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xaracelli's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
5.0
STILL TRYING TO WRITE EVERYTHING THIS BOOK MADE ME FEEL FOR THE BOOKSTAGRAM BUT OMFG IT IS A FAVORITE OF ALL TIME MATERIAL (may 10th)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Abortion, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Death, and Eating disorder
jfield351's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This is my fourth TJR book so i was expecting amazing things and a big finale, but I didn’t get that. It was still a very well written book but it felt kind of flat and I’m a bit confused as to why this is rated higher than SHOEH. The little twist at the end that the author was julia, wasn’t too shocking. i was also surprised that TJR would use the same sort of twist here as in another book of hers . It was interesting, I really liked and connected with Karen. A lot of lines in here were very touching and framed concepts in ways i hadn’t seen them before. But it’s not my favourite book. it does give a (what i believe is a thoroughly researched) insight into the drugs and sex’s and rock and roll culture in the 70’s, and the differing perspectives of the same events.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Cursing, Pregnancy, Abortion, Death, and Infidelity
Minor: Cancer, Abandonment, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
shaimahmad's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A book that made me scared. I kept pushing it back on my tbr because I was so scared it wouldn’t live up to the hype. But it did.
AUDIOBOOK all the way!
Listen to the audiobook.
Spectacular story and complex cast, perfectly narrated. Every character is grey, broken and messed up, but they all perfectly made sense. The interview format worked so well. It was interesting to see how each character remembered the same events a little differently.
I hated Daisy, so much! Right from the start. She is supposed to be this main character - all pretty, courageous, strong headed with a tainted backstory. But to me she was just so annoying, I wanted her away from Billy. She grew on me, I understood her but I hated her irrespective.
I loved Billy despite all his flaw. I loved the fact that he was atleast trying, constantly trying. My heart was breaking for him. And all the others.
Camila was my ride or die. That woman is the real deal.
Taylor Jenkins Reid is such a brilliant author, even if i hated some and loved other I was hooked. I found my emotions heightened when I was read and my mind stuck in on the page when I wasn’t.
I am ecstatic this is being made into a tv show, because I need to experience those songs (lyrics were not enough to satisfy me), the chemistry and the mess of this band.
AUDIOBOOK all the way!
Listen to the audiobook.
Spectacular story and complex cast, perfectly narrated. Every character is grey, broken and messed up, but they all perfectly made sense. The interview format worked so well. It was interesting to see how each character remembered the same events a little differently.
I hated Daisy, so much! Right from the start. She is supposed to be this main character - all pretty, courageous, strong headed with a tainted backstory. But to me she was just so annoying, I wanted her away from Billy. She grew on me, I understood her but I hated her irrespective.
I loved Billy despite all his flaw. I loved the fact that he was atleast trying, constantly trying. My heart was breaking for him. And all the others.
Camila was my ride or die. That woman is the real deal.
Taylor Jenkins Reid is such a brilliant author, even if i hated some and loved other I was hooked. I found my emotions heightened when I was read and my mind stuck in on the page when I wasn’t.
I am ecstatic this is being made into a tv show, because I need to experience those songs (lyrics were not enough to satisfy me), the chemistry and the mess of this band.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Addiction
jessicaludden's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“The truth often lies, unclaimed, in the middle.”
Taylor Jenkins Reid is a genius for this one. There are so many things I loved about this book. I loved all the characters. Every single one of them were so well developed and super complex, except for Warren and Pete, but we love Warren regardless. I loved the relationships and the themes of love and memory.
I loved Karen. I loved how observant she was. There were always little things she was bringing to attention. I loved how she knew what she wanted and wasn’t going to change her mind about it, even if it did break Graham’s heart. I really liked her and Graham’s relationship and I’m sad it had to end the way it did, but it was for the best. There was no way they were gonna be able to be together when their desires were completely different.
I LOVED the women in this story. I’ve already mentioned that I loved Karen, but I also love the differences that are highlighted between the women and that they’re all amazing for it. Karen doesn’t want kids. Camila’s always wanted kids. Daisy feels like she won’t be good enough to have kids. Daisy dresses in more revealing clothes because that’s what makes her comfortable. Karen dresses more conservatively because that’s what makes her feel comfortable in the industry.
I especially loved how the situation with Billy, Daisy, and Camila was handled. Their relationships were so complex. Billy and Daisy have this great amount of trust between them. They have so much love for each other and both have the same priority of keeping their family together that they allow each other to have secrets. They trust each other enough to not have to know every single detail. They trust each other enough to take care of it and they accept that love comes with its heartbreak. Billy and Daisy’s relationship is described as being magnetic and electric. They’re each other’s halves. They both understand each other in a way no one else does because they go through the same struggles and they love the same things. They talk to each other through their music and sometimes that means hating each other. I loved the ending between Daisy and Camila. Throughout the book Camila shows so much poise when it comes to Daisy and Billy that makes you respect her so much. She recognizes the love that they have for each other, but she’s also not willing to give up the life she has and wants. She’s not angry even though it’s understandable if she was. She doesn’t want Daisy or Billy to be broken over this, so she asks Daisy to leave the band in order to save herself. It’s such a strong scene.
The descriptions in this book were SO good, which I think is really hard to do with the format. Everything from the live performances, to the album photo shoot, to Daisy’s loneliness, to Billy’s addiction, to Camila’s advice, to the song lyrics themselves. All of it made the story come to life. It felt like I was hearing them tell the story to me and sing the songs to me themselves.
I loved the oral history interview style of writing. Getting the narration of the story from so many different people was so entertaining. One of the many themes of this book is the idea of memory and perspective and how, because we’re human, what we remember isn’t necessarily always the truth. There were so many times where the band members said something that directly contradicted what someone else said had happened. Then you also have to take into account the fact that Daisy was on drugs for most of the story. Her recollection of events is very different from other characters. Then you have to think about bias and the image that characters have of themselves. It makes you wonder whose version of the story should I be trusting? How do I know what actually happened? And the answer is you don’t.
Favorite Quotes:
“If the rest of the world was silver, Daisy was gold.”
“I am not a muse. I am the somebody. End of fucking story.”
“I used to say I was born broken. She was born whole.”
“She said, ‘Did you get a record contract, yes or no?’ I said, ‘Will you marry me, yes or no?’”
“That’s what I loved about her. She was no wallflower. You just had to be paying attention to see it.”
“It did have that kind of feeling… you know you’re in a time of your life you’ll remember forever.”
“You’ve taken a big, black, bold line and you’ve made it a little bit gray. And now every time you cross it again, it just gets grayer and grayer until one day you look around and you think, There was a line here once, I think.”
“It didn’t seem right to me that his weakest self got to decide how my life was going to turn out, what my family was going to look like. I got to decide what.”
“He said to start thinking of what I’d need to do to believe my daughter was proud of me.”
“Something tells me men don’t do that same thing. When they are standing there, threatening a woman, I doubt they count every wrong step they made to become the asshole they are. But they should.”
“It was like I wanted to talk to him about him.”
“They each seemed like they thought the other one was the only person in the room. Like we were watching two people who didn’t realize thousands of people were watching them.”
“The Chosen one’s never know they are chosen. They think everyone gets a gold carpet rolled out for them.”
“I run hot and I always have. I am not going to sit around sweating my ass off just so men can feel more comfortable. It’s not my responsibility to not turn them on. It’s their responsibility to not be an asshole.”
“I think I’ve rolled my eyes about five thousand more times in my life just on account of Billy Dunne.”
“It’s like some of us are chasing after our nightmares the way other people chase dreams.”
“I was paying the price for the parts of himself that he didn’t like.”
“Some people just don’t threaten each other. And other people threaten everything about each other. Just the way it is.”
“What I realized, eventually was that Daisy’s all about effortlessness. And this had to be a song that sounded like it hurt to sing, like it was taking all the effort in her body.”
“And Daisy didn’t actually have confidence. She was always good. Confidence is being okay being bad, not being okay being good.”
“That’s it. Just two bitches playing rock ‘n’ roll.”
“Everybody wants somebody to hold up the right mirror.”
“I wouldn’t have come up with something like that. Which is what we all want from art, isn’t it? When someone pms down something that feels like it lives inside us? Takes a piece of your heart out and shows it to you? It’s like they are introducing you to a part of yourself. And that’s what Daisy did, with that song. At least for me.”
“But the only reason people thought I had everything is because I had all the things you can see. I had none of the things you can’t.”
“Billy and Daisy together was like tending a little fire. Good if controlled. Just keep the kerosene away from it and we’ll all be fine.”
“She was dangerous. And I knew that. But I don’t think I could recognize that the safer she felt to me, the more dangerous she was.”
“…it scared me that the only thing between this moment of calm and the biggest tragedy of my life was me choosing not to do it.”
“When you find that rare person who really knows who you are and they still don’t love you… I was burning.”
“History is what you did, not what you almost did, not what you thought about doing. And I was proud of what I did.”
“Songs are about how it felt, not the facts. Self-expression is about what it feels to live, not whether you had the right to claim any emotion at any time.”
“I’m saying that when you really love someone, sometimes the things they need may hurt you, and some people are worth hurting for.”
“Love is forgiveness and patience and faith and every once in a while, it’s a gut punch.”
“I trust you so much I can tolerate you having secrets.”
“That’s me. And no matter where we are, no matter what time of day it is, the world is dark and we are two blinking lights. Flashing at the same time. Neither one of us flashing alone.”
“Acceptance is a powerful drug.”
“Handsome men that tell you what you want to hear are almost always liars.”
“I always felt like Billy Dunne’s little brother. And that was when it occurred to me that he probably never defined himself as Graham Dunne’s older brother. Would never have thought to.”
“I wish someone had told me that love isn’t torture. Because I thought love was this thing that was supposed to tear you in two and leave you heartbroken and make your heart race in the worst way. I thought love was bombs and tears and blood. I did not know it was supposed to make you lighter, not heavier. I didn’t know it was supposed to take only the kind of work that makes you softer. I thought love was war. I didn’t know it was supposed to be peace.”
“I met Niccolo and I went, Oh, okay, got it. This guy’s a con artist.”
“The subtext—for her body, in that image—it’s self-possession. The subtext is ‘I do what I want.’”
“Everything that made Daisy burn, made me burn. Everything I loved about the world, Daisy loved about the world. Everything I struggled with, Daisy struggled with. We were two halves. We were the same. In that way that you’re only the same with a few other people. In that way that you don’t even feel like you have to say your own thoughts because you know the other person is already thinking them. How could I be around Daisy Jones and not be mesmerized by her? Not fall in love with her? I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.”
“Passion is… it’s fire. And fire is great, man. But we’re made out of water. Water is how we keep living. Water is what we need to survive. My family was my water. I picked water. Ink pick water every time. And I wanted Daisy to find her water. Because I couldn’t be it.”
“I think I’m pretending to be conflicted so that everybody feels better.”
“Life is about who is holding your hand and, I think, whose hand you commit to holding.”
“So I guess what I’m saying is, when we started singing ‘Honeycomb,’ I either knew I was losing her or I didn’t. And I either knew I’d loved her if I didn’t. And I either appreciated her, for all she was in that moment… or maybe I didn’t.”
“I fell in love with the wrong guy who was exactly the right guy.”
“It just became so perfectly clear to me that I had been holding on tightly to the possibility. The possibility of Daisy.”
“I said, ‘You don’t understand me. You expect me to be someone I’m not.’ And Graham said, ‘You never loved me the way I loved you.’ And both of those things were true.”
“Because I loved her with all of my fucking soul. To this day, there is a piece of me that still loves her. And there is a piece of me that will never forgive her.”
“I decided I don’t need perfect love and I don’t need a perfect husband and I don’t need perfect kids and a perfect life and all that. I want mine. I want my love, my husband, my kids, my life.”
“The two do you think you’re lost souls, but you’re what everybody is looking for.”
“Camila Dunne thought I was worth saving.”
“I may not have known your mother very well. But I promise you, I loved her very much.”
Taylor Jenkins Reid is a genius for this one. There are so many things I loved about this book. I loved all the characters. Every single one of them were so well developed and super complex, except for Warren and Pete, but we love Warren regardless. I loved the relationships and the themes of love and memory.
I loved Karen. I loved how observant she was. There were always little things she was bringing to attention. I loved how she knew what she wanted and wasn’t going to change her mind about it, even if it did break Graham’s heart. I really liked her and Graham’s relationship and I’m sad it had to end the way it did, but it was for the best. There was no way they were gonna be able to be together when their desires were completely different.
I LOVED the women in this story. I’ve already mentioned that I loved Karen, but I also love the differences that are highlighted between the women and that they’re all amazing for it. Karen doesn’t want kids. Camila’s always wanted kids. Daisy feels like she won’t be good enough to have kids. Daisy dresses in more revealing clothes because that’s what makes her comfortable. Karen dresses more conservatively because that’s what makes her feel comfortable in the industry.
I especially loved how the situation with Billy, Daisy, and Camila was handled. Their relationships were so complex. Billy and Daisy have this great amount of trust between them. They have so much love for each other and both have the same priority of keeping their family together that they allow each other to have secrets. They trust each other enough to not have to know every single detail. They trust each other enough to take care of it and they accept that love comes with its heartbreak. Billy and Daisy’s relationship is described as being magnetic and electric. They’re each other’s halves. They both understand each other in a way no one else does because they go through the same struggles and they love the same things. They talk to each other through their music and sometimes that means hating each other. I loved the ending between Daisy and Camila. Throughout the book Camila shows so much poise when it comes to Daisy and Billy that makes you respect her so much. She recognizes the love that they have for each other, but she’s also not willing to give up the life she has and wants. She’s not angry even though it’s understandable if she was. She doesn’t want Daisy or Billy to be broken over this, so she asks Daisy to leave the band in order to save herself. It’s such a strong scene.
The descriptions in this book were SO good, which I think is really hard to do with the format. Everything from the live performances, to the album photo shoot, to Daisy’s loneliness, to Billy’s addiction, to Camila’s advice, to the song lyrics themselves. All of it made the story come to life. It felt like I was hearing them tell the story to me and sing the songs to me themselves.
I loved the oral history interview style of writing. Getting the narration of the story from so many different people was so entertaining. One of the many themes of this book is the idea of memory and perspective and how, because we’re human, what we remember isn’t necessarily always the truth. There were so many times where the band members said something that directly contradicted what someone else said had happened. Then you also have to take into account the fact that Daisy was on drugs for most of the story. Her recollection of events is very different from other characters. Then you have to think about bias and the image that characters have of themselves. It makes you wonder whose version of the story should I be trusting? How do I know what actually happened? And the answer is you don’t.
Favorite Quotes:
“If the rest of the world was silver, Daisy was gold.”
“I am not a muse. I am the somebody. End of fucking story.”
“I used to say I was born broken. She was born whole.”
“She said, ‘Did you get a record contract, yes or no?’ I said, ‘Will you marry me, yes or no?’”
“That’s what I loved about her. She was no wallflower. You just had to be paying attention to see it.”
“It did have that kind of feeling… you know you’re in a time of your life you’ll remember forever.”
“You’ve taken a big, black, bold line and you’ve made it a little bit gray. And now every time you cross it again, it just gets grayer and grayer until one day you look around and you think, There was a line here once, I think.”
“It didn’t seem right to me that his weakest self got to decide how my life was going to turn out, what my family was going to look like. I got to decide what.”
“He said to start thinking of what I’d need to do to believe my daughter was proud of me.”
“Something tells me men don’t do that same thing. When they are standing there, threatening a woman, I doubt they count every wrong step they made to become the asshole they are. But they should.”
“It was like I wanted to talk to him about him.”
“They each seemed like they thought the other one was the only person in the room. Like we were watching two people who didn’t realize thousands of people were watching them.”
“The Chosen one’s never know they are chosen. They think everyone gets a gold carpet rolled out for them.”
“I run hot and I always have. I am not going to sit around sweating my ass off just so men can feel more comfortable. It’s not my responsibility to not turn them on. It’s their responsibility to not be an asshole.”
“I think I’ve rolled my eyes about five thousand more times in my life just on account of Billy Dunne.”
“It’s like some of us are chasing after our nightmares the way other people chase dreams.”
“I was paying the price for the parts of himself that he didn’t like.”
“Some people just don’t threaten each other. And other people threaten everything about each other. Just the way it is.”
“What I realized, eventually was that Daisy’s all about effortlessness. And this had to be a song that sounded like it hurt to sing, like it was taking all the effort in her body.”
“And Daisy didn’t actually have confidence. She was always good. Confidence is being okay being bad, not being okay being good.”
“That’s it. Just two bitches playing rock ‘n’ roll.”
“Everybody wants somebody to hold up the right mirror.”
“I wouldn’t have come up with something like that. Which is what we all want from art, isn’t it? When someone pms down something that feels like it lives inside us? Takes a piece of your heart out and shows it to you? It’s like they are introducing you to a part of yourself. And that’s what Daisy did, with that song. At least for me.”
“But the only reason people thought I had everything is because I had all the things you can see. I had none of the things you can’t.”
“Billy and Daisy together was like tending a little fire. Good if controlled. Just keep the kerosene away from it and we’ll all be fine.”
“She was dangerous. And I knew that. But I don’t think I could recognize that the safer she felt to me, the more dangerous she was.”
“…it scared me that the only thing between this moment of calm and the biggest tragedy of my life was me choosing not to do it.”
“When you find that rare person who really knows who you are and they still don’t love you… I was burning.”
“History is what you did, not what you almost did, not what you thought about doing. And I was proud of what I did.”
“Songs are about how it felt, not the facts. Self-expression is about what it feels to live, not whether you had the right to claim any emotion at any time.”
“I’m saying that when you really love someone, sometimes the things they need may hurt you, and some people are worth hurting for.”
“Love is forgiveness and patience and faith and every once in a while, it’s a gut punch.”
“I trust you so much I can tolerate you having secrets.”
“That’s me. And no matter where we are, no matter what time of day it is, the world is dark and we are two blinking lights. Flashing at the same time. Neither one of us flashing alone.”
“Acceptance is a powerful drug.”
“Handsome men that tell you what you want to hear are almost always liars.”
“I always felt like Billy Dunne’s little brother. And that was when it occurred to me that he probably never defined himself as Graham Dunne’s older brother. Would never have thought to.”
“I wish someone had told me that love isn’t torture. Because I thought love was this thing that was supposed to tear you in two and leave you heartbroken and make your heart race in the worst way. I thought love was bombs and tears and blood. I did not know it was supposed to make you lighter, not heavier. I didn’t know it was supposed to take only the kind of work that makes you softer. I thought love was war. I didn’t know it was supposed to be peace.”
“I met Niccolo and I went, Oh, okay, got it. This guy’s a con artist.”
“The subtext—for her body, in that image—it’s self-possession. The subtext is ‘I do what I want.’”
“Everything that made Daisy burn, made me burn. Everything I loved about the world, Daisy loved about the world. Everything I struggled with, Daisy struggled with. We were two halves. We were the same. In that way that you’re only the same with a few other people. In that way that you don’t even feel like you have to say your own thoughts because you know the other person is already thinking them. How could I be around Daisy Jones and not be mesmerized by her? Not fall in love with her? I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.”
“Passion is… it’s fire. And fire is great, man. But we’re made out of water. Water is how we keep living. Water is what we need to survive. My family was my water. I picked water. Ink pick water every time. And I wanted Daisy to find her water. Because I couldn’t be it.”
“I think I’m pretending to be conflicted so that everybody feels better.”
“Life is about who is holding your hand and, I think, whose hand you commit to holding.”
“So I guess what I’m saying is, when we started singing ‘Honeycomb,’ I either knew I was losing her or I didn’t. And I either knew I’d loved her if I didn’t. And I either appreciated her, for all she was in that moment… or maybe I didn’t.”
“I fell in love with the wrong guy who was exactly the right guy.”
“It just became so perfectly clear to me that I had been holding on tightly to the possibility. The possibility of Daisy.”
“I said, ‘You don’t understand me. You expect me to be someone I’m not.’ And Graham said, ‘You never loved me the way I loved you.’ And both of those things were true.”
“Because I loved her with all of my fucking soul. To this day, there is a piece of me that still loves her. And there is a piece of me that will never forgive her.”
“I decided I don’t need perfect love and I don’t need a perfect husband and I don’t need perfect kids and a perfect life and all that. I want mine. I want my love, my husband, my kids, my life.”
“The two do you think you’re lost souls, but you’re what everybody is looking for.”
“Camila Dunne thought I was worth saving.”
“I may not have known your mother very well. But I promise you, I loved her very much.”
Content Warnings
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Abortion, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Sexual harassment
jehughes's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Cursing, and Eating disorder
Minor: Cancer and Abortion
nirellis's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Really interesting read. Loved the format. Wasn’t too heartbreaking, a big win for me. *thumbs up*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Gaslighting and Abandonment
Minor: Cancer, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Abortion
bookaholiz's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I respect Taylor Jenkins Reid's ability to write characters I absolutely cannot stand but at the same time can't help being captivated by. She really found her sweet spot writing about Hollywood drama, how she set up the atmosphere to make it felt right out of the silver screen. The format is similar to Evelyn Hugo - a biography/tell-all book, but this one is formatted like a collection of interviews. It is unique, for sure, how she combined every single POV in every chapter at all given points to show the big picture and still made it distinctive and coherent at the same time. The fact that she was juggling with so many characters at once and still managed to give them enough room to develop on their own is what made the book work.
Daisy Jones is definitely the focal point of the book, and she was a challenging protagonist. She was always standing on the edge for me, tipping either to lovable or unbearable that by the end of the book, I am still on that edge deciding, and part of me feel like that's exactly what TJR wanted. For Daisy to be so vulnerable but clueless and an enigma at the same time. It is abundantly clear that the female characters are the ones to be celebrated in this book. Karen is probably the only person in the book I might want to be friends with, and Camila is another complex character that I am on the edge with. She is so different from who I am as a person that I don't think I could never understand her, but her philosophy of love as something you choose and work for and put your faith in despite it all, is certainly something to contemplate about.
Unfortunately, I could not care less about all the male characters. Even Billy Dunne, our male lead. Though I did like the fact that he made the effort to rise above his instinct and made the sane choices - again, that made for a more nuance and interesting character than the usual go-after-your-heart trope. But maybe that's just me.
I did not think this was better than Evelyn Hugo, simply for the fact that I did not root for any of these characters. There's a bit of an ick I have with TJR's books is that she put these "gotcha!" moments in the book where it's supposed to be a plot twist and then it just fell flat. The reveal of the "interviewer" was probably supposed to be that moment for this book, but it honestly kinda ruined the magic a bit with the book - like was it necessary? It is not nearly as shocking as the moment whenPete announced he was gonna leave the band , and it did not serve any particular purpose, like putting the puzzle together or whatever. The rising tension during the book was gripping, then the resolution was just... not on par I guess.
I'm looking forward to the adaptation though. I think with the right music, it would serve to fill in the gap that I am not currently feeling with the book.
Daisy Jones is definitely the focal point of the book, and she was a challenging protagonist. She was always standing on the edge for me, tipping either to lovable or unbearable that by the end of the book, I am still on that edge deciding, and part of me feel like that's exactly what TJR wanted. For Daisy to be so vulnerable but clueless and an enigma at the same time. It is abundantly clear that the female characters are the ones to be celebrated in this book. Karen is probably the only person in the book I might want to be friends with, and Camila is another complex character that I am on the edge with. She is so different from who I am as a person that I don't think I could never understand her, but her philosophy of love as something you choose and work for and put your faith in despite it all, is certainly something to contemplate about.
Unfortunately, I could not care less about all the male characters. Even Billy Dunne, our male lead. Though I did like the fact that he made the effort to rise above his instinct and made the sane choices - again, that made for a more nuance and interesting character than the usual go-after-your-heart trope. But maybe that's just me.
I did not think this was better than Evelyn Hugo, simply for the fact that I did not root for any of these characters. There's a bit of an ick I have with TJR's books is that she put these "gotcha!" moments in the book where it's supposed to be a plot twist and then it just fell flat. The reveal of the "interviewer" was probably supposed to be that moment for this book, but it honestly kinda ruined the magic a bit with the book - like was it necessary? It is not nearly as shocking as the moment when
I'm looking forward to the adaptation though. I think with the right music, it would serve to fill in the gap that I am not currently feeling with the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Abortion, Cancer, Cursing, Death, and Suicidal thoughts
keysmashhh's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Plot: 4/5
Character: 3.5/5
Relationships: 3/5
World-Building: 4.5/5
Genre: 4.5/5
Plot: The actual story of Daisy Jones and the Six was told in a really logical way - focusing on Daisy's childhood and then working chronologically - I liked the breaks between large chunks of the story which helped to identify different phases in the band's life. The "reveal" at the end of who was the interviewer didn't really have any dramatic impact on me - to be honest, the interviewer was not the focus of my attention but I liked that it had some sort of link to the present. The last bit was really sweet and I liked the reflective quality of the last couple of pages
Character: Some of the characters were stand out to me, Daisy (of course) stole the show for me - her perspective was fascinating to read and I found her the character I cared most deeply about. Billy had an interesting personality but I wasn't too attached. Karen was probably my favourite other than Daisy - she was the most relatable and I felt aligned with her throughout the book. Honestly, the rest of the characters were too bland for me - sure they were rock stars but they all blended into one another, the rest of the band felt so boring compared to the wild stories of Daisy and Billy. I have to say I really liked Rod - I really wish we had heard more from him as I felt the story of the manager behind the band would have been just as interesting as the band itself - the little snippets were got from him were really insightful especially when he talked about how hands-on he felt he should be with the band's drug use.
Relationships: The relationships in this book were not the central focus to me - in fact, I didn't really care about the romance at all. Billy and Camilla were... complicated but I never really found that to be interesting. Karen and Graham were ... meh and Daisy's relationship was just toxic. For me the friendships in the book interested me far more than the romance - I would have loved to have seen more of Karen and Daisy as I felt they really had an interesting dynamic, the complexity of all of the loyalties and rivalries in the band was a lot more interesting than any romance plotline for me.
World-Building: The world was believable to me, admittedly I don't have a ton of experience with the world of 70s rock bands but the descriptions of the chaos of touring, the cramped environment of a recording studio and the wildness of an LA party all felt authentic and real - although the format of the interview hindered detailed world-building Taylor Jenkins-Reid still managed to create a sensory experience
Genre: I've never read a book fully in the interview format and honestly I loved it! It felt like a combination of a newspaper article and a screenplay but it flowed so well. The world of 70s rock bands was such an excellent choice for this format - it fitted in with the aesthetic of the old rock magazine interviews. I LOVED HAVING THE LYRICS AT THE END OF THE BOOK - IT WAS SUCH A WELCOME SURPRISE - THAT WAS AN AMAZING IDEA FROM THE AUTHO
Character: 3.5/5
Relationships: 3/5
World-Building: 4.5/5
Genre: 4.5/5
Plot: The actual story of Daisy Jones and the Six was told in a really logical way - focusing on Daisy's childhood and then working chronologically - I liked the breaks between large chunks of the story which helped to identify different phases in the band's life. The "reveal" at the end of who was the interviewer didn't really have any dramatic impact on me - to be honest, the interviewer was not the focus of my attention but I liked that it had some sort of link to the present. The last bit was really sweet and I liked the reflective quality of the last couple of pages
Character: Some of the characters were stand out to me, Daisy (of course) stole the show for me - her perspective was fascinating to read and I found her the character I cared most deeply about. Billy had an interesting personality but I wasn't too attached. Karen was probably my favourite other than Daisy - she was the most relatable and I felt aligned with her throughout the book. Honestly, the rest of the characters were too bland for me - sure they were rock stars but they all blended into one another, the rest of the band felt so boring compared to the wild stories of Daisy and Billy. I have to say I really liked Rod - I really wish we had heard more from him as I felt the story of the manager behind the band would have been just as interesting as the band itself - the little snippets were got from him were really insightful especially when he talked about how hands-on he felt he should be with the band's drug use.
Relationships: The relationships in this book were not the central focus to me - in fact, I didn't really care about the romance at all. Billy and Camilla were... complicated but I never really found that to be interesting. Karen and Graham were ... meh and Daisy's relationship was just toxic. For me the friendships in the book interested me far more than the romance - I would have loved to have seen more of Karen and Daisy as I felt they really had an interesting dynamic, the complexity of all of the loyalties and rivalries in the band was a lot more interesting than any romance plotline for me.
World-Building: The world was believable to me, admittedly I don't have a ton of experience with the world of 70s rock bands but the descriptions of the chaos of touring, the cramped environment of a recording studio and the wildness of an LA party all felt authentic and real - although the format of the interview hindered detailed world-building Taylor Jenkins-Reid still managed to create a sensory experience
Genre: I've never read a book fully in the interview format and honestly I loved it! It felt like a combination of a newspaper article and a screenplay but it flowed so well. The world of 70s rock bands was such an excellent choice for this format - it fitted in with the aesthetic of the old rock magazine interviews. I LOVED HAVING THE LYRICS AT THE END OF THE BOOK - IT WAS SUCH A WELCOME SURPRISE - THAT WAS AN AMAZING IDEA FROM THE AUTHO
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Mental illness, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Death
Minor: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, and Chronic illness
tgndcy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Drug use
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Abortion, Death, and Cancer
maysales's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy