By all accounts, I should have hated Daisy Jones & The Six.
I ended up loving it instead.
Why should I have hated this novel? For starters, I don’t like band biopics. They bore me with their petty dramas and creative differences and substance abuse problems. Drugs and drinking hold no allure for me; reading about people who spend half their lives getting trashed doesn’t really suck me in. I also don’t have any attachment to the 1970s and/or most of its music, and this decade drives the entire novel.
All of these reasons are why I avoided reading Daisy Jones & The Six for so long, despite the fact that Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my favorite authors. But a good friend who also hates band stuff/drugs/the70s told me she loved the book and that I should read it. The very next day, I spied an old ARC being given away at my local library.
I figured it was a sign and snatched it up.
The first 20 pages or so of Daisy Jones & The Six, I was kinda “meh.” This novel’s unique “series of interviews” format confused me with its back-and-forth narrative, and I had trouble keeping the names straight. I kept reading, in accordance with my 50 page rule, and sure enough, I got completely hooked around page 40.
There are two main components to the fictional group Daisy Jones & The Six — the band “The Six” and their eventual fronter, Daisy Jones. Their stories weave together through the series of interviews, and the weight of love, angst, lust, agony, hope, addiction, and grief in the band’s emotional and complex rise to fame will hit you like a ton of bricks. In the most amazing way.
And, yes, the 70s music is important, the drugs are an integral part of the story — but everything else takes a backseat to the interplay between the characters, who are incredibly complex and compelling. Daisy and Camilla and Billy are, of course, at the heart of the novel, but I want to throw a little love at behind-the-scenes bandmember Karen. As a woman who’s never wanted to have children, I was struck by Karen’s then-controversial views on motherhood. The emotions and thoughts Karen has in Daisy Jones & The Six hit me where it hurt; it was if she’d reached into my head and plucked out my exact thoughts about never wanting kids. As someone on my blog recently commented, “I felt seen.” Thanks, TJR.
Daisy Jones & The Six was destined for a four-star rating before I was even halfway through the story. However, the song lyrics at the back of the book bumped the rating right up to five stars. Guys, TJR didn’t just write a novel — she penned the lyrics to 10 incredible songs on the band’s fictional album “Aurora.” Which is the album that breaks everything and everyone in the novel wide open.
No, no, don’t flip to the back of the book and read the lyrics now. They won’t make sense. You have to read the entire story of Daisy Jones & The Six in order to appreciate these songs. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.
Taylor Jenkins Reid is a goddamn genius. She out-did herself with Daisy Jones & The Six. And I almost didn’t read it. ZOMG.
What are some novels that you almost missed out on but are so thankful you didn’t??
Stay tuned for my book-inspired recipe: Powdered Sugar Donut Holes.
My biggest problem with this book is a problem I’ve had with Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books–since she writes in the past, she lets some anachronisms slip in. Most are admittedly quite minor, but a major plot twist in this book is based on something which she places in the late sixties but really didn’t take hold until the late seventies. I won’t put it here because it’s a definite spoiler, but it really bothered me.
Related to this, I was totally going to blow off Taylor’s latest, “Malibu Rising,” because of my issues with “Daisy Jones,” but I got talked into it and was glad. Imagine a super-literate Jackie Collins, and that’s “Malibu Rising.”
I think someone mentioned an anachronism with Evelyn Hugo, too, but I don’t remember what it is. I can see why that would be annoying when you’re reading, though. I don’t think I noticed anything with DJ&TS, but sometimes I’m quite oblivious, haha. I did read Malibu Rising and didn’t love it. It was okay…entertaining… but not my favorite of TJR’s works.
I loved Malibu Rising, but I wasn’t too sure about Daisy Jones either, as it seems very much based on Fleetwood Mac (I think?), and I never really cared much for their music. I did read it though; as you say, absolute genius to be able to write 10 songs as well as a book!! The way Billy treated Camilla made me so mad, but at the same time, I thought the way Camilla handled things was really humbling and inspiring. It would have been so easy for her to just walk away, but she well and truly sorted him out! Might not be a story I return to, but I’m glad I’ve read it 🙂
Yeah, I was actually pretty surprised with the Billy/Camilla dynamic. I give her props for how she handled things. And I loved what she said at the end. It made me smile.