A review by cryrider
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

4.5

 I was going to have to fight for her--fight for her against her-until I lost. 

Say hello to the book that ended my reading slump and made me want to start annotating again. Wow, this book was fucking amazing. Taylor Jenkins Reid is so damn good at creating captivating stories and characters that feel more real and human than ourselves. Even though her writing tends to be very simple, it always manages to put me through a wide range of emotions as I'm reading.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I don't know if this is an opinion that's shared throughout the majority of those who've read this book but I think Camila is the most interesting character in the story. I don't think I've ever read about a couple who mutually decide to stay together, regardless of who cheated or whatever other bad thing they've done, because they love each other so deeply. As I was reading, I said to myself that I would never do the things that she did, I physically couldn't. I couldn't bear the thought of my husband falling in love with someone else at work and then climbing into bed with me at night like he only had eyes for me. But I understand her. Here's a few quotes from her that I really liked: 

 You're asking me if I knew he was going to be unfaithful as if that's a thing that you know or you don't know. Like it's black and white. But it's not. You suspect, then you sort of un-suspect. Then you suspect again. Then you tell yourself you're crazy. Then you ask yourself whether fidelity is really something you value above all else. Let me put it this way: I've seen a lot of marriages where everyone is faithful and no one is happy. 

 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. 

 If I've given the impression that trust is easy--with your spouse, with your kids, with anybody you care about--If I've made it seem like it's easy to do...then I've misspoken. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But you have nothing without it. Nothing meaningful at all. That's why I chose to do it. Over and over and over. Even when it bit me in the ass. And I will keep choosing it until the day I die. 

Billy and Daisy's relationship is a whole other thing, though, and it pains me a little that they didn't end up together, even for a couple of months. I truly think that if Billy had been able to get her to be sober a lot sooner, they would've been able to be together. There's so many quotable ass lines about their relationship, but I'll only add in one: 

...when we started singing "Honey-comb," I either knew I was losing her or I didn't. And I either knew I'd loved her or I didn't. And I either appreciated her, for all she was in that moment...or maybe I didn't.

My only complaints about this book is that 1) I wish we saw Daisy's growth from being a druggie to a bitch who mediates and shit. I understand that wasn't the point of this novel--it was strictly about the band starting and how it ended--but I would've loved to see it anyway. 2) the "plot twist" simply wasn't needed, in my opinion. There was no point, really, other than for the reader to be shocked for all of five seconds, and I wasn't even shocked. I kind of just rolled my eyes. Overall, though, I did really love this book and haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I finished.