Daisy Jones & The Six: Reese's Book Club: A Novel

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a very highly recommended account of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll via the history and breakup of a legendary fictional 70's rock band. This one is a winner. Daisy Jones, the daughter of a famous artist and a French model, grew up in LA in the late 1960's. At fourteen she started hanging out at the famous clubs on the Sunset Strip and drinking and doing drugs followed. Her friend, disco singer Simone, is the only one trying to look out for her. Daisy is a free spirited "it" girl who is first noticed for her looks, but soon has her voice capturing the attention of those with influence and she is signed with Runner Records. Billy Dunne and his brother Graham started the band that eventually grew and took off to become The Six. Billy is the song writer and charismatic front man for the band and has artistic control over the group. On their first tour, Billy went wild and nearly ruined his marriage to Camila, who was pregnant with their first child. After the tour he went to rehab and his overwhelming goal beyond making it big with The Six, is to stay sober and faithful to Camila and their family. After they have one hit where Daisy sings with Billy on one of his songs, Runner Records decides that Billy and Daisy need to work together. While they are both dynamic on their own, when they sing together they are extraordinary, electric, and transcendent. Billy doesn't want Daisy as part of his band, but they end up working together writing the songs on the album that produced some of the biggest hits in the seventies. No one knew the story behind the band and the split that ended it all - until now. Daisy Jones & The Six is written like a documentary novel, an oral history, with quotes from the band members, Billy, Daisy, Camila, and Simone. All the characters are written with unique voices in their comments so you can tell who is talking even if you didn't note their name. While reading you can't help but envision the video in your mind, flipping between comments from the different people involved in Daisy Jones & The Six. This is part of what makes the book so amazing. You will easily believe this was a real band and real members are being interviewed. You will be surprised once you learn who is conducting the interviews and asking the questions. The plot unfolds through the oral history interviews, starting with their beginnings up to their rise to fame. Reid definitely sets her story in the time and place of the late sixties to the late seventies. The clashes, struggles, and power of Billy and Daisy working together, writing the music, is captured perfectly. This really is a riveting and unforgettable novel; my attention was captured right at the start and held fast to the end. Remarkably, at the end of the book Reid has written all the lyrics for the songs. Need I mention that the writing is amazing? Well, it is an incredibly well-written book and captured my attention from beginning to end. I simple could not read it fast enough as I was desperate to learn what happened next. (When I first read the synopsis for Taylor Jenkins Reid's Daisy Jones & The Six, I immediately tried to get a review copy as I knew it would be a novel I would love. I never did get the advanced reading copy, but I was right to try as this is an amazing novel. Now I need to find time to read Reid's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.)

I am not a rock and roll girl. I don’t typically like books about performers. This was so well done. Despite the multitude of characters it was easy to follow along. This touched on many deep topics. Infidelity, addiction, abortion, and temptation to name a few. I had this on my tbr for a while and I’m so glad I finally read this one. Well done.

So uniquely written. It's written like a documentary on a band that had one good album back in the day and you always wondered why they aren't around anymore. The time period really jumps off the page, as the writer just nails the 70s aesthetic and the more unfortunate mindsets of that period as well (especially in how women were treated). The characters are all interesting and vivacious. The only thing I don't care for is just how Billy and Camila's relationship is written. Camila is painted as a saint, while Daisy Jones is definitely depicted as someone you don't want to be, a pretty but broken girl. Maybe I'm tired of pretty, broken girls, or maybe I just want some more ordinary characters. That said, the issue of addiction is well handled in this book. I liked how it is just woven into the culture of not only rock and roll, but fame as a whole. Famous people often have the world on their shoulders because they are seen as perfect paragons (until they're not, as we know now), and that can and does lead to addiction to deal with the pressure. There is a point where the documentary breaks and the author of the book (a main character's daughter) steps in, but maybe she's interviewing the band members. I think that's more likely, given that I did oral history quite a bit in my undergrad studies. It is an interesting work, but I will say that I do hope this isn't the style. The song lyrics are in the back, but not the keys to them or the music, and I don't do audio books so I have no idea how good the music here is, but they're alright. I think this band is based (per gossip I've seen) at least in part on the likes of Fleetwood Mac. It's quite a nice tale, albeit a sad one, of a band that just fell apart because people fell out with each other. Good read, easy to get through, and I recommend it.

A fun way to tell a story. Felt like I was reading the transcript of a rock documentary but I wasn’t bored by reading it. It stayed interesting all the way though and kept me hanging on for *one more page* constantly. My only hang-up is that I would have liked to have the song lyrics at the end of each chapter they’re from instead of all at once at the end of the book.

I liked the interview format, though I didn't expect it to work when I first started reading. The characters were very much stereotypes, however, and that made the book much less enjoyable, or rather much more forgettable, once I had finished. {MILD--OR MAYBE METAPHORIC--SPOILERS} There is a handsome guy, talented, a little tortured and brooding. Romance staple, in other words. There's the (pretty much impossibly) Good Wife. She's so good, it makes the back of my teeth ache. Good, good, good. A bit sanctimonious, as Good Wives are wont to be. We have no idea what she does while her guy is out wooing the world as a rock star. Except having babies, and keeping the home fires burning. Good Wife, as I said. And there is the star of the book, the Sexy Bad Girl. Also tortured, given to excess, too beautiful, too talented, too selfish. Do you want to know how this all ends? Ever read The Odyssey? Odysseus almost gets eaten by Sirens, but lashes himself to the mast of his ship so that he won't be lured to his death by their Deadly Song. Aeneas almost gives up his career as the Founder of Rome because Queen Dido was so hot and alluring. But in the end, he married a Good Wife, and left Dido by the side of the road--I mean the side of North Africa. My point is that this is an old, old story--wicked sexually excessive woman vs Good Wife, struggling for the soul of a decent but weak guy. Okay, Daisy isn't wicked, but she's drug addicted, self-involved, and mostly impossible to deal with. All that said, it's a fun read. I have heard they may be making this into a movie, and I think that would be a shame. Movies in which actors try to act like rock stars always fall flat, to me, at least. Maybe I saw too many live shows in my youth. I think it's hard to make a "fake rock band" seem real--and that goes for the book a bit, too. I get the Fleetwood Mac analogy (Karen, the Christine MacVie analogue, was in fact my favorite character), but it was hard to imagine The Six having anything like the power and energy of that band at its peak. That said, one really did want to hear these songs while reading about them, to see Daisy and Billy on stage, so maybe with the right casting... Anyway, the upshot for me was this was a good beach read with some unfortunate and tired assumptions about women. I'm not a radical feminist, so I can still enjoy the book. But I wish it hadn't been quite so reliant on mythic stereotypes. My advice: if that kind of story doesn't bug you, read it anyway. It's a nice afternoon's recreation.

If messy rockstars, tangled love, and a story that feels like a documentary had a baby, this would be it. I genuinely loved Daisy Jones & The Six. It has this gritty, addictive VH1 Behind the Music energy that makes you forget you’re reading fiction at all. The interview style format was so different from anything I’d read before, and it pulled me in instantly. It’s like you’re piecing together the rise and fall of a band in real time, one perspective at a time. And the audiobook? Absolutely elevated the entire experience! Listening while reading along made everything feel so much more alive: the tension, the chemistry, the egos. Each character had their own voice (literally), and it gave so much depth to their individual stories. You really feel the chaos, the passion, and the unraveling. The cast is a whirlwind of personalities, big egos, fragile hearts, and just the right amount of dysfunction. Somehow, it all blends together into something that feels raw, authentic, and completely consuming. I will say… I might’ve done myself a slight disservice by watching the mini series first. Going in already knowing some of the story took away a bit of that “what happens next?” magic. I can’t help but think that reading it blind would’ve made it hit even harder. But even with that, I still devoured every page. This is one of those stories that gets under your skin, plays on repeat in your head, and leaves you wishing the band was real just so you could keep listening.

I absolutely loved this book! It’s written in an interview style, which lends authenticity to the story. It’s a story about the ups and downs of an up and coming rock band in the 70’s. The two main characters have and intense passion which helps them to write great music, but it also brings a lot of complications and trouble to the band and the lives of their loved ones. So if you have a rocker heart, get this book and go along for the ride. You won’t regret it!

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo might be my favorite book of 2018. So when I saw the Taylor Jenkins Reid had a new book coming out, I was hyped. When NetGalley approved me for an eARC I almost passed out. Okay. This book was insane. I loved it. I did not want to put it down and I could not stop thinking about it. The characters are messy, flawed, and feel so real. I don’t know how Taylor Jenkins Reid makes her characters seems like they are real people. If you told me that Daisy Jones & the members of The Six were real I would believe you. I already want to reread this book. I want to comb through TJR’s words. I want to annotate their song lyrics and highlight all my favorite quotes. A big part of me is sad Aurora is not a real album. Daisy Jones & The Six were an insanely famous rock band in the 70’s, but at the time of the book they are older. They all remember things differently, which I thought was so authentic and made things a little mysterious. We are not entirely sure what is the truth and what memories have been lost to the ages. We follow Daisy and the band from their beginnings, how they came together, and how they fell apart. The characters have had years to reflect on their actions and thus are not as angry as I imagine they were when the actions in the novel took place. I did not realize going into this that it was told in a transcript form and an unnamed narrator is telling us the story. The format took a little getting used to, but I think it was the perfect way to tell this story. WHAT I LOVED The beginning hooks you This is a TJR staple (at least based on the one other book I have read by her) How they all remember things differently There was not any unnecessary girl hate. It would have been so easy to pit all the girls against each other. They don’t all like one another, but they respect each other. We also see some great female friendships It’s so feminist and shows women being happy in different lives. Moms, a woman who doesn’t want kids, musicians, and an IT girl. How the bands song lyrics are included There are so many epic quotes (most of the ones I highlighted have curse words so for the sake of keeping this review PG I won’t list those) “Men often think they deserve a sticker for treating women like people” KAREN! It would have been so easy for her to hate Daisy or for her to give up on what she wanted, simply because society told her to WHAT I DID NOT LOVE I did not love that addiction played such a huge role in the story. I get it, but it is not my favorite thing to read about. It did play for an interesting dynamic between two of the characters which I did like A few of the characters sort of blended in the background. It took me awhile to figure out all the bandmates and record people. That I can’t talk about more of this book in detail because of spoilers.

When I finished “The sevens husbands of Evelyn Hugo” which I loved and a 5 ⭐️ read, I thought I had to give this a try also. I enjoyed the unique writing style - the whole book is writing from interviews with numbers of characters and their point of view during the story. Therefor it was also quite funny sometimes. Unfortunately I can’t give this a 5 ⭐️ I will give this a 4 ⭐️ rating. Because it was very slow in the middle of the book and I was not sure if I wanted to finish reading it. But after these pages the story took a right turn again.

I have seen this book around for a while now, I bought it a while ago as well but only just got around to it. This is a fictional book about Daisy Jones and a band called The Six. The title does kind of give it away! The Six are already a band, they have already had an album. Daisy Jones is an up-and-coming star and it is a chance comment that brings them together. This book is set out as a documentary-style transcript. It is very easy to get used to this style and as it is a transcript you always know who is saying what. The author has created a story that is incredibly addictive and all the time I was reading this I had to remind myself that it was a fictional book about fictional people. The author delves into the lives of her characters before they became the band known as Daisy Jones & The Six. This is such an insightful look into the lives of each of the members when the drugs, sex and rock'n'roll lifestyle was notorious around rock bands. The author doesn't hold back in this and her characters go through some tough choices. The main man behind The Six is Billy Dunne. There is a certain amount of animosity from the rest of the band at times as he takes charge of the direction they are going. Bringing in Daisy creates problems, but also adds a balance. However, two dynamic characters such as Billy and Dasiy are going to create waves. The author has packed this story with so much tension, excitement, and mayhem of living a lifestyle in the late 60s and early 70s. Time on the road, creating new songs and how the dynamics between the band, their families and friends take its toll. A fabulous story that I am so glad I finally got around to reading. Exciting and sad at times but with an addictive quality. I soon found characters I preferred over others and I did have an interest in hoping for the best for others. An unusual style but a brilliant book. It is one I would definitely recommend.

Venía muy bien! Solo en la contraportada traía un hoyito como de golpe pero nada más. Amé el libro, vale totalmente la pena leerlo y comprarlo. Me gusta más esta portada que la qd ya hicieron por la serie, aunque es muy parecida. Mi personaje favorito obviamente Camila🖤

This book. Oh, this book. Daisy Jones and The Six isn’t just a story—it’s an experience, a tempest of emotions that refuses to let you go. Daisy is the storm. She’s the embodiment of female rage and resilience, the wild winds of change, and the quiet calm before chaos. She’s the first drops of rain on dry soil, the heat of a wildfire, the salt of ocean waves crashing against the shore. Tender and callous, raw and refined—she is everything. Billy, on the other hand, is the void. He’s a man so lost in his fear and ego that he clings to idealism like a lifeline. He’s the hollow vacuum that swallows everything around him. Where Daisy is everything, Billy is nothing—but together, they’re two broken pieces of a puzzle trying desperately to fit. What happens when the storm meets the void? When light collides with darkness? That’s the heart of this book. It’s messy, it’s devastating, and it’s breathtaking. If you’re a Taylor Swift fan, you know how her music makes you feel seen—how it burrows into your chest and pulls at emotions you didn’t know you had. That’s what this book does. The music the band creates isn’t just on the page; it’s in your head, in your heart. It stays with you. Daisy is one of the strongest, most flawed protagonists I’ve ever read. She’s selfish, impulsive, and deeply human. Her story drives the narrative into a whirlwind of pain, love, and self-discovery. Meanwhile, Billy’s internal struggle is achingly real—his fight to balance what he wants, what he needs, and what he thinks is right is heartbreakingly honest. This isn’t just a story about a band coming together and falling apart. It’s about dreams and unfulfilled potential. It’s about unrequited love and the ache of what could have been. It’s about hope and heartbreak, growing up and falling down, and finding the strength to rise again. I went into this book with low expectations. I was skeptical, thinking it wouldn’t live up to the hype. I was wrong. The characters are raw, real, and purposeful. They grow in ways that make your heart shatter and heal. You feel their conundrums, their pain, their dreams. You feel them. I can’t recommend the audiobook enough. The full cast production brings these characters to life in a way that’s unforgettable—it’s like listening to a rockumentary come to life. Flipping through the ebook as I listened only deepened the experience. Daisy Jones and The Six is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. Taylor Jenkins Reid has crafted a masterpiece—a story that feels like every Taylor Swift song you’ve ever cried to, every love you’ve ever lost, every dream you’ve ever dared to chase. 6/5 stars. If you’re patient with it, this book will reward you with an experience that will stay in your soul forever.

Amazing book written so well!