A review by koistyfishy
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
5 Honeycomb Stars ⭐️
I was six years old when "Hello, I Love You" by The Doors came on the car radio and it was the first time that I saw the two people I loved the most in the world have a completely different emotional reaction to music. If anything, it was the first time I saw somebody able to have an emotional reaction to music. My father idolized everything that Jim Morrison stood for absolutely loved the song and loved what it meant. My mother was viscerally angry as the band, music and Jim Morrison were the epitome representation of glamorised sex, drugs, debauchery and rock and roll.
I found myself constantly thinking back on this memory. Like a song stuck in my head, this moment was constantly playing on repeat in my mind as if to ask where do you stand in this argument? Do you just enjoy the experience or do you let the person behind the experience influence you and how you feel? I think I ended up in the middle. While I do have some issues with the book, overall I loved it, I loved what it did to me emotionally and I loved the entire experience of getting to know the dark and dirty about Daisy Jones and the Six.
This book is almost "an interview-style conversation" that happens with all the band members and key players that make up or influence Daisy Jones and the Six. It showcases their lives in the seventies - around their initial formation, their rise to stardom, and then what happened after that leading to their eventual breakup.
At the start I thought I would hate this book, I don't like Contemporary Historical Fiction and this almost feels like something"Non-Fiction" (which I like even less). I am also not really into 70's Music. In the end, though as much as I don't connect with this type of story, I feel like something was stolen from me because Daisy Jones and The Six don't actually exist. This is a testament to how fantastic the "worldbuilding" is in this novel is because TJR made me form such a deep emotional connection to a completely fictional band. The characters in this just feel so human and unapologetically real.
I, 150% recommend that if you're going to pick up this book, pick it up in the audiobook form because there is a full cast and because it's done in the style of an interview, you get everybody's individual voices coming through, and they did such an amazing job narrating the story.
There was a sense of almost an unreliable narration to the story because you have characters that would say one thing and then be corrected or contradicted by another character. You would have to choose which side of the story to believe, or do you believe the truth is actually something that's almost in the middle. Again this reinforces typical human nature, relating to how faulty our own memory can be. Or it shows how we might, in situations where we aren't depicted in the best light, change the story up a bit...so we underplay the situation so we don't seem so bad.
Even though there is this "cast element" of characters there, there are two main characters as the main focus of the story: Billy and Daisy. They are awful. I did not want to root for them. This made me question how much I actually enjoyed the book, because normally when I read a book, I root for the main characters. In this, I DID NOT WANT to root for them AT ALL, but the drama and the angst between these two characters, who are essentially so alike, kept me drawn to the flame they created. They are the epitome of showing you that there might be someone that brings out the best in you in some elements but is also super toxic for you.
As much as I didn't root for Daisy and Billy. I found myself rooting for Karen and Graham. When they were not the main focus of the story I felt myself pining to get back to them...They felt the most real and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the voice actor of Karen. I was so sad by the events that unfolded between the two of them. I wanted them to overcome that hurdle and end up together. But it also showed me that if you don't communicate early with your partner about where you see your relationship going in the future if your visions do not align - the relationship is doomed to fail.
The more I think about this book, the more I think it's a reflection of how tragic human relationships can be and how complicated life can become from a relationship. The Six were amazing together and they made amazing music, but as much as they were great that environment and group of people together was so destructive and toxic.
The ending blew my mind and I actually had to stop listening to compose myself - the last 8 minutes were non-stop tears running down my face.
I can now safely watch the show with more context and can gladly say everyone who raves about this book was so right!
I get it!
I was six years old when "Hello, I Love You" by The Doors came on the car radio and it was the first time that I saw the two people I loved the most in the world have a completely different emotional reaction to music. If anything, it was the first time I saw somebody able to have an emotional reaction to music. My father idolized everything that Jim Morrison stood for absolutely loved the song and loved what it meant. My mother was viscerally angry as the band, music and Jim Morrison were the epitome representation of glamorised sex, drugs, debauchery and rock and roll.
I found myself constantly thinking back on this memory. Like a song stuck in my head, this moment was constantly playing on repeat in my mind as if to ask where do you stand in this argument? Do you just enjoy the experience or do you let the person behind the experience influence you and how you feel? I think I ended up in the middle. While I do have some issues with the book, overall I loved it, I loved what it did to me emotionally and I loved the entire experience of getting to know the dark and dirty about Daisy Jones and the Six.
This book is almost "an interview-style conversation" that happens with all the band members and key players that make up or influence Daisy Jones and the Six. It showcases their lives in the seventies - around their initial formation, their rise to stardom, and then what happened after that leading to their eventual breakup.
At the start I thought I would hate this book, I don't like Contemporary Historical Fiction and this almost feels like something"Non-Fiction" (which I like even less). I am also not really into 70's Music. In the end, though as much as I don't connect with this type of story, I feel like something was stolen from me because Daisy Jones and The Six don't actually exist. This is a testament to how fantastic the "worldbuilding" is in this novel is because TJR made me form such a deep emotional connection to a completely fictional band. The characters in this just feel so human and unapologetically real.
I, 150% recommend that if you're going to pick up this book, pick it up in the audiobook form because there is a full cast and because it's done in the style of an interview, you get everybody's individual voices coming through, and they did such an amazing job narrating the story.
There was a sense of almost an unreliable narration to the story because you have characters that would say one thing and then be corrected or contradicted by another character. You would have to choose which side of the story to believe, or do you believe the truth is actually something that's almost in the middle. Again this reinforces typical human nature, relating to how faulty our own memory can be. Or it shows how we might, in situations where we aren't depicted in the best light, change the story up a bit...so we underplay the situation so we don't seem so bad.
Even though there is this "cast element" of characters there, there are two main characters as the main focus of the story: Billy and Daisy. They are awful. I did not want to root for them. This made me question how much I actually enjoyed the book, because normally when I read a book, I root for the main characters. In this, I DID NOT WANT to root for them AT ALL, but the drama and the angst between these two characters, who are essentially so alike, kept me drawn to the flame they created. They are the epitome of showing you that there might be someone that brings out the best in you in some elements but is also super toxic for you.
As much as I didn't root for Daisy and Billy. I found myself rooting for Karen and Graham. When they were not the main focus of the story I felt myself pining to get back to them...They felt the most real and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the voice actor of Karen. I was so sad by the events that unfolded between the two of them. I wanted them to overcome that hurdle and end up together. But it also showed me that if you don't communicate early with your partner about where you see your relationship going in the future if your visions do not align - the relationship is doomed to fail.
The more I think about this book, the more I think it's a reflection of how tragic human relationships can be and how complicated life can become from a relationship. The Six were amazing together and they made amazing music, but as much as they were great that environment and group of people together was so destructive and toxic.
The ending blew my mind and I actually had to stop listening to compose myself - the last 8 minutes were non-stop tears running down my face.
I can now safely watch the show with more context and can gladly say everyone who raves about this book was so right!
I get it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault and Abortion