Book Review: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Title: Daisy Jones & The Six
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis:
A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous break up.
Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the real reason why they split at the absolute height of their popularity…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 and 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.
Another band getting noticed is The Six, 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 the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.
Review:
This is going to be a long-winded and chaotic book review because a) I haven't done one of these in a while and b) this book just doesn't feel Fiction enough for a 'structured' book review. I mean this in the best way possible, because it reads a lot like a biography. A non-fiction biography of a band that is NOT real, but seems real. It's actually scary how relatable and human these characters are that I had to actually remind myself constantly throughout the whole book that, no, Daisy Jones & The Six is NOT real. They are NOT a real band, and these characters are COMPLETELY Fiction, which is what makes this book so gripping. So much that you read about in the story sound completely insane, but they all make sense based on the characters' personalities and attitudes. You see how different everyone is from one another, but the way their lives and stories intertwine is just.. it all makes sense! It all comes together so well, overall creating a brilliant and emotionally intense story.
There is something about this book that just feels so painfully real. Throughout the whole book, it feels like you're prying into someone's diary entries and reading through their raw thoughts and emotions. All the characters were so wonderfully unique and different from one another. Everything from the writing style, the characters, and the format felt so uncensored. It's written in this interview style where you get a slice of each character's thoughts and point of view. It's blunt and wild, and also a little sad. It's real and painful, and the story is just about real life and how things do not always go the way we want it to even though it seems like it will. It feels so much like an actual biography of the band. Out of context, each character's point of view is absolutely chaotic. But when you piece them all together, it all just makes so, so much sense. This whole ride was just insane. It was like a party in its different stages - the preparation, guest arrival, dancing to music and getting drunk, waking up with a pounding headache and blurred memories, slowly sobering up, and repeat. It's exciting and cathartic, fun and wild, then things start to get woozy and slow down a little.. and then you find yourself feeling a little lost and sad, but you go on anyway. So much good and bad mixed in one bag. It was just... crazy (again, in a good way).
You know how people pick up books just so they can escape reality for a bit? I want to say that - in the best way possible, while this book is indeed fiction - it feels so real that it doesn't even read like a fiction novel. I often have to put it down because it feels so much like real life that I can feel the anxiety of reading about a terrible fate or undesirable outcome for the members and the band in general. It was written that well, and the characters were that fleshed out. Of course I still ended really loving the book, because it kept me at the edge of my seat the entire time, and I saw myself in every single one of the characters, which, again... insanity! How does the author do it?! Truly unlike any other book I've ever read before.
If you want a book with characters and stories that you can connect to, Daisy Jones & The Six is for you. I believe that, whatever your opinion is of the story, you will fly through this book, and you will fall in love with at least one of the characters.
If you've read this book, please let me know your thoughts! Otherwise, thank you so much for reading my review. I also wanted to thank Hachette Australia for sending me a free copy of Ninth House in exchange for an honest review!
If you’re interested in buying Daisy Jones & The Six, you can click here to shop the book at Book Depository. I receive a small commission if you use the link! 🙂