Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid Book Review

Daisy Jones and The Six tells the history of the rise and fall of legendary 70s rock band. The book's format is very unique, transcribed as oral history from the band's members and other people in their lives such as family, manager and their sound editor to name a few. We hear how The Six formed, Daisy Jones's history, how she came to collaborate with them and how it all came crashing down so suddenly.

This story is the epitome of sex, drugs and rock n roll. The descriptions are so rich and delicious, from the fashion choices (denim on denim for Billy, the long luscious locks for the Daisy along with all her bangles and big hoop earrings) to the simmering and sometimes explosive tensions between band members. There's one scene where they are shooting their album cover and it's clear that the photographer is focusing on Billy and Daisy and while the other band members hate it, there's nothing they can do about it. It reminded me of the Don't Speak by No Doubt music video. Though let's be real, while reading this there's only one band on your mind, Fleetwood Mac. It's so evocative of their story, Jenkins Reid takes elements of it and makes it her own. I liked that there were layers in the band's story. Going in I thought it might be one dimensional but so much is touched on, who despised who, those that had more of a love/hate relationship, who was there for the good times, who loved who. You go in thinking that the downfall of the group is going to be one thing but see that it's a combination of different personal relationships as well as individual demon's that causes the implosion.

The writing style is done where the people are interviewed individually and then the story is told in chronological order. I liked the nuances where one person recounted an event one way only for the next line to be a different character relating it a different way. The only problem I had with this  format is that it would have been cool to have the individual interviews but also have sections where two or more people were interviewed together so you could see more of a discussion between them about the events. It would have added a nice extra layer, to see the characters interact with each other some bit rather than to just hear how they had previously interacted. I also thought the climax would have a much bigger impact, possibly because I was expecting something like The Seven Husband's of Evelyn Hugo so I was a bit disappointed by that. However this book still has me super excited about a number of things

1) the audio book has multiple narrators, one for each character, which I think sounds like such a fun way to consume this book, like an audio documentary. I might listen to it again once it's released.

2) It's being made into a TV series because Reese Witherspoon loved the book so much and if done correctly it'll be such a visual treat

3) The end of the book has song lyrics and if they can nail the Fleetwood Mac vibes then it'll be incredible

4) There's a Spotify playlist to go along with this book which I just love the idea of. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas has a playlist too and I think these touches for books, especially books with music at the centre of the story, is such a cool

You know you've read a good historical fiction book when you want to know everything about what you've just read. Reading this book will make you want Daisy Jones and the Six to be real. You'll want to know everything about them. Unfortunately as they're not real you'll have to do what I'm doing now, Googling 60s Sunset Strip, 70s fashion, delving into the history of Fleetwood Mac while listening to the Rumours album, waiting for the TV show to be released.