Not normally the type of book I would read. But had an urge, it called to me. Glad I did. This was a fun read. And I could have read a lot more as I got to know these interesting almost real characters.

If Reese Witherspoon says she likes a book and picks it for her online book club then in my humble opinion it's usually pretty good and when I saw that Daisy Jones and The Six had been chosen as this month's choice (and a possible mini series) it seemed to be a good book to pick up next and I am so glad I did. I can pretty much say right now that this is certainly going to end the year as one of my top reads, it's bloody brilliant. There is no point in trying to find clever superlatives here when that does the job.

The book is an interview with the band members of The Six, once famous throughout America in the 1970s and of a solo singer called Daisy Jones whose talents were combined together to make a stunning album called Aurora. The band were everything, they were everywhere, their connection to each other was out of this world and then suddenly they were no more. No explanations were ever given, no interviews were made until now, in this book.

We are taken back to the formative days when the Dunne brothers formed a band that were eventually to become known as The Six. Their lead singer Billy hit the big time hard: sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were definitely his vibe despite a wife and baby on the way. Daisy Jones was a girl who had everything and wanted for nothing and yet wasn't satisfied with life. She too hits a path of drink and drugs, yet unlike Billy has found nothing to quit for. Separately their individual music is good but when serendipity brings them together their music is formidable.

This book is about the band, the music but more importantly it is about the people who are part of the music. Taylor Jenkins Reid focuses on Billy and Daisy, but spends just as much time building the characters of the rest of the band plus those loved ones whose lives are ultimately affected by everything that they do. Many have said that they think the book is loosely based on Fleetwood Mac but I don't know about that. What I will say is that I believed that Daisy Jones and The Six were real from the moment I finished the first page of the book until I read the very last word, and I am not the only one to say how sorry I am that the music defined through these pages does not exist in real life because I know without a doubt I would be playing those songs again and again and again.

Daisy Jones and The Six is about music, it's about passion, it's about following your dreams, it's about relationships, it's about loving someone and them not loving you back, it's about life, it's about death, it's about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. It's about everything.

A diverting enough read, and had it been 80 pages shorter I might’ve given it a higher rating.

The characters are well-formed. The band and its culture and dynamics are strong, easy to picture, but the characters themselves remain pretty static throughout the book. Billy is the only character who makes a big life change early on, but he doesn’t grow as a person after that initial spurt.

Same goes for the plot. I enjoyed the behind the music interview format well enough but suspending the disbelief than 8-10 key players remembered the same set of incidents with such clarity became difficult. Sure, band life is pretty repetitive: gig, party, record, repeat. But the story needn’t be. A lot of scenes are inconsequential or tell us the same key details over and over, making the book feel overlong.

One criticism I found that’s consistent with my opinion of Jenkins-Reid’s previous book, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, is that the the author is good at capturing a moment and making you believe in the close world of the characters: where they hang out, and who with, and how their careers function. But both books feel completely disjointed from their era. Superficially, you’re in ‘60s and ‘70s California rock and roll, but none of the sociopolitical aspects of that era seem to impact them, except the music and the drugs of choice. They’re in their band bubble. There is one subplot that tries to get at one issue in particular (no spoilers) but it’s given a handful of pages in the course of a 370 page novel and only affects 1-2 minor characters. There’s also a lot of weak profundity in both books that I find cloying.

Maybe the author would benefit from cutting back from her love of 7s (Seven Husbands, a band of 7) and give us 2 or 3 characters with stronger arcs.

Overall, though, I enjoyed reading this book well enough.

Daisy Jones and the Six is the latest novel from the author of much beloved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which I read and enjoyed last summer. I was incredibly curious about Daisy Jones, which tackles the history of a fictional 70’s rock band, and decided to give it a try before the hype truly set in.

This book is told in an interview format -- there’s no narrative text at all. It’s a transcript from interviews with the band, producers, audio engineers, and others that knew or were involved with Daisy Jones and the Six when they were together in the 1970’s. I loved this format -- not only did it make for an incredibly interesting read, it was the perfect way to tell this story. You see every angle of the pivotal situations in the band's history and really get to piece together what really happened with the epic split happens. This layer of complexity adds so much to the story, and I think it is a better book for having this format

Like Evelyn Hugo, this book traces a life of opulence that most of us mortals do not see, and I'm always interested in these kinds of stories. The 70’s rock scene in Los Angeles was pretty intense, and although I cannot attest to the time period, I think she manages to capture it very well. The sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll lifestyle isn’t glamorised -- the book is rife with addition of all kinds -- but she still manages to capture that 70’s rock vibe. But it's not all the gritty rock n' roll lifestyle. The book has a heavy focus on the technical side of being in a band. They tour, of course, but they also write and record their music. The book dragged a little in the middle as they're writing, recording, and mixing their smash-hit album Aurora. It slowed the story down for me, however it was still interesting enough for me to continue on with the book

My main hope going into Daisy Jones was for morally grey and unlikable characters, which were the high point of Evelyn Hugo for me. Indeed, the characters in Daisy Jones are shades of grey. Most of them are completely awful and horrible people, but Reid still manages to make them interesting. Daisy isn’t our main focus, but she’s a prominent part of the book and such a fascinating character. She’s so glamorous, but because you see her point of view, as well as the points of view of others around her, you realise what a tragic figure she is. My main criticism of  The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was that Evelyn outshone everyone else, relegating them to the forgettable background. I really loved the way the interview format gives each of Daisy's band mates a chance to shine and you really get a great sense of each character -- Daisy is the star of the show, but everyone else is a memorable contributor to the story too. 

Daisy Jones and the Six may be riding the popularity of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, however I think that Daisy Jones is the better book. A fast-paced, emotional, and nostalgic book, reading Daisy Jones and the Six is like watching the juiciest episode of VH1's Behind the Music.

Before this book, I had only read one other Taylor Jenkins Reid book (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo), which I loved. Well this one has firmly cemented Taylor on my favourite, auto-buy authors list.

I hadn't even made it a third of the way through the book before buying a finished copy because I just needed it on my shelves.

I felt so thoroughly invested in these characters and their story. I was totally surprised by how much I enjoyed the format of the book -- it's told via interviews with the characters and I loved that it showed how the characters didn't always interpret or remember things the same way and there was that element of unreliable narration to it. The interview thing will be hit or miss for some people, but for me it was a massive hit.

And the writing was fantastic, I marked so many quotes I loved throughout this book (which, again, shocked me because of the format, I didn't think the format would've allowed for lovely prose but it did).

The way the book ended was a little bit disappointing, a little bit underwhelming but it also felt like it was the only way it could've ended well for this story. It felt realistic for these characters, and the way it ended just made it feel all the more real -- like I finished the book feeling like I'd read the story of a real 70s rock back and real people.

I'm not sure there are many authors out there that could pull off a story like this so well, but Taylor Jenkins Reid did it and did it brilliantly. So now I need to go back and read all of the books she's written that I've missed while I eagerly wait for her next release.

I'd rate the book 5 stars out of 5.

Firstly - I feel I should confess, that I am a music (as well as a book) lover. So this book appealed to me the moment I heard about it. I also enjoy reading books where there are a lot of different opinions and you have to try and unravel the truth for yourself.

Daisy Jones and the Six certainly has that.

Daisy Jones and the Six is told from differing perspectives throughout the novel, from Daisy’s chaotic start in music and the grass roots of the band, through to the sell out tours and volatile album recordings.

I absolutely love how the stories of both the Six and Daisy Jones' rise to fame are catalogued separately so the reader understands that they weren't always together - they were just always destined to be together.

At the risk of sounding like a teenage fan girl - I actually genuinely loved Billy as a character. Him and Daisy are both in their own ways those tortured geniuses of pop stars that really do exist outside of this fictional world.

In fact, lot of the time this novel reads like a band autobiography, the characters are that real. I would love to see this novel as a film, or TV show, because I need to hear those songs, to feel those songs that are so beautifully and brilliantly written.

Daisy Jones and the Six is a must read novel for any music lover, and a pretty great novel all round even if you're not. Destined to be one of this years greatest hits.

I am writing this review a little late - whoops! Why? Well for a large portion of time before I came to writing this review I was worse than Billy. I didn't know what I wanted.

Did I want to give this book a 2 star review? Did I want to give it 4 stars? Did I want to play it safe and go with the comfortable middle ground of 3? So much thinking happened and in the end I did 'a thing' that I don't often do.

I have been known to give books higher ratings and then on retrospect 'downgrade' them but in this case I did the reverse.

I finished reading 'Daisy Jones' and I said to myself, "I don't like this. I didn't like this. It gets 2 stars because it wasn't terrible but I didn't like it."

Then I embarked on a glorious thought journey. What exactly was it about Daisy Jones and The Six that I didn't like?

Was it the way the story was told? The story is presented as an oral history piece with an interviewer delving into the memories of the band members, their friends and colleagues.

Sure, you know the band is going to split because that's exactly what we're told from the off but I like stories where you know the ending because the anticipation builds and the journey becomes the important part.

Do I think that people would realistically remember that level of detail about something that happened over forty years ago especially when they were high the majority of the time? No, not really but I actually liked reading a book that was doing something different and enjoyed how the story was presented in this manner.

Ok, so was it the writing? Was it glorified hyperbolic purple prose? Was it dull and stilted?

No, it wasn't either of those things. Because of the way the story is presented it doesn't leave much room for over styled writing or for stagnant sentences.

As this tale unfolds via interviews we get a keen sense of the character's voices and their individual way of speaking. Sometimes I felt some of the voices were too similar to be uniquely distinguished but not to the extent where I felt you couldn't get the feel for the characters.

Was it the setting? Hell no! I haven't lived through the 70's but honestly this whole story reeked of sex, drugs and rock and roll and I mean that in a good way. I actually find the whole 70's vibe partly fascinating, partly horrifying and actually... partly sad.

There's a real sense of loneliness and isolation for a few of the characters and this is fed from the lifestyle they lead, one of drugged up hedonism which they say they enjoyed. But the question that's asked from this story is 'did they really?' and the answer we get through probing their memories is 'no, they didn't.'

Is is the overall story? If you want something heavily plot driven this isn't it. If you want action this is not what you'll find under Daisy Jones. The nature of how it is presented means this is a slower moving account of people's lives during a specific period of time.

Like I said, we know the outcome. The story is about how we get to that outcome. Along the way we are presented with a plethora of characters and their opinions that will keep you guessing.

At times when reading the book I felt I didn't need the sections where we get descriptions of them recording songs inside the studio as that slowed down an already slow paced story but, when I reflected, I came to realise it was in those quiet moments that connections were forged.

That must leave the characters then? I'll level with you. This book contains its fair share of assholes. But it's a story about rock and roll in the 70's so what are we all expecting?

In a band of that size we have characters of varying personalities.

There are the relatively minor band members - Warren who is simply hilarious and just wants to enjoy his glory days while he can, Pete who sees it all for what it truly is - mayhem in youth, Eddie who clashes with Billy and thinks of himself as gods gift (which is ironic because no one thinks of Eddie).

Those we get more of an insight into are Billy's younger brother Graham who has spent life in his big brothers shadow and Karen who faces the struggle of being a female in a male rockers world. They have their own stories, both separately and together and I enjoyed their plot line a lot.

Then, oh then, we have Billy and Daisy themselves.

Much like a band, in a book it doesn't matter if you have an ensemble - there is always the star(s). In this story the main characters are Billy and Daisy. Did I like them? You want the truth?

No.

I liked the secondary characters more. But that doesn't mean I didn't find Billy and Daisy infinitely the most conflicted, most damaged and the most interesting.

They start as damaged souls and they continue as damaged souls and despite their antagonism you can see they're both missing a piece of something that they have found in the other.

But the question that the book makes us ask is, 'is finding that missing piece in another always a good thing?'

If you think I'm ignoring the character of Camila (Billy's wife) you can think again. In some ways this story is more fundamentally about her than some of the members of the band and she has an impact on the events even when not present. Ultimately it makes sense in context, especially when you reach certain points and certain, specific realisations are made.

Billy is a passionate, hedonistic, talented asshole who throws his addictive personality into whatever is available but he tries so hard to overcome those demons. Daisy is a passionate, hedonistic, talent asshole who is lonely, vulnerable and desperate for love. She doesn't try quite as hard to overcome those emotions.

Camila is just as equally an interesting character as Billy and Daisy and I liked (ok, I loved) her character. Strength takes many forms as this book shows us and never has the adage 'behind every man stands a good woman' been more true.

That's not to say she doesn't have her flaws. She's a woman who wants what she has in life and will hold onto it. This may make her seem manipulative to some and there are indications (both subtle and overt) that she knows what she's doing but she's not a bad guy here. She's a woman who loves her family.

This story of sex, drugs, rock and roll and damaged people is actually a love story but not always in the way you think. Love is a complicated, confusing thing. Love is a nurturing and nourishing thing. Love is a destructive and damaging thing.

Daisy Jones and The Six is a story about that passion in your core which drives you but it's also about healing and hope.

I've said all that stuff but didn't I give this book a 2?! Well I went away and thought about it. I thought about it and thought about it and realised that if a book resonated with me that much and burrowed its way into my brain that much, it must be worth more than 2 stars.

So I gave it 4 stars. That's unprecedented in my world. I don't upgrade dammit. Not usually.

I had to think about why I initially closed the story with the blanket statement, 'I didn't like it.' What I was really thinking was 'I didn't like the way this book made me feel.'

Daisy Jones and The Six made me sad for many of the characters, it made me feel uncomfortable to acknowledge that underneath the glimmer and the rock and roll was just misery, isolation and layers of dirt.

But I have to tip my cap to it and say, "Kudos, you cheeky minx. You've made me question whether the universe will find a way for the something when the timing is right."

Yes, a book about rock stars who wear see through tops and double denim made me ponder the overall meaning of what it means to love someone and receive their love in return.

Kudos, book. Kudos.

At the outset of Reid's novel, set in the early 1970s, Daisy Jones is a stunningly beautiful teenage groupie. She manages to wangle a record contract and records a mildly successful album, albeit not the record that she wanted to make.

Meantime The Six, a rock band formed by the charismatic Billy Dunne and his brother, are starting to make some headway and getting attention. Billy has big ambitions for his band and wants to make a breakthrough to the big time. Their producer decides that the best way to do this is to record a duet with an up-and-coming female vocalist that he is also managing - Daisy Jones. The record is a smash and before anybody has time to really understand what is happening, Daisy becomes part of the band.

Reid manages to effectively paint a picture of sexual and creative tensions in the band, the shifting power dynamics, the changing sexual politics of the time and the seductive attractions of addiction and of ambition. In a variation on the epistolary novel, the story unfolds as a series of snippets from interviews with the characters by the author. The brevity of these quotes and the continual shifting of narrative viewpoint allows the story to proceed at a cracking and highly-readable pace. This device also allows Reid to subtly highlight differences in the characters' viewpoints without labouring the point, as well as to introduce some very good plot twists. Reid's characters are believable and most of them have been given depth and a narrative arc of their own.

This book is compulsively readable and highly entertaining.

Oh how I loved this! It made me wish desperately that Daisy Jones and the Six were real or that a mockumentary was made based on this book so I could delve even deeper into the hedonistic world of a late 70s rock band and their personal lives. The characters are beautifully drawn and their interplay wonderfully realistic, right down to people having different recollections of the same events.

I'd love to see the author do the same with a real band because I think they'd write a brilliant autobiography. There's a good reason why this book is being raved about so much.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

★★★☆☆

“That’s the glory of being a man. An ugly face isn’t the end of you.”

Okay, so right off the bat I want to say this: Don’t compare Daisy Jones & The Six to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. They’re nothing alike, absolutely and completely different. Content-wise they’re set in different scenes and the characters are completely different. Please don’t pick u this book because you think they’re going to be anything alike.

Daisy Jones keeps it real. There are some amazing quotes but the actual story ain’t that deep folks. Okay, so it is deep, there are a whole load of complex themes in play but they never feel fully fleshed out because the story is told through an interview format which never enables the reader to properly get to know the characters on a deeper level.

“It hurts to care about someone more than they care about themselves.”

THE GOOD

Quick to read
Great audiobook
Really interesting to see how the songs got written
You’ll probably like this if you enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody & A Star Is Born
Rise and fall of cons
Not your typical romance from TJR which is a nice change
Would make a great mini-series and I think it’s actually becoming one???
Good to point out that a team can’t get along 100% of the time
Didn’t want it to end toward the end

It felt real, like this band was real and all of this had really happened. I don’t think the story was bad, but I do think it was being told in the completely wrong medium – this story was made to be told in another way. I really think this is going to work so much better as a mini-series so thank god, Resse Witherspoon is adapting (for Amazon, I think).

If you enjoyed the behind the scenes look of Queen in Bohemian Rhapsody and the behind the scenes look at songwriting in A Star Is Born you will LOVE this. But, other than that, I think Daisy Jones is going to be a miss for a lot of people, it certainly was for me.

“The drugs aren’t so cute anymore when you wake up with dried blood under your nose so often that cleaning it off is part of your morning routine, like brushing your teeth.”

THE MEH

I just had this overarching “meh” feeling while reading this. I wasn’t quite disappointed because I knew there were a lot of average & DNF early reviews but I was expecting to either LOVE or HATE it. I don’t really like books about bands or music in general, so I was a bit unsure how I would feel about this book, but the music was actually the best thing about this book – it was really interesting to see how the songs were written!

Daisy Jones & The Six felt weak. It wasn’t until the last 10% of the book that I actually started to care what happened and I didn’t want the story to end. But, for the other 90% I was just waiting to start caring. I know that sounds harsh and I don’t mean to be, but this book had so much potential and I just don’t think it made sense in this medium!

The way the story is told is interesting but emotionless. You can’t see how the characters are feeling, I was listening to this on audiobook and reading along with my arc copy and honestly, the audiobook made such a difference to how I consumed the story! The audiobook gave the characters depth and emotion – it gave me more of a chance to know and understand them because the narrators did such a fantastic job!

Honestly, if I had just read Daisy Jones & The Six on my Kindle like I originally intended to, I probably wouldn’t have finished the book, or at least I would’ve given it a much lower rating.

“Acceptance is a powerful drug and I should know because I’ve done ’em all”

The characters in this book are manic and suffocating. You hear about all the characters’ struggles but you never feel it. They tell you how vulnerable they are but they never feel vulnerable when you’re reading their words. This book has some really good point and has resonated with a lot of people so I won’t not recommend this, but for me, it really missed the mark. I enjoyed the team dynamic and the behind the scenes aspects of making the music but the characters just felt skin deep and I never felt like I really got to know them.

I wanted to read this because it is absolutely of my time and the band is one completely resonates with my listening in those heady days. From the off it is clear that Jenkins Reid has got the mood and mores of the time bang to rights.

Written as a series of interviews, with remembrance being a moveable feast for those in and involved with the band, what you get is a narrative with a range of different perspectives, the sum of the parts making for a very convincing whole.

The book chronicles the love story between Daisy Jones and lead singer strutting Billy Dunne, and their relationship that developed as the band rose to fame. Leggy, gorgeous, wanting for nothing, Daisy Jones is used to getting what she wants. What she wants is Billy and the fact that Billy is married to Camilla is neither here nor there. The other members of The Six are Graham, Warren, Pete, Karen and Eddie.

Originally booked as an opening act for their tour, mostly because of her looks, but she does also have a decent smoky, slightly rasping voice, Daisy‘s appearance with The Six really clicks.

Once the two come together on stage, the band really starts to take off as the combination of the music and sexual chemistry reaches out and sprays the audience with their heady rock perfume.

Following the interviews throughout the bands progression from early small touring band in small whisky joints to their transition to a huge success, these interviews chronicle the sex, drugs, addictions, fights and hopes of all those involved.

Self-absorbed, in Daisy’s case fighting to have her creativity recognised, selfish and utterly destructive at times, this is a heartfelt evocation of band life in the late 60’s and 70’s and how egos clashing and creative differences really play out behind the scenes.

Though I enjoyed this a lot, I did find the interview format a little bit choppy and noisy and I really did wish I could hear the songs as I read them. I’m going to buy the audio book, because I’m sure that will work beautifully.

Verdict: Authentic, believable. A really evocative telling of the rise and fall of a rock band in the 70’s.

Was looking forward to reading this book as it's my era for music. Sadly, I just couldn't get into it. Didn't like the format and didn't really like the character of Daisy.

I loved this book! I can't fault it in any way. I loved how the book was written in the form of interviews, you really got an insight into the relationships between characters and a feeling of how addictive the rock and roll lifestyle was. Daisy is such a flawed character but at the same time, strong and intelligent and powerful, and that made her captivating, she just jumps off the page. Actually all of the women in the novel were realistic and strong - Camilla is great. Even the (I hate to call them this) minor characters are well drawn, I had a perfect picture of who was who in my head. The book tackles drug abuse and addiction without glamourising either, but it does show how easy it would have been to be swept away them. The narrative is a roller-coaster as it charts the rise and fall of the band and I was sad when I came to the last page. Just brill.

This book will be huge and, I’m sure, a film before long. A fictional account of a 70s band, from beginning, to meteoric rise to inevitable breakup. Daisy Jones is the beautiful, talented but damaged singer songwriter who joins the band, ensures its success with her artistic and sexual chemistry with Billy, the lead singer. The interview style of the storytelling felt pedestrian at first, and I was 20% in before I became engaged with the characters. However, there were things about the interviews that really worked - the various differing memories of the same event and the different perspectives. This book has every rock and roll cliché going, yet manages to get behind them and find some truth. The women come across as real and I was unexpectedly moved at the end. Enjoyable and easy to read.

Where to start with this review? How about how much it caught my imagination, how keen I was to curl up with the intertwined interviews of various band members, to find out just why Daisy Jones & the Six broke up after the most amazing show of their sell-out tour?

The interview-reportage style is oddly catchy – I thought it would be annoying after a while, but it’s handled perfectly. We switch back and forth between (labelled) character’s answers to off-book questions, rearranged by some unnamed interviewer to tell a cohesive story. The story of a fledgling band and a gifted but damaged singer. Their highs and lows, fame and fortune and booze and drugs, and of course, their relationships.

I absolutely loved the juxtaposition of answers from ‘different’ interviews. How two people could say the exact opposite about the same event. The reminder that even the most amazing or devastating events in one person’s life can be a “they seemed fine” to another.

Through it all is the story of the making of an album – an amazing, seminal, sadly fictitious album. It’s like getting a behind the curtain peek into the creative process, in a way I haven’t seen done so well before. Love love loved it!

If I’m knocking one mark off it’s for the ending – which is great, don’t get me wrong, but very much made me realise this book was a journey not a destination, and about people and love more than I usually go for. Still, what a ride! Recommended.

After hearing nothing but gushing reviews about ‘Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’ last year, I knew that I needed to not expect too much from the author because for one, this was a very different type of book compared to Evelyn Hugo from what I have heard and second, well, can’t be too hyped about a book otherwise it kinda hinders the enjoyment of the book, I think.

So, with that in mind, I started my reading. The format of the book took me a bit to get used to but I am of the opinion that perhaps nothing else could have worked well with this one. I am sure there are people who wouldn’t find this format to their tastes and I can totally see why that could be. Then there’s the fact that while those interviews work well to help us understand what happened, there was something missing from the book. I couldn’t really feel the characters, if you know what I mean and the format of the book is to be blamed for that, perhaps.

I am not saying that I didn’t like this book but perhaps, this wasn’t the book I should have chosen as an introduction to this author. It might colour whether I pick up her books or not. I hope that’s not the case but I am moody so who really knows. There’s also the matter of characters and how they were used in a way that meant that I didn’t really want to know more about them? Some of the secondary characters felt unnecessary and too bland, I wish they were more fleshed out to give a more genuine feel to the book.

Apart from this, I did enjoy the book. There’s a reason I gave it four stars, after all. I think, in a very odd way, this was my introduction to the music scene in sixties and seventies in LA. I have absolutely no idea how much of that is faithful to the history because I wasn’t born in America and my childhood was basically spent in being interested in all things Bollywood. So that was enlightening to say the least. I really loved the way Daisy’s journey was shown along with Billy and his band.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Daisy and Billy, they were approaching the collab from such different angles and it was fun to see that. Billy and Camila’s relationship was a bit hard to digest for me, Camila was too good a person for me swallow and that might be my fault. She’s too good for him but I like that there was a change in Billy because of Camila. The rest of the band and their internal relationships were also interesting, I really liked Karen. She was so well written. She was also so unapologetic about her wants, her wishes.

I wish I could have enjoyed this novel more but I can safely say that this one was pretty good on its own. I have seen mixed reviews of this one and I agree with most of the points made but overall, I did enjoy it.

Daisy Jones and the Six tells the story of the rise of a 70s rock band and their sudden break up in the middle of touring their hugely successful album. Told though intercut interviews with the protagonists, it's like reading one of those music documentaries (in the best possible way) and it only took me about 50 pages to forget that the band was a work of fiction. By the end I was could practically hear the music in my head and see the band on stage. It's just brilliant. Daisy is the daughter of two high powered (an artist and a model) but neglectful parents who takes the cool LA scene by storm before she's even recorded a song, The Six are a rock band who have worked their way up on the east coast and have come west for their big break. Together they are more than the sum of their parts but they are also a mass of egos and addictions and competing talents.

This is the book to read on the beach this summer. Or at least it's what I'm going to be recommending so far. It's getting loads of buzz - it's Reese Witherspoon's book club pick this month and in the US it's a Book of the Month Club book - so get in their now before the rush. And before the miniseries. For once I'm sort of before the mad craze. Just.

A very enjoyable romp through 1960s 1970s rock world in the company of a fantastic lead character and female icon - daisy Jones. A rather predictable story is elevated by the interview style which allows differing viewpoints to overlap and let the reader decide what really happened. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and to Random House UK, Cornerstone, for providing me an ARC copy of this book that I freely chose to review.
I kept seeing this book pop up all over when it came to recommendations of new releases and that made me curious. I also read that Reese Witherspoon had bought the rights to adapt it into a TV series, and the comments about the book made me think about the movie This Is Spinal Tap, although the musical genre is different (yes, it’s all Rock & Roll, baby) and the story is not intended as a parody, and all that together with the evocative cover, I knew I had to check it out.
This is one of those novels where I was intrigued to read what other reviewers had said, and, curiously enough, one of those where I could see the point of both, those who really loved the book, and also those who hated it. Somehow, I could see the merit on both types of opinions, and it really depends on the kinds of books you enjoy or not. A couple of provisos, here. Many of the reviews talk about the author, and especially refer to one of her previous books, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which seems to be a well-loved novel, and for people who had loved that book, their expectations were very high, and some found this book too different (some fans of the writer also loved this book, so don’t let that put you off). I haven’t read any of the author’s previous novels, so I cannot help with that. After reading the reviews and this novel, I became curious about her other books, but I come to it without any previous knowledge. The second proviso is that quite a few people compare the ‘fiction’ band at the heart of the story, The Six, that is later joined by Daisy Jones, with Fleetwood Mac (with Daisy Jones then being a stand-in for Stevie Nicks), but I must confess not to know enough about the ins and outs of this band to be able to comment (I was quite young when they were at the height of their popularity, and I never read much about them, although having read a bit about them since, yes, I can see similarities, but I can also see differences). So, if you are a big fan of Fleetwood Mac, you might be more intrigued to read this novel, but you might also hate it. You’ve been warned.
So, what are the comments on both sides that I agree with? The way the story is told will not be to everybody’s taste. This is the story of the band, and of Daisy Jones, pieced together through interviews conducted many years after the band was created, and that makes it very fragmented. It does follow a chronological order, and we get to know about Daisy Jones, and about the Dunne Brothers (Billy and Graham), from before they got into singing, composing, and playing songs, and later on the rest of the members of the band, Camila (Billy’s girlfriend and later wife) and their manager also come into play. These fragments of interviews often refer to the same events, providing the reader different points of view, and sometimes completely different descriptions, but it can cause a disjointed effect, and it will suit some readers but others will hate it. Personally, I found it fun and quite dynamic, but it is true it does not immediately create a picture of what’s going on in one’s head, in the same way as more standard narratives do.
There were also a lot of comments about the characters, and how some of them were one-dimensional and it was difficult to tell them apart. As I have said before, the story starts with the origin of the band (we later learn why), and then we only get to hear from the rest of the members as they join the band or meet the other characters. For me, Pete, Eddie and Warren were not distinctive enough. Yes, Eddie always seemed to have issues with Billy and didn’t like his style of leading the band. Pete had a girlfriend in the East and he would phone her often, and Warren was the drum player, but other than that I’m not sure I got a strong impression of who they were, and when later in the book one of them wanted to leave the band, I realised that I must have been told two of them were brothers already, but because that hadn’t feature prominently anywhere (after all, the interview is about the band, their tours, and their records, and the questions asked are mostly about the time they spent together), it had not registered with me. Camila is talked about a lot, because many of Billy’s songs are about her, and although she seems to represent an old-fashioned model of femininity, the staying-at-home Mom, she gets involved at crucial points and she has a more important role than one might think when the story starts. I did feel that the female characters were the strongest, and although that did not make them immediately sympathetic and likeable, I thought they were the more complex and the ones I most enjoyed. I liked Karen (I’m not a musician, but I did feel a connection with her) the keyboard player, as well, and she is, perhaps, my favourite character. And I quite liked Daisy’s friend, Simone, also, although she is mostly portrayed as her friend, rather than being an individual in her own right, and that comes in part from her telling Daisy’s story and her role in it rather than giving us much insight into her own character. Although Daisy marries at some point, Simone is more of a steadying influence for her, like Camila is for Billy, than any of the men she meets and talks about in the book. But I agree, the way the story is told does not make for fully rounded characters, although many of the situations will feel familiar to people who have read a lot of biographies of rock & roll bands.
Some reviewers were disappointed by the ending, that perhaps feels more like a whimper than a bang, but I thought it made perfect sense, and yes, there is something I’ve seen described as a twist, that is perhaps not truly a twist, but it helps join everything together and adds a nice touch.
I am not an expert on music, and not a big follower of bands. I have not been to many concerts, although even with that, it is difficult not to have heard or read about the use of drugs, wild parties, hotel rooms trashed by bands on tour, groupies following bands from city to city, and the paraphernalia around the 1970s world of rock & roll music scene. There is plenty of that here, and also of envies, of fights, of creative differences, of the process of composing, creating, and editing an album, down to the shooting of the cover, that will delight people who really love the period and reading about it. Even I, who am not knowledgeable about it, enjoyed it, particularly learning more about the process of creation, although it might not sound authentic to people who truly know it. The writer gives the different characters (at least the main ones) distinct voices, and the lyrics of the songs, that are also included in full at the end, fit perfectly in with the band and its themes, and it made me keen on reading more of the author’s novels.
There is more than R & R to the book, or perhaps some of the themes seem inherently related to it, like drug addiction, family relations, alcoholism, abortion, fatherhood, bringing up children, the role of men and women in the family, child neglect and abuse… Although some of them are only mentioned in passing, we get a fuller picture of others (Daisy is very young when she leaves her parents and starts visiting bars, taking drugs, and engaging in behaviours that would be considered risky at a much older age, and drug and alcohol addiction and its consequences are discussed in detail), and readers must be cautious if they find those subjects upsetting.
I have talked a bit about the characters and said which my favourites are. In some ways, Billy and Graham are the most sympathetic to begin with. Their father abandon them when they are very young, and they work very hard, are talented, and support each other through thick and thin. However, when Billy becomes addicted to drugs and then gets sober and becomes the head of the band, he puts himself and his family first and is not always likeable (even if creatively he sounds interesting). Daisy, on the other hand, sounds at first like a rich-spoiled girl, but her family pays no attention to her, and she is in fact neglected. She is selfish and egotistical as well, but she has no role models or understanding. I liked her attitude, but not her in particular, at least at first, and her behaviour will be alien to most people (although typical of the image we might have in our head about what a rock star would be like). However, the way the story is told gives us the opportunity to read her later reflections and the way she now sees things and how she evaluates much of what she did at the time. And although I didn’t particularly like the Daisy of the period (she is described as a magnet to everybody who met her, but I never had the feeling I would have liked it if I had known her), I came to appreciate the older Daisy and her take on things.
What did I think of the book? I really enjoyed it. It panders to most of our standard images of what the life of a rock & roll band would have been like at that time, but it gives an insight into parts of the process that I found interesting. It also creates some credible female characters that have made their own decisions and fought their own fights, and in the world of music that is not always easy to find. The way of telling the story worked for me, although I know it won’t work for everybody. I highlighted a lot of the story, so much so that I decided to leave it to readers to check a sample and get a sense of the narrative style. Does it deserve the hype? Well, perhaps not for me, but it’s a good read and I can see why it will captivate some readers more than it did me. Oh, and for those who love audiobooks, I’ve read very good reviews of the audio version, and I understand that there is a full cast of narrators and each character is voiced by a different person, so it is worth considering.
If you are a rock & roll fan and enjoy trips down memory lane, especially to the 1970s, I’d recommend this book. And I hope to explore further novels written by the same author.

I’m fortunate to read a lot of books in a year and in that year, although I will read a lot of really good books, there will only be about one or two if I’m really lucky that will completely blow me away. This is one of those books that completely blew me away.

The books is told in the form of multiple interviews that are all pieced together by the interviewer after she had met with the various band members and other people associated with Daisy and the Six. The band rose to fame quite quickly in the 1970’s during the period of sex, drugs and rock n roll and each character adds their thoughts and re-tells the story of the band how they remember it throughout their rise and fall from fame.

I really enjoyed how the author pieced this book together in this way. I’ve never read a fiction book told like this before and it was so authentic I had to keep reminding myself that the people I’m reading about are fictional as the story and the characters are so believable!

Although there is no one main character as such, as there are multiple stories within the characters of the band, and you get to know them all quite intimately while reading, arguably one of the stand out characters for me was Daisy.

Daisy is so broken and fragile I just wanted to mother her and give her a hug but at the same time she is so fierce and determined. Her love for her music is what keeps her going even though she is the kind of personality that easily succumbs to drug use and has a tendency to over-do just about everything she does. She is an addictive person in every sense of the phrase.

I absolutely loved everything about this book. This was one of those rare times when as I was reading I thought to myself that I am reading the perfect book at the perfect time. I loved reading about how the band rose to fame and came to play together, how they worked on their hit album, and the complex inter-relationships between the members and those closest to the band members. For me everything worked in this book. I wish I could read it again for the first time and bottle up that feeling you get when you know you’re reading a book that is going to knock your socks off.

I recommend everyone read this book and fall for Daisy Jones & the Six just like I did.