Daisy Jones & The Six: A Novel
Ballantine Books
February 4, 2020 (Reprint edition)
Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook, Kindle, Audio CD
400
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 and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.
The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.
Daisy Jones & The Six is the book I didn’t know I needed
Are you a fan of musical shows and intense love stories? Have you watched and rewatched VH1’s Behind the Music episodes of your favorite artists? Are you feeling a bit nostalgic or a little bit rock and roll? If you answered yes to any of these questions, Daisy Jones & The Six: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid is the book for you.
Daisy Jones & The Six is about the rise to fame of a 1970s rock band and the series of events that caused them to break up at the height of their success. Rumours say Reid was inspired to write this book by the complicated romantic histories of Fleetwood Mac’s members. (See what I did there? It’s not a rumor, Reid said so herself. Rumours is a Fleetwood Mac album. Please keep reading!)
Sex, love, and rock and roll—this book has it all, and that’s all I’m going to say about that
Reid kicks off the story by letting us know that the book is the first and only time members of the band have talked about their history together. (Cue to me Googling if Daisy Jones & The Six is a real band I somehow missed.) Then she does what only a skillful writer and master storyteller can do—she creates art.
As I read the black and white Kindle pages, I see each character, hear every song, and feel every feeling. Reid does all of this without a narrator; she wrote this book as a series of interviews compiled and interwoven together to form a chronological timeline of events. In other words, Reid wrote Daisy Jones & The Six in first-person narrative form. It’s one story, told from the multiple, unique, and sometimes contrasting perspectives of each of the members of the band and those close to them.
There are no wordy setups and no in-depth descriptions, just a group of characters speaking their incredibly interesting yet fictional truths. It’s real effing impressive.
Daisy Jones & The Six is now a permanent addition to my book collection
I just know this is one I must re-read. I wouldn’t be surprised if every time I do, I uncover another layer to this beautiful story. But even if I don’t, I won’t be disappointed because the book truly is pure beauty.
Daisy Jones & The Six: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid is out now. Be a rockstar and support local, independent bookstores by ordering your copy via BookShop.org.
P.S. Amazon Studios and Hello Sunshine announced last summer that they will be producing a limited series based on the book. Do me (and yourself!) a huge favor and read the book before watching it. That said, I’m thrilled to find out this will become a show, and I cannot wait to purchase the soundtrack. (Oops, did I forget to tell you Reid actually wrote full versions of all the songs featured in the book? Well, she did, and you’re welcome.)
Darienne was 15 when her aunt gave her a copy of Princess by Jean Sasson, and she has been hooked on books ever since. Originally from Puerto Rico and now living in Maryland, she’s always looking to visit new coffee shops and bookstores. Her favorite genres include YA, spicy romcoms, and women’s fiction. Thanks to the Bees, she’s also now obsessed with romantasy series. Other loves include lavender lattes, sassy coffee mugs, sunrises, sleeping in, small-town charm, and big city lights. One day, she’ll write that book that lives in her head.
