Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Book Review

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genres: American Literature, Fiction
Original Publication Date: 2019
Source: I purchased this book
Goodreads
Find the Author: Website, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram

Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their 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 ’n’ 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.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band 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 Jones & The Six

The novel is about a 1970s band that had one album that was wildly popular and then seemed to disappear.

The book is told in the form of an oral history. The various people involved are interviewed years after the band broke up to find out what happened and what they are doing now.

This is not uncommon in nonfiction, but quite unusual in fiction.

Daisy and Billy

When Daisy was a teenager, she started hanging around the rock clubs in Los Angeles. She had a wild groupie lifestyle, sleeping with musicians and developing a spiraling drug addiction.

She is beautiful and talented and eventually starts performing with some bands.

She started writing songs and always had a natural singing ability.

I wanted to get my songs heard. So I started singing a bit around L.A.

Jones starts to get noticed for her talent and beauty. She signs a record contract because she believes that she will be able to record her own songs.

She doesn’t realize that her songs had not been fully finished, and are not ready to be recorded.

At around the same time, a band called The Six is also starting to get very successful.

Billy Dunne is the lead singer of The Six.

Billy had struggled with drug addiction himself, gone to rehab, and was determined to remain clean.

That is very difficult when he is on the road all the time. He is married to Camila and they eventually have three children.

Billy has already written some good songs.

Their manager suggests that one of their songs called “Honeycomb” should be made into a duet.

Enter Daisy Jones.

Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne, are very talented but develop a complicated relationship.

They start by writing songs together and come to realize that something special is happening.

The songs are good. They are special.

Daisy is invited to record with the band for at least one album and tour. They will be known as Daisy Jones & and the Six.

They record the songs together and everyone realizes that they have a magical musical connection:

The chemistry between their voices – his vulnerability, her fragility – it grabs you and doesn’t let you go. With his voice deep and smooth, and her voice higher and raspier, they somehow still meld together effortlessly.

They are attracted to each other but aren’t sure how much they LIKE each other.

Or could it be love?

Is This A True Story?

It is a novel. A work of fiction.

However, it is apparently loosely based on the relationship between Fleetwood Mac members Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

Although the real-life Fleetwood Mac is one of the most successful bands of all time, the fictional Daisy Jones & The Six only make one album together.

Is Daisy Jones And The Six Worth Reading?

Yes, I really liked this book. I appreciated the oral history approach (I love many books in that genre), and I like the various band members who give their opinions about why such a successful band imploded so spectacularly.

I feel that the reasons given are completely in sync with the different characters.

This Book Is Now An Amazon Miniseries

This book was soccessful that it is now an Amazon Prime Miniseries!

Here is the trailer for the show, which begins on March 3, 2023.

Rolling Stone discussed the book: How ‘Daisy Jones & the Six Offers a Positive Tale for Women in Music.

You may also want to read my review of People We Meet On Vacation.

For books about life in 1970s Watergate-era America, you may read my reviews of All The President’s Men, How The Good Guys Finally Won: Notes From An Impeachment Summer, and Marie: A True Story.

Thank you for reading The Literary Lioness!