Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Daisy Jones & The Six was the book selected for January/February for my Up Up and Away book club. It was also a selection for Reese Witherspoon's book club, Hello Sunshine. Before this though, I had already purchased the book, I just hadn't read it. I knew it was right on the cusp of something I would enjoy, and that always makes me hesitant when reading a book. Little did I know that I was about to read the best book I have read in my nearly twenty years of reading.
Daisy Jones was the It girl of LA in the late sixties and seventies, but she wanted to write and sing her own music. The Six were an up and coming band that had just released their first album. Separate, they were good, but when they came together, they were what the seventies were all about: sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. Their album, Aurora, broke every barrier and provided music so raw, you felt like they were singing just to you. But just as quickly as they rose, they fell apart, and no one knows why. Until now.
So this is how I described it to my brother when I told him he needed to read it: It reminds me of Almost Famous and reads like a Rolling Stone article. Almost Famous is my second favorite movie, just barely beaten out by The Breakfast Club, so this is high praise from me. I was not even finished with the book at this point, and I already knew that this book was brilliant. When I finished the book this morning, I felt gutted and raw and emotional, but in all the best ways possible. I cried - long, hard, and ugly crying. And then I had to get my shit together because work was about to start and I just spent 30 minutes reliving every emotion under the sun. I know all of this sounds crazy to say and then to follow it up with this is the best book ever; but in the first reading of a book, I have never felt so passionately about a book. After a couple readings, sure, but not even to this degree that I feel with Daisy Jones & The Six.
Why is this the best book I have ever read? I'm glad you asked. For me, part of it is the time period. This era of rock'n'roll, when it is just on the cusp of changing into something else, but it is still pure rock'n'roll, what you think of when you think of the genre, is my favorite period of time. You have this hippie-grunge combination going on with the people; the music is real and raw and all the feelings you don't talk about, let alone sing about; the fashion is whatever you want it to be because this time in the world is all about being you. And you can't forget the drugs. Drugs influenced so much in this time. Weed, coke, heroin, peyote, shrooms. When you listen to the music of the seventies, the drug references are endless. You were either singing about being on them, craving them, or trying to quite them. Daisy Jones & The Six is the embodiment of the era.
The characters are so real that I forget that Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne and every other person in the book is fictional. When Daisy is described as a vibrant red head with bright blue eyes and bangles up to her elbows and a defiant yet addictive personality, I can picture her clearly next to me and hear her sing Honeycomb and Regret Me. When Billy was suffering from his addictions when they were just The Six, I can see the after parties around me, and Billy so far gone. I can see Camila giving him the ultimatum - rehab or leave. And I can see her loving him despite all of his demons and her trust in him that he would stay sober and faithful. The excitement that the band feels when they make it on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine is my excitement too, because I just want to see them succeed. (Side note: This is an excellent time in the book to listen to Cover of the Rolling Stone by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show). I can see Daisy Jones & The Six on stage, playing these songs that rock while at the same time, hitting so close to home for everyone listening to them. And I can feel them falling apart before the world sees it.
How the book is written is groundbreaking, and I think it was actually makes the book. It is written in an interview style with the characters looking back at the rise and fall of the best time of their lives. And it's not just the band, it's their producers, journalists, photographers, friends. All the people that were there with them during this time. You get so many layers about what was happening at the time, especially when you are talking about a specific time, like when they were all at the recording studio; you see how the situation was viewed from everyone's point of view. Each character has their own voice and personality, and you begin to know who's talking without being told. I have never read a book told in this style, and it really stuck out to me. Writing for one character is difficult enough, but there are multiple peoples stories told here that Reid had to write for. She is an immensely talented author. You can feel the influences of Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, and many other talented artists and groups, but it also uniquely its own in a way that makes you feel like Daisy Jones & The Six were there on the scene with them during this time.
The audio book is just as amazing as it is read by a full cast. No one reads more than one character. The further into the book I got, the more and more impressed I became with this. There are rumors of an Amazon Prime show, it even has an IMDb page and two characters cast, but I can't afford to believe it until I know it is happening, because I know it will be something that ends whatever else I am doing so I can watch it the minute an episode drops, and I just cannot live with the anticipation.
Rating: 10/10
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genres: Historical Fiction
Dates Read: January 14-16, 2020
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| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
So this is how I described it to my brother when I told him he needed to read it: It reminds me of Almost Famous and reads like a Rolling Stone article. Almost Famous is my second favorite movie, just barely beaten out by The Breakfast Club, so this is high praise from me. I was not even finished with the book at this point, and I already knew that this book was brilliant. When I finished the book this morning, I felt gutted and raw and emotional, but in all the best ways possible. I cried - long, hard, and ugly crying. And then I had to get my shit together because work was about to start and I just spent 30 minutes reliving every emotion under the sun. I know all of this sounds crazy to say and then to follow it up with this is the best book ever; but in the first reading of a book, I have never felt so passionately about a book. After a couple readings, sure, but not even to this degree that I feel with Daisy Jones & The Six.
Why is this the best book I have ever read? I'm glad you asked. For me, part of it is the time period. This era of rock'n'roll, when it is just on the cusp of changing into something else, but it is still pure rock'n'roll, what you think of when you think of the genre, is my favorite period of time. You have this hippie-grunge combination going on with the people; the music is real and raw and all the feelings you don't talk about, let alone sing about; the fashion is whatever you want it to be because this time in the world is all about being you. And you can't forget the drugs. Drugs influenced so much in this time. Weed, coke, heroin, peyote, shrooms. When you listen to the music of the seventies, the drug references are endless. You were either singing about being on them, craving them, or trying to quite them. Daisy Jones & The Six is the embodiment of the era.
 |
| (Source: Giphy) |
How the book is written is groundbreaking, and I think it was actually makes the book. It is written in an interview style with the characters looking back at the rise and fall of the best time of their lives. And it's not just the band, it's their producers, journalists, photographers, friends. All the people that were there with them during this time. You get so many layers about what was happening at the time, especially when you are talking about a specific time, like when they were all at the recording studio; you see how the situation was viewed from everyone's point of view. Each character has their own voice and personality, and you begin to know who's talking without being told. I have never read a book told in this style, and it really stuck out to me. Writing for one character is difficult enough, but there are multiple peoples stories told here that Reid had to write for. She is an immensely talented author. You can feel the influences of Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, and many other talented artists and groups, but it also uniquely its own in a way that makes you feel like Daisy Jones & The Six were there on the scene with them during this time.
 |
| (Source: Giphy) |
Rating: 10/10
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genres: Historical Fiction
Dates Read: January 14-16, 2020
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