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thriftedghost's review against another edition
3.0
the characters and book itself were great, but overall the book just felt lacking… something, for me. a bummer since i really loved evelyn hugo but i just don’t think this novel hit as hard for me and was a struggle to try to finish near the end
averylwc's review against another edition
2.0
For me it's just meh. It was enjoyable at first, but after I put it down I had no real urge to pick it back up.
To summarize all my thoughts on this book plainly: it's WAY over hyped. It felt predictable and plain. Rock stars, pretty drug addicts who are actually pitiful etc etc. After everything I'd heard about this book I was just disapointed. And now I’m less and less interested in Reid’s work.
I didn’t find anyone likable, not really. Daisy was a brat, and when I thought she was gonna grow up she didn’t. People that disliked her had to always admit she was just BETTER than them. Even when other band members mentioned how bad a music she was. Things like having to drop something if she can’t do it.
Billy was a bit sympathetic, but never had any consequences. Why was Camila so loyal? Why did she trust him? It felt like a male fantasy, not like a real woman.
The Other characters were just forgettable.
I enjoyed Karen, at first. Found myself attracted to the no nonsense woman who felt that she had to act like a man to be taken seriously, but I was then disapointed she had to give up any inkling of a family or something after saying at the end she'd have like an egalitarian relationship. Instead of being a woman comfortable in her independence I find out she was scared of loosing her career and couldn't make it work. Maybe I just wanted an ending a la Peggy Olson where she got the man and the job, getting to embrace the type of life Billy got. I was disapointed in that.
I did like that Daisy Jones' crush on Billy was pitied and didn't go far. Now that would have been too cliche for me.
The format was about a 50-50 split for me on how much it worked and didn't. First off, it killed almost all of the narrative suspense. How will Billy's addiction pan out? Oh wait we know at the very least he won't O.D. and Camilla hasn't been scorned enough to not want to do an interview about the band. We know that Daisy is gonna get her life together at some point almost immediately when she has some line about straightening herself out in the first page. I admit, I liked the transcript format for the effect it created with multiple character perspectives very efficiently. It gave the book the feeling of a documentary with characters cutting in while one of them seemed to be telling the story. However, it often felt more like reality tv or an episode of The Office when band members cut in with their take. Also, I kept forgetting who the less important members of the band were and would blaze through the transcript before checking which character was speaking.
And the dialogue was so damn corny. Everyone had a great line about being their own muse or living for themselves and it just felt so fake. If this is supposed to be like an interview transcript no ones gonna have so much do that kinda dialogue. Idk I just didn’t like any one and found them all cringe I guess.
The book would have been better if there had been stakes, consequences, anything. If the book had been longer I think more of the story could have been told. It felt so rushed.
I acknowledge this really isn't the type of book I normally read, but I had luke warm feelings all the same. It's a 2.5 or 3 star book every day of the week.
To summarize all my thoughts on this book plainly: it's WAY over hyped. It felt predictable and plain. Rock stars, pretty drug addicts who are actually pitiful etc etc. After everything I'd heard about this book I was just disapointed. And now I’m less and less interested in Reid’s work.
I didn’t find anyone likable, not really. Daisy was a brat, and when I thought she was gonna grow up she didn’t. People that disliked her had to always admit she was just BETTER than them. Even when other band members mentioned how bad a music she was. Things like having to drop something if she can’t do it.
Billy was a bit sympathetic, but never had any consequences. Why was Camila so loyal? Why did she trust him? It felt like a male fantasy, not like a real woman.
The Other characters were just forgettable.
I enjoyed Karen, at first. Found myself attracted to the no nonsense woman who felt that she had to act like a man to be taken seriously, but I was then disapointed she had to give up any inkling of a family or something after saying at the end she'd have like an egalitarian relationship. Instead of being a woman comfortable in her independence I find out she was scared of loosing her career and couldn't make it work. Maybe I just wanted an ending a la Peggy Olson where she got the man and the job, getting to embrace the type of life Billy got. I was disapointed in that.
I did like that Daisy Jones' crush on Billy was pitied and didn't go far. Now that would have been too cliche for me.
The format was about a 50-50 split for me on how much it worked and didn't. First off, it killed almost all of the narrative suspense. How will Billy's addiction pan out? Oh wait we know at the very least he won't O.D. and Camilla hasn't been scorned enough to not want to do an interview about the band. We know that Daisy is gonna get her life together at some point almost immediately when she has some line about straightening herself out in the first page. I admit, I liked the transcript format for the effect it created with multiple character perspectives very efficiently. It gave the book the feeling of a documentary with characters cutting in while one of them seemed to be telling the story. However, it often felt more like reality tv or an episode of The Office when band members cut in with their take. Also, I kept forgetting who the less important members of the band were and would blaze through the transcript before checking which character was speaking.
And the dialogue was so damn corny. Everyone had a great line about being their own muse or living for themselves and it just felt so fake. If this is supposed to be like an interview transcript no ones gonna have so much do that kinda dialogue. Idk I just didn’t like any one and found them all cringe I guess.
The book would have been better if there had been stakes, consequences, anything. If the book had been longer I think more of the story could have been told. It felt so rushed.
I acknowledge this really isn't the type of book I normally read, but I had luke warm feelings all the same. It's a 2.5 or 3 star book every day of the week.
mhock's review against another edition
2.0
I simply do not understand the hype of this book, it was so boring
jessi_rowse's review against another edition
4.0
Taylor Jenkins Reid has once again put me in awe. Her books are heartbreaking, loving, funny, admirable, and can pull any reader in. The way she writes is so easy to read yet can make things seem so real.
Daisy Jones is written in the way like an interview. With different viewpoints and opinions, you can easily tell differences in the character personalities and traits and how they work together. At first I wasn't feeling it for some reason but the more I got into the book, I could not put it down. I read for 6-8 hours nonstop and finished half the book in a day (which is saying a lot coming from a slow reader). Seven Husbands definitely ruined my taste by its spectacular writing and plot, but this one could easily be taken as a 5 star rating by anyone.
Quotes that I loved;
"The subtext isn't 'my body is for you.' Which is what so many images of naked women are used for. The subtext is 'I do what I want.' That album cover is why I, as a young girl, fell in love with Daisy Jones." (pg 259)
"I had absolutely no interest in being somebody else's muse. I am not a muse. I am the somebody. End of fucking story." (pg 16)
"It's very vulnerable, being an artist, telling the truth like that, like we're doing now. When you're living your life, you're so inside your head, you're swirling around in your own pain, that it's hard to see how obvious it is to the people around you." (pg 200)
"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." (pg 156)
Overall, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, wonderful book.
Daisy Jones is written in the way like an interview. With different viewpoints and opinions, you can easily tell differences in the character personalities and traits and how they work together. At first I wasn't feeling it for some reason but the more I got into the book, I could not put it down. I read for 6-8 hours nonstop and finished half the book in a day (which is saying a lot coming from a slow reader). Seven Husbands definitely ruined my taste by its spectacular writing and plot, but this one could easily be taken as a 5 star rating by anyone.
Quotes that I loved;
"The subtext isn't 'my body is for you.' Which is what so many images of naked women are used for. The subtext is 'I do what I want.' That album cover is why I, as a young girl, fell in love with Daisy Jones." (pg 259)
"I had absolutely no interest in being somebody else's muse. I am not a muse. I am the somebody. End of fucking story." (pg 16)
"It's very vulnerable, being an artist, telling the truth like that, like we're doing now. When you're living your life, you're so inside your head, you're swirling around in your own pain, that it's hard to see how obvious it is to the people around you." (pg 200)
"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." (pg 156)
Overall, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, wonderful book.
inareskai's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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
4.75
I really enjoyed this book - I listened to the Audio book version which was very well done (though a bit odd because I wasn't expecting to hear Kaz Brekker...).
People were messy and complex but still likeable.
People were messy and complex but still likeable.
brittanydudick's review against another edition
4.0
Not a huge fan of the dialogue set up, but I still enjoyed the content!
minireader's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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
3.0
amber_reads_sometimes's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
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
5.0
vivizinha's review against another edition
5.0
I was so sad and satisfied when I finished the book. Camila Dunne has my whole heart. It was so heartbrekingly amazing.
siakou's review against another edition
3.0
Look, I love pretty much everything in the rock/metal genre (tho I mainly listen to metalcore) but I completely hate the old school rock n roll era.
In my opinion, to this day it only creates misconceptions for the state of the modern rock and metal scene by romanticizing untalented drug addicts and their the toxic and abusive misbehaviors.
Clichés that are still present in the genre because of their reputation.
Anyways that's a whole other hot take on it's own, just a personal (unpopular) opinion of mine.
Now onto the real personal issue I had relating the topic of the book.
While getting through this I couldn't help being like, "umm that sounds awful" or "that's not how a healthy band should be like" and that is mainly because I grew up a die hard Linkin Park fan.
I don't even know how many hours I've spent through the years watching their backstage videos from live shows and the docu-vlogs they made showing the whole process of making their songs and albums.
Now I know not all bands have the same creative process or even if that was their actual process but still I had a pretty clear idea in my head of what a healthy working relationtiop between band members who respected each other is supposed to look like and the this book wasn't it.
But it worked well for me because I listened to the audiobook and the whole thing felt like I was listening to an actual interview on a topic of "how they became famous and where are they now".
I was invested in the story even tho I didn't like or agree with the majority of what was being told.
I didn't even like the people.
But the story, I was intrested in that. I needed to know what happened to them.
That being said, between Malibu Rising and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo this is the weakest of them all.
All of the characters are not very much likable, they're kinda shallow with big egos and only care about themselves + I hate when people are trying to justify infidelity and their fucked up ideas about love.
PS: Mike Shinoda is an artist and musician I have the utmost respect for.
He wrote the song Get Me Gone on 2005, I spent my whole childhood & early teenage years admiring him for having the guts to mock their label or anyone who told them to change their act in order to make it on a diss track and to this day he molded the clearest picture of how your band mates should back you up against all odds when you're not being a selfish asshole.
That's what I was measuring the book up against the whole time.
In my opinion, to this day it only creates misconceptions for the state of the modern rock and metal scene by romanticizing untalented drug addicts and their the toxic and abusive misbehaviors.
Clichés that are still present in the genre because of their reputation.
Anyways that's a whole other hot take on it's own, just a personal (unpopular) opinion of mine.
Now onto the real personal issue I had relating the topic of the book.
While getting through this I couldn't help being like, "umm that sounds awful" or "that's not how a healthy band should be like" and that is mainly because I grew up a die hard Linkin Park fan.
I don't even know how many hours I've spent through the years watching their backstage videos from live shows and the docu-vlogs they made showing the whole process of making their songs and albums.
Now I know not all bands have the same creative process or even if that was their actual process but still I had a pretty clear idea in my head of what a healthy working relationtiop between band members who respected each other is supposed to look like and the this book wasn't it.
But it worked well for me because I listened to the audiobook and the whole thing felt like I was listening to an actual interview on a topic of "how they became famous and where are they now".
I was invested in the story even tho I didn't like or agree with the majority of what was being told.
I didn't even like the people.
But the story, I was intrested in that. I needed to know what happened to them.
That being said, between Malibu Rising and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo this is the weakest of them all.
All of the characters are not very much likable, they're kinda shallow with big egos and only care about themselves + I hate when people are trying to justify infidelity and their fucked up ideas about love.
PS: Mike Shinoda is an artist and musician I have the utmost respect for.
He wrote the song Get Me Gone on 2005, I spent my whole childhood & early teenage years admiring him for having the guts to mock their label or anyone who told them to change their act in order to make it on a diss track and to this day he molded the clearest picture of how your band mates should back you up against all odds when you're not being a selfish asshole.
That's what I was measuring the book up against the whole time.