Book Review: Daisy Jones & The Six
Daisy Jones & The Six
By Taylor Jenkins Reid
My review: 4.5/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a captivating and engaging novel that explores the rise and fall of a fictional 1970s rock n roll band. The story is told through a series of interviews with the band members, their friends, and their colleagues. While this is not necessarily a unique storytelling device when it comes to biographies or stories centred around people recollecting stories from their lives, this is a very interesting format through which to tell a fictional story about a made up 1970s rock n roll band. But somehow, Taylor Jenkins Reid weaves together something magnificent.
The novel follows the story of Daisy Jones, a young and beautiful aspiring singer, and Billy Dunne, the lead singer of the popular rock band The Six. When their record label suggests they collaborate on an album, their explosive chemistry creates a sound that takes the music industry by storm. But obviously, it’s not as simple as that. The story is told in sections, documenting the lives of the band members, the characterising moments in their stories - as human beings and as artists - all through interview style narration. It’s masterfully woven together and honestly feels like you’re reading a film documentary of an incredibly famous band, 40 years later when all the truths and secrets are revealed.
(No wonder Amazon and Hello Sunshine have adapted this novel into a series! I’ll be reviewing the series very soon).
Reid writes her characters as complex and well-developed human beings, each with their own flaws and strengths. Everyone who reads this could come away with a different favourite character, and they’d all be correct.
Daisy is a free-spirited and rebellious artist desperate to be the somebody. She refuses to be just a muse, and her fight to become who she wants to be, comes with both extreme highs and gruesome lows.
She is magnetic.
Opposite her is Billy, a messy and complicated man whose struggle with addiction and fame affects his role as a husband and father, and ultimately also impacts his career and deep passion for music. The rest of the band (Graham Dunne, Karen Karen, Warren the drummer and Eddie on bass) are all interesting and their dynamics with Daisy, Billy and his wife Camilla make for the most fascinating story.
One of my favourite aspects of the novel was the music. So much so that any Daisy Jones fan will tell you how deeply they’ve been longing for the band to be real and to release the songs written in the novel. Not only does Reid’s storytelling give you get a better understanding of the music industry in the 1970s, but you’re inserted into the songwriting process, because the songs become a masterful storytelling device for Reid.
And it truly feels real!
I found myself thinking specifically of Fleetwood Mac when I read this novel for the first time. Stevie Nicks in all her angel goddess ways, her chaos and passion and power, is so much like Daisy’s. Although I suppose Daisy is like Stevie Nicks.
And the dynamics between the members of Fleetwood Mac had all the dramatics: their story and ultimate downfall is a story enough on its own. I would be incredibly shocked if Jenkins Reid didn’t draw any inspiration from them for this novel.
Obviously the intricacies of Daisy Jones & The Six are very different to Fleetwood Mac’s. But the inspiration, the connection is undeniable.
Now obviously, for a novel about a band who have the best rock n roll songs of the 1970s (fictionally), the saddest part as a reader is that you can’t actually listen to their songs. I know that fans of this novel, myself included, have been wishing that Daisy Jones & The Six were an actual band, with actual music, rather than just the words on the page. I wanted to hear that bass line Eddie was hitting while Billy and Daisy harmonise so beautifully! I want to hear Graham’s insane guitar solos and Karen’s backing vocals.
So obviously, the best thing that has come out of the Amazon/Hello Sunshine adaptation is an ACTUAL band, who released AURORA (the novel’s primary album) as an ACTUAL album on Spotify and Apple Music!
(I will talk more about this when I review the series, but let’s just say I am obsessed!)
Quite frankly, if the series is terrible I will still have this album and the novel and I will be completely happy.
Jenkins Reid also magnetically captures the essence of the era, from the fashion and lifestyle to the politics and social issues of the time. The novel explores themes such as addiction, love, and creativity, and how they intersect with the pursuit of fame and success.
Overall, Daisy Jones & the Six is an excellent novel that will appeal to readers who love music, drama, and character-driven stories. The novel is a stunning blend of fiction and reality, and the characters and their stories will stay with you long after you finish the book. I would absolutely recommend this novel to anyone looking for a thought-provoking and entertaining read.
