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Daisy Jones & The Six, authored by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a historical fiction novel that drops the reader right into the 1960’s and 70’s, during a rock band’s rise to superstardom as well as its mercurial end. Loosely based on the album Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, the interview style story is composed of multiple different narratives given by former band members, including those closest to them.
The fictional biography, narrated by the characters themselves, follows Daisy Jones, the young and extremely talented singer-songwriter as she joins the rising band, The Six. The free-spirited beauty owned the Sunset Strip as a teenager giving her the experience and stage presence that was needed to be the perfect addition to the group. The undeniable chemistry between her and lead singer Billy Dunne was the main reason for their heightened success and hasty breakup. The novel also centers on Billy, a recovering addict and family man navigating fame and rock n’ roll while trying to stay sober and loyal to his wife Camila, and their three daughters.
“Beautifully layered and complex…Daisy and the band captured my heart and they’re sure to capture yours too,” stated Reese Witherspoon, who picked this as March 2019 book of choice for Reese’s Book Club and has plans of turning the novel into a limited tv series with Amazon.
The easy flow of the novel makes it an enjoyable read. The dialogue and interview style allows the reader to establish a sense of character early on in the novel. You meet many different personalities throughout and get a sense that you know most, if not all characters on an intimate level. The reader sees all angles, from many different points of view, through a “fly on the wall” approach to the inner workings of what it means to be a rock star in the 1970’s. It’s fun getting perspectives of situations that most of the former band members are still oblivious to.
Daisy Jones & The Six, however does spend a lot of time establishing characters and less time getting to the drama that has made every reader fall in love with the book. The novel, resting at just 330 pages, makes me wish it were longer. What happens to each member of the band in the years between their breakup and these series of interviews?
Even though the band was on their way to rock n’ roll superstardom, their own personal demons with themselves, as well as with each other, ultimately caused their downfall. Towards the end of the novel, it is revealed that the individual conducting the interviews is actually Billy and Camila’s first daughter Julia, giving the reader a final surprise before the emotional ending.
“A love story…not only of Daisy and Billy’s will-they-won’t-they relationship, but also in the sentimental appreciation for the era,” wrote The New York Times. Thus, causing me to give this book a rating of a 9 out of 10; it leaves the reader wanting more.
