Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid

A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous break up.

Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the real reason why they split at the absolute height of their popularity…until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go-Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Another band getting noticed is The Six, led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

I love dialogue heavy books. I think it’s because when I read, I treat the characters as if they’re real and real people have conversations, they say things that are on their mind not just think them so when I heard about DAISY JONES & THE SIX I knew this was the story for me. I have never been so enthralled the way I was with this one and for so many reasons. It felt super realistic, I loved the writing style (goes back to o my love of dialogue), and I love the characters!

This story is told in an interview format, meaning the interviewer sets the scene and then from there out, the members of the band, Daisy Jones & the Six, each tell their side of things. Imagine Rolling Stone but better essentially, or like the movie Almost Famous but without the drama between Will and Penny Lane. I believe that the story is loosely based in Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham around their Fleetwood Mac time but honestly it didn’t matter to me, I loved these characters so much. Being that it’s an interview style and told from multiple point of views you imagine there’s at least one character you skim through, nope. Nada. Not a single one for me; I wanted to hear everything they had to say. 

It is so easy to get lost in this book and to imagine it playing in your head. The era of rock n roll was full of parties, drugs, sex, everything wild and crazy which this book does an excellent job exploring and defining. Reid handles the characters issues with such partying and addiction with understanding and makes the reader want the characters to “do better.” The music aspect of this book is phenomenal, and actually exciting to read. You feel like you’re with the band; like you’re in on their secrets and writing habits that so few people get to see.

There’s also such strong female roles in this book. The message I got loud and clear was fo be proud to be a woman and support those around you. Build each other up. The relationships between the women were surprisingly authentic, unique, and kind of fabulous honestly.  

I couldn’t get enough of this story when I first read it, and recommended it to everyone I knew! Do yourself a favor, read this book NOW.

Rating: 5/5 from me, in my top 5 favorite books ever.