Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Rating: 5 stars

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Appearance versus reality. A dichotomy that has fascinated me since my early high school English days. It’s easy to forget the universality of the human experience in an age where we are inundated with highlight reels daily. But no one is exempt from the trials and tribulations of life, not even celebrities. TJR has done a beautiful of job of capturing just that in the three books I have read of hers from her “famous women quartet”. And I am excited to say that Daisy Jones and the Six is my new favourite of them all (I am yet to read Carrie Soto is Back)!

“Everything seems fun when you’re happy.”

Daisy Jones and The Six tells the story of a 70s rock band in a unique documentary style. The whole book is written as dialogue, which enhanced the reading experience for me as it made me feel more connected to each character. The book chronicles the individual stories of Daisy Jones, an incredibly beautiful but utterly broken singer, and The Six, a band led by Billy Dunne, a handsome family man with struggles of his own. We follow them from their humble beginnings to their meteoric rise to fame and eventual breakup.

“Some people just don’t threaten each other. And other people threaten everything about each other.”

This book has been widely read and talked about, so this will be a spoiler review. Please stop reading now if you are planning on reading this book and do not want to be spoiled! You’ve been warned :)

“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.”

Let me start off with the main relationship explored in this book: none other than Miss Daisy Jones and Mr Billy Dunne. The chemistry between these two characters leapt off the page and I couldn’t help but root for them even though Billy was married. They never got together officially which was undoubtedly the most realistic ending even if it is not the happiest one. I also appreciated how Camila played a key role in getting Daisy to clean up and forge a life of her own. This provided depth to Camila and only made me like her more. It also made the ending all the sweeter. In my head, Daisy and Billy are happily together now that they are both in different, much healthier places.

“I didn’t realise just how much of a wall Billy put up around himself when he was near me until that moment, when suddenly there was no wall. Like how you don’t register you’re hearing the hum of a car engine until it’s turned off.”

The other relationship I adored was the one between Karen and Graham. Actually I take that back. I loved their storyline more than their relationship. TJR did a great job of representing a woman who did not want kids. I appreciate how Karen was true to herself and did not come to the realisation that she did want kids of her own by the end of it. Not that there’s anything wrong with wanting kids, but there’s also nothing wrong with not wanting them either. This is rarely portrayed in popular media.

“Sometimes I wonder, if I was Graham, maybe I would have wanted a baby, too. If I knew someone else would raise it, someone else would let go of their own dreams, someone else would sacrifice and keep everything together while I went and did what I wanted and came back on weekends…maybe then I might want a baby, too.”

The atmosphere of this book was sensational. I’ve always been passionate about music, and while rock music isn’t my genre of choice, I still enjoyed the musical aspect of this book. I loved gaining insight into the song writing process as well as what it’s like being on tour. I’m also looking forward to hearing what the songs actually sound like in the tv series next year!

Overall, a story that will take you on one hell of a rollercoaster - one that you won’t ever forget. Another beautifully crafted story by TJR, I don’t know how she does it!

“But at some point, you have to recognize that you have no control over anybody and you have to step back and be ready to catch them when they fall and that’s all you can do. It feels like throwing yourself to sea. Or, maybe not that. Maybe it’s more like throwing someone you love out to sea and then praying they float on their own, knowing they might well drown and you’ll have to watch.”

“A switch flipped in me. It was like one of those breaker switches…Like on a circuit box. You know how they take a lot of pressure to flip? But then once they catch, they switch over with force? I switched over.”

“It was just a man hitting his limit. Not sure how much nobility there really is in that.”

Love,