Daisy Jones & the Six: A Review

This book. THIS BOOK. I cannot stress how much I loved this book!

This book is a fictional encounter of the rise and fall of a 1970s rock band; Daisy Jones & the Six, a seven piece band who rose to fame quite quickly. This book covers the band’s lives from 1965/1966 to their abrupt split in July 1979, and discovers why it is they split up in the end.

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To start with, I really liked the way the story was told – in the style of an interview. It was really unique, especially for a fictional book, and I really think it helped to give all of the characters a voice, rather than just being in third person. This was a great way to tell the story of the band, although there are moments where you see everyone remembers things differently. This is something which the fictional author mentions right at the start of the book, stating that “on matters both big and small, sometimes accounts of the same event differ. The truth often lies, unclaimed, in the middle.” which pretty much sums it up perfectly. Someone will say they drove to/from an event, whilst someone else says they did the same, even though they came together.

I liked seeing a little bit of The Six before they were a band, and before Daisy Jones had joined them. This really gave you context into why they were together, rather than starting at the point where they started making music together. I liked the relationships between the band at the start, and I thought they were quite a strong unit, although there were some conflicting ideas even then. It showed that there was a lot of progression both as a band and as relationships/situations for band members changed.

Speaking of Band members, I don’t think I could write a review about this book without mentioning either of the band’s singers. Let’s start with Daisy. “I had absolutely no interest in being somebody else’s muse. I am not a muse. I am the somebody.”  This line sums up Daisy’s character so much. She was never going to be the muse, the girl in the background, the girl without the voice. She was always going to be a star, the main attraction, the life of the party. She made it so. She was talented, but she was also not a role model. Throughout the book Daisy makes terrible decisions for herself, and doesn’t listen to the people who really care about her, and listens to those who don’t.  She’s a good person who makes terrible decisions.

Billy Dunne is the lead singer of The Six who changes so much throughout this book. The person he is at the start of the book is not who he is at the end, and that’s a good thing. He has his moments where he tried to control everything, especially when it comes to the band, which doesn’t make him the most popular. I liked his character on the whole though and I liked seeing his interactions with the band, even when they didn’t agree. The relationship he had with Daisy changed a lot throughout this book, and it was interesting to see the way they worked together.

As for the rest of the band, we have: Graham, Billy’s brother and the lead guitarist for The Six. He was a sweet guy, who looked out for his brother and the rest of the band. Warren, the drummer, who was very relaxed. Pete, the bassist who you don’t hear anything from in the book but who you hear a lot about. Eddie, Pete’s brother, who conflicts with Billy from the start, but who is also an excellent rhythm guitarist. Karen, the keyboardist, who became a permanent member of The Six because she wanted to be taken seriously as a musician. I loved this combination of people. They were all so different but all very much in it for one thing: the music.

The whole time was reading this book, I was reminded of watching music biopics, because that’s what it felt like. The way the interviewer constructed the interview and had the conversation flowing between the band members regardless of the fact that they’d not spoken to each other in decades was great. I loved how the interviewer was not revealed until right near the end of the book as well, it was an excellent reveal! Another thing I kept thinking the whole time I was reading this book was that I wanted to hear all of the songs that were mentioned that the band wrote/performed! I love the addition of the lyrics at the end for their last album. You got to see more than just a snippet of the songs, you got the full album, I just wish we could hear it!

Also can we talk about how gorgeous these end pages are?!?!?!?

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Overall I gave this book 5/5 stars (obviously), it was an excellent read and I can’t wait for more books from Taylor Jenkins Reid in the future. Both Daisy Jones & the Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo have been excellent. I know she’s written other books, but these are the only two I’ve read so far!

Have you read this book yet? Is it on your TBR? Let me know!

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