Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Daisy Jones & The Six

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

75 reviews

shaylee_reads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Ratings:
Plot:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Sadness:💧💧💧/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
Diversity: Black SC, Gay SC
Content Warnings: Cheating, Drug Abuse, Addiction, Parental Neglect, Unplanned Pregnancy, Death.

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reed tells the story of one of the biggest bands in the 1970’s. Daisy Jones & The Six played to sold out crowds from coast to coast up until July 12 ,1979 when the band split leaving their fans shocked. Nobody knew why the band had come to an end until 40 years later when a documentary is released explaining everything.

I'm so upset with myself for not reading this book sooner because I absolutely devoured it. I loved the writing and I could not get enough of the story. I forgot multiple times that I was reading a book about a fake band and it honestly breaks my heart that Daisy Jones & The six arn’t real(I mean they kinda are a real band now sooo).
The characters where so 3 dimensional, I went from loving to hate to loving them over and over again. They where all so complex and they all really showed how messy love and life is.
By the way my favorite characters are Graham and Karen, who also happen to be my favorite couple as well, and no before you ask I'm still not over how they ended.

The only reason I'm giving this book only 4 stars is because I did feel like it was a little to long and I got a little bored at moments.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book and I've already started another book by Taylor Jenkins Reed.

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renegadegrocerycart's review

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Easy to read, but not much substance there. Essentially the story of two self-destructive artists with substance abuse issues told by themselves and the people around them. The interview format is interesting, and the character voices are enjoyable (especially Warren and Karen).

Unfortunately, it suffers from the Taylor Jenkins Reid signature issues of cheap plot twists and poor writing of women of color. The reveal of the interviewer being Julia wasn’t particularly interesting, and Camila and Simone existing basically to serve Billy and Daisy’s needs and tell their stories was disappointing, considering they’re the only women of color in the book.

That said, Daisy and Karen are interesting, and I connected with Karen’s parts. There was a lot of thought there to make her distinct and to depict a woman who doesn’t want kids and knows that.

Overall, the show is an example of how some writers are best when tempered by other contributors. The changes to the show, not least the addition of Bernie and Camila’s role as photographer/early manager, make this a much stronger story. Reading it after watching the show made it feel underbaked.

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hadsbaker's review

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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3_7_91's review

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dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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koistyfishy's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 Honeycomb Stars ⭐️

I was six years old when "Hello, I Love You" by The Doors came on the car radio and it was the first time that I saw the two people I loved the most in the world have a completely different emotional reaction to music. If anything, it was the first time I saw somebody able to have an emotional reaction to music. My father idolized everything that Jim Morrison stood for absolutely loved the song and loved what it meant. My mother was viscerally angry as the band, music and Jim Morrison were the epitome representation of glamorised sex, drugs, debauchery and rock and roll.

I found myself constantly thinking back on this memory. Like a song stuck in my head, this moment was constantly playing on repeat in my mind as if to ask where do you stand in this argument? Do you just enjoy the experience or do you let the person behind the experience influence you and how you feel? I think I ended up in the middle. While I do have some issues with the book, overall I loved it, I loved what it did to me emotionally and I loved the entire experience of getting to know the dark and dirty about Daisy Jones and the Six.

This book is almost "an interview-style conversation" that happens with all the band members and key players that make up or influence Daisy Jones and the Six. It showcases their lives in the seventies - around their initial formation, their rise to stardom, and then what happened after that leading to their eventual breakup.

At the start I thought I would hate this book, I don't like Contemporary Historical Fiction and this almost feels like something"Non-Fiction" (which I like even less). I am also not really into 70's Music. In the end, though as much as I don't connect with this type of story, I feel like something was stolen from me because Daisy Jones and The Six don't actually exist. This is a testament to how fantastic the "worldbuilding" is in this novel is because TJR made me form such a deep emotional connection to a completely fictional band. The characters in this just feel so human and unapologetically real.

I, 150% recommend that if you're going to pick up this book, pick it up in the audiobook form because there is a full cast and because it's done in the style of an interview, you get everybody's individual voices coming through, and they did such an amazing job narrating the story.

There was a sense of almost an unreliable narration to the story because you have characters that would say one thing and then be corrected or contradicted by another character. You would have to choose which side of the story to believe, or do you believe the truth is actually something that's almost in the middle. Again this reinforces typical human nature, relating to how faulty our own memory can be. Or it shows how we might, in situations where we aren't depicted in the best light, change the story up a bit...so we underplay the situation so we don't seem so bad.

Even though there is this "cast element" of characters there, there are two main characters as the main focus of the story: Billy and Daisy. They are awful. I did not want to root for them. This made me question how much I actually enjoyed the book, because normally when I read a book, I root for the main characters. In this, I DID NOT WANT to root for them AT ALL, but the drama and the angst between these two characters, who are essentially so alike, kept me drawn to the flame they created. They are the epitome of showing you that there might be someone that brings out the best in you in some elements but is also super toxic for you.

As much as I didn't root for Daisy and Billy. I found myself rooting for Karen and Graham. When they were not the main focus of the story I felt myself pining to get back to them...They felt the most real and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the voice actor of Karen. I was so sad by the events that unfolded between the two of them. I wanted them to overcome that hurdle and end up together. But it also showed me that if you don't communicate early with your partner about where you see your relationship going in the future if your visions do not align - the relationship is doomed to fail.

The more I think about this book, the more I think it's a reflection of how tragic human relationships can be and how complicated life can become from a relationship. The Six were amazing together and they made amazing music, but as much as they were great that environment and group of people together was so destructive and toxic.

The ending blew my mind and I actually had to stop listening to compose myself - the last 8 minutes were non-stop tears running down my face.

I can now safely watch the show with more context and can gladly say everyone who raves about this book was so right!

I get it!

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effy's review against another edition

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3.25

Review from first re-read: I picked up this book as I had just finished watching the TV show and wanted to go back and compare it to the book. I was actually surprised by how many random little things were changed by the TV show and pretty much all for the better. I was surprised that

Rod is gay in the book which we definitely don't see in the show although we do see Simone having a much more complex queer love story... why could they both be gay?

I think because I have just watched the TV show and basically seen a polished version of the story where characters have more agency and the fatphobia (the way Teddy is discussed in the book is so gross!) has been removed, it was hard to enjoy this book as much as the first time that I read it. It is definitely a compelling story with lots of twists and turns but the flaws were a bit more obvious now.

Favourite quotes:

Men often think they deserve a sticker for treating women like people.

When you're in a situation like that, when you have a man looming over you, it's as if every decision you made to lead to that moment - alone with a man you don't trust - flashes before your eyes. Something tells me men don't do the 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.

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phatamy86's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense medium-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

3rd re-read to coincide with the release of the tv series.
I bloody LOVE this book. I know some people don’t get the hype but for me it ticks the boxes!!
It’s always the first audiobook I recommended as well as the cast is just perfection and it lends itself so well to audio.

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