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A no-spoilers book review of “Daisy Jones & The Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Which feels a lot more like a Fleetwood Mac biopic and I’m here for it.
This book is undoubtedly one of the first books by Taylor Jenkins Reid that caught my attention. A co-worker had a Book of The Month copy and was thrilled to be reading it in her book club. I on the other hand had decided to wait a bit, buy a copy that was loved by someone else first and then dive in. So let’s jump right in!
Summary
The first character we meet is Daisy Jones. Daisy Jones is born into a wealthy, glamorous, but neglectful family. She is quite the “wildflower” as she is often viewed as beautiful and free-spirited. Her closest friend is an older disco star named Simone. Simone and Daisy party a lot together at first, before Simone becomes one of the few people truly looking out for Daisy.
Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, the Dunne brothers are a blues band consisting of brothers Billy and Graham Dunne. They eventually bring in Warren Rhodes (drummer), Pete Loving (bassist), Eddie (rhythm guitarist), and Karen (keyboardist). They change their name to “The Six” and eventually meet Teddy Price who has a lot of involvement with their later success when they sign with Runner Records.
Teddy Price introduces Daisy Jones to “The Six” when he suggests bringing in a female for a duet. Despite Billy and Daisy spending 90% of their time bickering, the 10% spent writing music together paid off and their first single together is an instant success.
Not long after, Daisy Jones officially joins the band and they become “Daisy Jones & The Six”. Despite Billy’s and Daisy’s bickering, the studio album they write following their single skyrockets the band’s fame, seemingly overnight. The sudden fame intensifies not only the spotlight on the band members, but also their interpersonal problems and struggles.
This book is set in the seventies and follows an interview-style narrative, however, the bigger point of the story is to uncover why the band suddenly split up.
My Thoughts
The interview-style narrative gives a nice insight into each character’s thoughts and feelings, although (in my opinion) this does make the story tend to drag on or seem repetitive at some points. Oftentimes, many of the characters recount the same situation but do so in a way that does not give another viewpoint, but rather another person relaying the same facts or opinions as everyone else.
On a side note, like many of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s other books, “Daisy Jones & The Six” is classified as historical fiction. I never considered how much I enjoy historical fiction until I began reading through all of TJR’s books.
When it comes to the characters within the book, they are exactly how I pictured the members of a seventies band to be. To be honest, there were several areas where I felt like I was reading an MTV interview with Fleetwood Mac.
The story focuses heavily on Billy and Daisy and during some important moments, Billy’s wife, Camila. In another life or book, Daisy and Billy would have been together. The raw, almost magical energy between them can be felt beyond the words on the page.
The Characters
The characters are by far what makes this story what it is. The plot does feel a bit slow at times. I put this book down for a week about seventy percent into it because I was just ready to skip ahead and find out what happened. When I did pick the book back up again, the reasoning behind the band’s sudden and abrupt split felt a little lackluster.
While many aspects of the split could be felt brewing earlier in the story, the main reason felt too “easy” of a way to wrap up the book. It also gave some characters an easy out when really, they should have been forced to face the truth. No matter how ugly that truth might have been.
I do also contribute the interview style writing to my losing interest about seventy percent into the book. While it was fascinating at first, it became a little cumbersome. I have been told since finishing the book that the audiobook is far better, as each character is voiced individually.
Final Thoughts
Once I did finish the book, I felt relieved to have finished the book and reflected on the characters I liked. Though I still hold strong that I wish the ending would have been different. Perhaps though, that is just me craving more drama from a rock band in the seventies.
Final verdict?
4.5 out of 5 stars.
Though some spots were very slow and I felt let down by the ending of the story, another ending would not have been fitting to the story and more importantly, it would have felt so out of place for one of the characters. A big part of the reason why the book ended the way it did, is because of the character’s inability to face the truth.
I really enjoy Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books and am slowly working my way through them all. While this book didn’t live up to my love for “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” this story is still one worth reading.
You might also like: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo // Where The Crawdads Sing