Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Daisy Jones & The Six

So glad this was an audiobook read! The different voices were definitely entertaining to go back and forth between and tied together the story so it felt like a documentary of the band. I’ve never had an audiobook with a full cast like this and it made so much sense within the structure of each person reflecting on the past.

Two parts that stuck with me share the same feeling - Karen talking about soulmates and Billy talking about fire/water in relation to passion/love.

Karen: “I used to think soul mates were two of the same. I used to think I was supposed to look for somebody that was like me. I don't believe in soul mates anymore and I'm not looking for anything. But if I did believe in them, I'd believe your soul mate was somebody who had all the things you didn't, that needed all the things you had.”

Billy: “Passion is...it's fire. And fire is great, man. But we're made of water. Water is how we keep living. Water is what we need to survive. My family was my water. I picked water. I’ll pick water every time.”

I think these two parts resonate with my idea of love - that love needs to be something that sustains you with someone who is a soul-match.

For me, the whole story really came together at the very end when the narrator’s identity is revealed. The moment when Camilla cares for Daisy but also protects her marriage and her family by drawing a line in the sand for her to leave the band was SO well done. She truly wanted the best for Daisy but was completely honest in her unwillingness to surrender and sacrifice her marriage and future. Her advice, just like it did for Daisy, will stick with me for a long time… “Don’t count yourself out this early. You’re all sorts of things you don’t even know yet.”

I’m excited to watch the show and see how the story truly comes to life on film!

Content Warnings

jacklynp's review

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emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

annarenas's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

daniellie's review against another edition

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emotional slow-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

4.0

Content Warnings

malima's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative reflective relaxing sad tense slow-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

4.75

Daisy Jones & The Six tells the story of, well, Daisy Jones (singer) and The Six (band) and their rise to rock star fame both separately and together, and their subsequent falling out.

Daisy Jones is a young woman to whom everything always came easy except for getting the attention of her parents. She gets into drugs and unhealthy relationships very early in her life, puts out an album that is popular, but not what she wanted, and finally finds the fame and creative freedom she's been yearning for when she sings a duet with The Six.

The Six are a rock band formed around the Dunne brothers in their teens. They search for fame and rock'n'roll, but there's tension in the band, as Billy sees the band as his and searches for ways to be steady to his wife, while the rest of the band want more space for creative input and not only to play songs about Billy's wife. Their big break comes with a duet with the pop singer Daisy Jones. Her consequently joining the band changes dynamics in the band, both for the better and for the worse.

The book then follows these changes and how the different bandmates cope with it, as well as with their changing relationship dynamics.

To be quite honest, this book included less drama and cheating than I expected. The relationships between the band members and those around them are complicated, and there is plenty of drama, but from the premise, I expected it to be "worse".
Maybe it is this, or the biographical style of this novel, that made me feel very calm while reading this book.
Taylor Jenkins Reid really thrives in this biographical style. So far I have only read "Daisy Jones & The Six" and "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo", but she manages to write true stories about fictional characters. These books include things that happened to real people in the music and film industry, making these things tangible to the reader, without this being a non-fiction book. "Daisy Jones & The Six" really dives into the characters' struggles with drugs and other issues of the industry.
Additionally, though both books are written in the style of a biography, Taylor Jenkins Reid chose two styles that are as different from one another as can be, but that work equally well. I am starting to become a fan.

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