Reviews with content warning for Eating disorder - Daisy Jones & The Six

Wow, I am absolutely blown away by this book.

Daisy Jones grew up in California in the 60s. As a teen she snuck into clubs and followed bands while she chased after the high music brought her and the drugs that came with being a groupie. Billy Dunne and Graham Dunne started a band right out of high school and slowly brought together themselves and four other talented musicians to form The Six. When Daisy Jones and the Six collided via Teddy Price, rock and roll was forever changed and has never recovered since.

This was my first Taylor Jenkins Reid and I think I made the best call not only picking this one, but deciding to go into the audiobook version. I cannot say enough good things about this audiobook. It's full cast, featuring some wonderfully talented names, but I have to brag on Judy Greer and her narration of Karen throughout. I LOVED Karen. I felt immediately connected to her and it really solidified my connection with these characters and the way this book was formatted. I grew to recognize the voices, the tones which they spoke, and the way the characters finished each other's thoughts or contradicted each other. It was like a highly choreographed dance and I was enthralled the entire time.

I was okay with this book for the first 50%, a good chunk of the lead up had me questioning if this was just some really well written Stevie Nicks fanfiction, but even so, I really love a good memoir so I was absolutely adoring the way this book presents itself as a documentary. Once I hit the line, "Let me tell you this - don't ever doubt Daisy Jones." it was like a switch flipped in my brain and I was all in. I had to know what happened to these people. I wouldn't even call them characters at this point because they felt so real that I was having a hard time remembering that this is just a novel and none of this actually happened.

One of my final notes I wrote was, "This is a masterclass in how to develop characters who feel like real, breathing people. Karen and Graham?? Billy and Camila??? DAISY JONES????" And I think that sums up my feelings. This is a piece of art and I feel like it should be required reading for any author or aspiring author to understand how to develop and connect readers to characters and make them feel real. I just think everyone should read this, actually, so stop reading my review and go get a copy.

I think I've been forever changed by this book.

Content warnings: drug use and drug abuse (present throughout, major warning), alcoholism (present throughout, major warning), addiction, abortion, grief, death of a parent, eating disorder, infidelity, emotional abuse by a partner, toxic relationships

Content Warnings

cheyneflynn's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

For the record, this was SO much better than The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I feel like the concept held strong throughout the book and I actually like the first hand accounts of the story. It wasn’t just massive slabs of: then I felt like, then I said, and I did this.
However I still don’t get the point of

Spoiler

doing a surprise like, “oh and the author of this book is Billy’s daughter OMG”

Like what is the obsession, it really displaces my focus from the book. It added nothing emotional for me personally.
I also think some of the other band members could’ve been described more. Or even focused on their own things more throughout the story, but that’s me. Overall it was good and I enjoyed it

Content Warnings

lauriebee23's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny medium-paced

4.5

I read this after reading Evelyn Hugo last year and I adored this book almost as much. It deals with some complex themes and it has really rich character arcs. I didn’t think I would enjoy the fake biography style but it made the storytelling really rich and interesting and it felt real.

My only gripe was i don’t like ambiguous endings so i would have liked a bit more of an air of resolution and finality BUT i understand the writing choice of leaving it as it was left.

Content Warnings

askamarudzi's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I've had more fun reading the constitution. This legitimately feels like it was written by a corporate sales team that was given "Fleetwood Mac fanfiction" as a prompt. I really need to stop taking book recommendations from tik tok.

Content Warnings

arshiya_amreen90786's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

maca_vr's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

More...