story in such a way that you can at least understand where they're coming from. You really take these characters and just see them as complex humans with flaws, insecurities, and vulnerabilities. Personally, I was really annoyed with a lot of the characters in this book because of their decisions, but I can't remember a moment where I couldn't at least sympathize and understand why they were doing what they were doing. 

"I used to care when men called me difficult. I really did. Then I stopped. This way is better." 

There are a lot of fantastic feminist themes and moments in Daisy Jones and the Six surrounding Daisy and Karen. Daisy has this "I'll do what I want" attitude that I really loved. She was confident and very sure of her talent and what she could do. This story is set in the 70's, where obviously women had to prove themselves even more than they do now, so seeing her kind of just push herself in situations to get what she deserved was incredibly satisfying. And Karen was great because she is basically pushing the expectations placed on women to get married and have kids. She puts her career as a musician before a lot of things she is expected to put at the top of her list, and I think it was great. I would have loved more Karen, but what we got of her made me absolutely respect her.

The plot is addictive and fast paced, which made it really easy for me to quickly speed through it two days before it was due back to the e-library I borrowed it from. Daisy Jones & the Six is written in a documentary type interview format, so that made it easier to read, but the plot itself was gripping and I didn't want to put it down. However, it's a bit predictable and the ending felt a bit anti-climatic because of the predictability. Nothing was surprising and once I finished the book I felt neutral about the story as a whole. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I think I know why I couldn't really connect with the characters. 

"It hurts to care about someone more than they care about themselves."

At first, I thought maybe it was the content itself. I like music, but I am not really dedicated to listening to the music in the way I am with reading or even video games. Then I thought maybe it was the content, I have never done drugs or had anyone in my life addicted to drugs. I've read books in the past with characters going through those kinds of things and I've been able to connect on a human level. The biggest issue for it, at least for me, is the format. The interview format put a barrier between me and the story. On one hand, it made the characters and their story seem more realistic, sure, but at the same time it felt so detached. I was being told a story, not shown. 

Overall, I enjoyed this enough to say I'd recommend it, but it wasn't a favorite of mine. I can't help but wonder if my expectations were too high (because I loved Evelyn Hugo) mixed with the hype around the book made the experience not as good as I expected it to. I am incredibly excited for the TV mini series and I absolutely plan on reading more of Reid's books in the future. I need to look into her previous novels too. 

"It's like some of us are chasing after our nightmares the way other people chase dreams." 

Thanks for reading!