NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup—from the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and the new novel Malibu Rising, available now!REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • IN DEVELOPMENT AS AN ORIGINAL STREAMING SERIES EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY REESE WITHERSPOON … STREAMING SERIES EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY REESE WITHERSPOON
“An explosive, dynamite, down-and-dirty look at a fictional rock band told in an interview style that gives it irresistible surface energy.”—Elin Hilderbrand
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • The Washington Post • Esquire • Glamour • Real Simple • Good Housekeeping • Marie Claire • Parade • Paste • Shelf Awareness • BookRiot
Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.
Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.
Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.
Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.
The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.
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The book is a chronicle about a band who reaches the dizzying heights of stardom and fame before dramatically coming apart in 1979.
The band starts as The Six in the early seventies founded by Billy and his brother Graham. They gather other musicians, Eddie, Warren, Karen and Peter to form a band and have little success at first. Like any other form of art, most bands don’t make it to stardom and fame yet are content to make music for whatever reason. There are some like the Stones and the Beatles who do and this is the story of one such band. It’s said that the author was inspired by Fleetwood Mac but it isn’t their story by any stretch of the imagination.
The Six plod along playing wherever they can get gigs with Billy writing songs hoping for a hit. Their manager introduces Daisy Jones to them suggesting that with her style, looks and talent, the band will achieve the heights of greatness they’re all looking for. Daisy herself is a girl raised in California with natural talent, incredible looks and an attitude that she’ll do things her way to counter sexism in the music industry.
There is everything in this novel as you would expect; sex, drugs and rock and roll. The highs and lows of music, fame, fortune, relationships, ambition and infidelity. The struggle with addiction was thoughtfully explored.
This is not like any other book I’ve read. Each person who has a history with the band past and present is interviewed by an anonymous journalist. They have the opportunity to have their say and the writing flies directly in the face of ‘show, don’t tell.’ It is pure ‘tell’ but is done so cleverly that you almost feel as if you are watching a documentary. Each character explains their perspective and sometimes as in real life, interestingly come up with differing views of the same event. Possibly their recollections might seem repetitive yet the differing perspectives make it satisfactory. This book will have you reaching for google to find out more until you catch yourself – it’s pure fiction.
I can see why so many have raved about this one. I was totally hooked and disappointed when it ended.
I read this novel in one day and marveled at the unique composition and writing style. Bravo, Taylor Jenkins Reid!
This was a quick read in an unusual (for me but apparently not for this author) format: interviews with all the characters reveal the story of a rock n’ roll band from its inception in the late 1960’s to its inevitable dissolution. I suspect that the story is an accurate one, reflecting why many of the bands of that era (Rolling Stones excepted) couldn’t survive intact. (Many reviewers believe it is based on Stevie Nicks.) However, I found most of the characters too narcissistic and shallow to be compelling or interesting. While I know that the drug use was realistically depicted and not glorified, I found it a giant turn-off.
This was such a different audio book than I’ve every listened to before. Hearing the all-star case of voices for each character was really different and nice. It was sometimes hard for me to remember who’s voice was who at first, but then I followed along pretty well.
Even though this story seemed to be full of drugs and of course, rock-n-roll, the heart of it was a love story. It was also about time, more pointedly, the right time. Right vs. wrong, knowing that sometimes you have to give up what you desire, for what is true.
The story felt a little bit like watching a rock band documentary, but getting all the good stuff too! Well done.
This is written as thought the author is interviewing all the characters in this rock band, so it is super fun to get five different viewpoints on how conversations went down. It felt so real! If you are a music fan, you’ll loooooove this book!
I don’t get all the hype around this book. If you’ve seen an episode of “Behind the Music,” you’ve basically seen this book. The way that it’s written – in interview pieces – doesn’t do anything for it either, since the “scenes” are all TOLD (not SHOWN) via people reminiscing so we don’t get any emotional build-up or anything. Add in the weirdness of reading about songs you’ve never heard (and can’t), and the fact that most of the characters were irredeemable, self-absorbed assholes, and there’s really nothing I can get into here.
Then again, maybe I’m just not the right audience. Late boomers who came of age listening to a certain late 70s band (*cough*Fleetwood Mac*cough*) will probably enjoy the walk down memory lane in this thinly-veiled mockumentary. People who aren’t completely worn out by the tiresome “manic pixie dream girl” trope might love quirky, tragic Daisy Jones (I do not). Anyone looking for a rationalization for indulging in self-destructive behavior or selfish “wants” that destroy the people who love you will probably dig Billy and Daisy. But me? I’m out.
I really enjoyed “Daisy Jones & The Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This is a uniquely written story and was even better with the audio add on. The narration brings the story to life and helped make sense of the documentary style writing.
The book reads like a behind the music documentary and I kept rechecking to see if it was loosely based on Fleetwood Mac.
Great addition to anyone’s book collection.
Happy Reading…enjoy!
Amazing book. Yes, yes, as other negative reviews have pointed out there are the standard Rock and Roll tropes, but the writing, the structure, the characters and the emphasis on the creative process took this out of cliche territory.
Aside from the gritty, you-are-there story telling, the book is full of some powerful truths and philosophy. Such as “if you redeem yourself, then believe in your own redemption.”
My personal favorite observation in the book is this: “But loving somebody isn’t perfection and good times and laughing and making love. Love is forgiveness and patience and faith and every once in a while, it’s a gut punch. That’s why it’s a dangerous thing, when you go loving the wrong person. When you love somebody who doesn’t deserve it. You have to be with someone that deserves your faith and you have to be deserving of someone else’s. It’s sacred. I have no tolerance for people that waste other people’s faith in them.”
It was a great touch to have the lyrics to the songs in the end, though I will say the songs didn’t read all that great. But they probably would sound great to music. Or at least good.
Thoughtful and sensitive look at addiction and the daily struggle to stay sober and straight.
All in all, a very fine book.
Awesome book!
This is a great novel about a fictional 1970s band, their rocketing to success, and their falling apart. It feels a little like listening to the history of Fleetwood Mac — turbulence, drugs, sex, rock ‘n roll, and amazing music. The story is told sort of like a multi-POV documentary, and the audio book uses more than a dozen narrators to portray the characters. Days later, this book has really stuck with me.
I wasn’t sure I could get on board with the format of this book. It is written as if you were watching a documentary on television. It goes from one person’s voice to another almost every paragraph. However, once I settled into it, I loved it. This book takes you through the rise and fall of a band in the 60s and 70s, and you feel like you are right there with them. It’s different, it’s original, and it’s awesome. Highly recommend.
This book was a massive hit for good reason. The rip-roaring story is told with a narrative structure that is incredibly hard to pull off, but Jenkins demonstrates her writing mastery here. Anyway, enough with my story craft geeking out. This story is full of all the page-turning stuff: brilliantly rendered era and characters that make it hard to believe they are not actually real, sex, drugs, rock-’n-roll, and a quiver full of twists and turns. It is addictive, perfect for a block of beach time.
Great book! Can’t wait to see the TV adaptation. It felt very much like an episode of Behind the Music.
Very interesting! U wonder what group this was based on.
Not great literature but a very good story, told in an interesting structure.
Best book I’ve read in a while. I love music. Lived the 70s and 80s. Excellent!
Written in an interview format with all of the characters very different writing style, but overall enjoyable
I couldn’t put this book down. It was fascinating and vivid and utterly compelling. It brought the late 60’s and 70’s music to life, and I lvoed the focus on music, reminding me a bit of my fav movie this summer, Echo in the Canyon. I can’t wait to read more by this author!
I just LOVED this book. The way the Author wrote it was just fascinating to me. I loved that she wrote it in a style of “Behind the Music”. I can’t wait for the series to come out. This was my first read by this author and I look forward to reading many more by her!!
Brings back the good days. Loved it