Daisy Jones & The Six – A book review

I picked Daisy Jones & The Six mainly because Bookstagrammers kept posting raving reviews about it. Despite being recommended to pick the audiobook, I picked the physical copy. Did I make the right choice? Let us check how did that turn out for me, shall we?

About the book

Book Name: Daisy Jones & The Six

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Genre: Fiction – Romance, History

Characters: Daisy Jones, Billy and Graham Dunne, Camila Dunne, Simone, Warren, Eddie, Karen, Teddy Price

Setting: Los Angeles,The USA

The plot

Daisy grows up as a precocious young girl with absentee parents and a love for music. As she turns twenty her voice gets her the recognition she was craving for. But what she wants to do is write songs, rather than sing them.

Billy and Graham Dunne start a band called Dunne brothers with few of their friends and are slowly in the rise to their stardom.

Soon Billy is addicted to pills, alcohol and other women, and it is his wife Camilla’s grit and steadiness that brings him back to his sense and to the band. As they start getting famous, they reluctantly invite Daisy to join their band.

What follows is the electric chemistry between pill riddled Daisy and currently sober Billy and how the band ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’ breaks apart.

My initial thoughts

Daisy Jones & The Six would mark my first tryst with Taylor Jenkins Reid and I can say she has left a positive impact and I would definitely be reading more from her.

I really liked the premise and Reid’s writing made sure to make me feel like I watched a movie about these rockstars and their pill addiction, boozy parties and shows. The interview format of narrative was a clever idea too.

Again, my issue was just the same thing. I didn’t feel connected to the characters at all, because they felt like stars being interviewed. This is totally a “it is me, not you” thing, with the interview format narration. We don’t get to see what these characters are apart from the roles they play in a band, which is a sore disappointment.

I loved Camilla and Karen, strong ladies who seemed badasses on their own merit. While I wish I had such an emotional connect with Daisy too, all I could think was ‘omg she is a dumpster fire’.

I have been hearing that the audiobook does a better job than the physical copy, so if you are into audiobooks, you should try that.

What worked for me

• I loved the plot and couldn’t stop imagining Cooper and Lady Gaga for obvious reasons.
• Daisy Jones & The Six took me to the 70s setup of rock n roll, sex crazed and pill popping era and Reid’s writing shines through. Billy and Daisy were the epitome of all the glitter and issues of the era.
• I loved the strong, female characters like Camilla, Daisy, Karen and Simone. It is obvious that a woman wrote these characters.

What may have been better

• While I love the narrative format for its cleverness, I think it didn’t work for me personally.
• The placement of the songs from the band could have been better, I almost skipped those pages.

Bottom line

Daisy Jones & The Six is a popular historical fiction, and for the right reasons. If you want to be transported to the world of rock n roll and understand what happens after the show ends and behind the screen Daisy Jones & The Six is a great pick.

While the interview format didn’t work for me, I enjoyed Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing style. I will be seeing more of her.

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Let’s chat

Have you read Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid? Did the interview format work for you? What other books of Reid would you recommend to pick next? Let us talk.