by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Taylor Jenkins Reid is well on her way to becoming my favorite author. Every book of hers I read becomes my new favorite, after I devour it in three sittings or less. Most often less. Daisy Jones and The Six is another incredibly unique story, both in form and in content. Written in the style of an interview, the story moves along in quotes from band members and other people involved in the lives of Daisy and the band members of The Six, something I had never seen before. Full of drama to the point where I couldn’t put it down and humorous to the point where I found myself laughing out loud, Daisy Jones and The Six is one of my new favorite books.
In the beginning, the story follows young Daisy Jones in one storyline and the band members of The Six – Billy & Graham Dunne, Pete & Eddie Loving, Warren Rhodes, and Karen Sirko – in the other. Daisy Jones is young, careless, beautiful, and talented. With famous parents, she grows up rather neglected, which causes her to enter the behind the scenes world of show business at a very young age, and eventually finds her way into a record deal with Runner Records. The Six, with lead singer Billy Dunne, is an up and coming rock band that also signs with Runner Records and quickly becomes a hit. All band members struggle to cope with their instant rise to fame, but none as much as Billy, who constantly cheats on his pregnant wife, Camila, and even starts abusing heroin. After a stint in rehab, the band is ready to start recording their next album when their producer suggests the young and beautiful singer, Daisy Jones, join them.
For a band that is already struggling with who holds the power in the group, adding in Daisy, the free-spirited pop star, only made matters worse. All seven of them struggle with working as a team, writing and producing songs that everyone is apart of, and the added sexual tension between too many members. To say that the band is a mess is an understatement.
I really liked this book for a number of reasons. As I already explained, reading the story through the structure of an “oral history” was incredibly interesting. It allowed for first person accounts from different events as well as different perspectives on the same events. The personality of each character really shone through in this way, as all of their voices were represented – literally. I also loved the setting of the book. Set in the 1970s in Los Angeles, Reid does an excellent job of painting a picture of the life of fame the characters lived through in the era of rock and roll.
Reid also has an art for demonstrating tension. I could feel the tension between characters, whether it be tension over power or sex or anger, these unsaid emotions were tangible. None of her characters were perfect people, and she had them make mistakes in a very human way, even if some of those mistakes were difficult if not impossible to recover from. I admire and appreciate this very real way of writing characters, and I see it as a sign of a really talented author.Daisy Jones and The Six will hold a place in my top three favorites for a very long time, I can already feel it. Unique, unpredictable, incredibly well written, and complete with a rather shocking revelation at the end, I would recommend this book to anyone.
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