Remember when I said ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’ is the best book I’ve read in the longest time? Well, that’s because I hadn’t read ‘Daisy Jones and the Six’ yet!

“I had absolutely no interest in being somebody else’s muse.
I am not a muse.
I am the somebody.
End of fucking story.” 
― Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & The Six

I was putting off writing this one down because honestly, there are no words. I didn’t get into it with much expectations, and probably wouldn’t have been reading it if it weren’t for the many raving reviews all over bookstagram and the high that ‘Evelyn Hugo’ had left me with. I mean where do I even begin!

Daisy Jones & The Six, was published in 2019. It is a work of fiction that explores the rich music culture of the 1970s in the United States. The era was known for rock ’n’ roll, drugs, and sex. The narration is told from the point of view of the many characters speaking in an interview for a fictional biography about the band Daisy Jones & The Six. The multilayered narration provides different interpretations of the same events in chronological order, and this fictional oral history highlights just how complicated a seemingly simple story can be.

“I think you have to have faith in people before they earn it. Otherwise it’s not faith, right?” 
― Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & The Six

Synopsis

Daisy was a wild child. Living in Los Angeles, sneaking out of her home as early as 14 to seek adventure on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood came easy to her. Marked by her beauty, Daisy quickly gained a socialite status among the musicians and artists of Los Angeles followed by drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, at the same time craving to create her own identity. She was a natural. On the other hand, Billy Dunne along with his brother Graham take on a few friends to create a band named the Dunne Brothers. Later named The Six after being joined by Karen at the keys.

Soon after the raging success of their first album, the band is concerned by Billy’s consumption of drugs and alcohol. Encouraged by his producer and mentor, Teddy Price and his wife Camila, Billy enters rehab after their first tour.

Newly sober, Billy throws himself into the work of the band’s second album. But this time his music is less rock ’n’ roll and more of a dedication to his love for his wife and their newborn, Julia. Enter Daisy! Teddy sets her up with Billy for a duet, which gives Daisy Jones, and The Six a massive success. After the success of the duet, Daisy Jones eventually becomes a part of The Six. She is welcomed by everyone in the band except for Billy, who is triggered by her beauty, drugs, and creative talent. Daisy and Billy write together for their next album, the ever famous Aurora and their similarities and attraction to one another begin to pose a threat to Billy’s sobriety and marriage, and Daisy’s future in music.

The story explores the conditions that made the band so famous, and the conflicts that eventually drove them apart. How Daisy and Billy’s battles with sadness, music, drugs, and love influence the trajectory of the band and their rock ’n’ roll journey.

“It’s like some of us are chasing after our nightmares the way other people chase dreams.” 
― Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & The Six

The Book

While the story seems largely about Daisy and Billy, it is a lot about Camilla too. Without being much in the picture Camilla very much wrote the entire story. You either want to be Daisy or you want to be Camilla ans if you get to be both, you know you are the luckiest girl alive!

Everything about Daisy, will want you to be Daisy. And Everything that Camilla had, you’d want to own. But not just the two of them. Each and every character in the book is so relatable! You’ll listen to them talk; and you’ll be like hey, that’s so much like so and so. You’d want to be one with the characters, merge with them to an extent that you’d begin to feel their pain, their happiness, their high!

Not saying that the story is not predictable, but I guess that’s just what makes it so painfully real. All the characters were so wonderfully unique and different from one another. Everything from the writing style, the characters, and the format felt completely uncensored. It’s blunt and wild, and also a little sad. It’s real and painful, and the story is just about real life and how things do not always go the way we want it to even though it seems like it will.

If you want a book with characters and stories that you can connect to, Daisy Jones & The Six is for you. I believe that, whatever your opinion is of the story, you will fly through this book, and you will fall in love with at least one of the characters.

The Series

So just got done with the final episodes of @daisyjonesandthesix and I’m not going to lie, I’m broken!

The finale had me bawling like a baby on the bathroom floor, and to be completely honest, I wanted to it to hurt. Because if it didn’t, it wouldn’t have been a great show!

It is a rare occurrence that a book to screen adaptation can leave a mark, and #daisyjonesandthesix not only did that, it has left me with a hole where my heart used to be. My favourite thing about the book was how #taylorjenkinsreid made the characters feel so real that by the end of the book you’d feel closer to them than you’re to yourself. And the @amazonprime series only made them more real, their words more real, their love more real, and their pain more real.

These words in the video that Daisy and Billy say, are as real for them as it is for us because the more we know Daisy and Billy the more we can see our own reflection in their broken pieces. But not just them, you’ll feel a little bit of everyonenim yourself. Graham’s loyalty, Warren’s quirks, Karen’s ambition, Eddie’s anger, and Camilla’s Love.

It’s amazing how the makers of this series made sure to incorporate every important incident, dialogue, and character from the book. And the changes they did make, only works for the better. They gave more depth and story to Simone and boy did we love it! They gave Teddy a better ending.

And honestly, the casting couldn’t have been any better. @rileykeough will never not be #DaisyJones moving forward. Everything about her screams Daisy and the classic Presly lip curl when she smiles is the sweetest cherry on the top.

I wish I could watch it all over again for the very first time.

The only complaint? Daisy never comes barefoot on the stage. </3

The Record

If you’re still here, I can’t believe we are still having this conversation! The album is great man! If you have already read the book and watched the series, I know you are listening to River every night before bed, and Regret Me is your getting ready jam.

Daisyjonesandthesix is equal parts the book, as it is the series but what really brings the two together is the music. We all could hear the music even as we read the words in the book, but to actually listen to the songs was electrifying. Moreover to watch Daisy Jones & #TheSix perform was magical. Be it Look at Us Now (Honeycomb), Aurora, Regret Me, they are literally all there. And for one I am not going to stop listening to them non stop for a very long time.

And if you still haven’t downloaded the album, do it! Aurora was a hit, and it was right to be.

So, here’s hoping I’ve done a decent job convincing y’all to READ DAISY JONES & THE SIX. Trust me you’d be doing your TBR a favour!