Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six: The band's album Aurora came to define the rock 'n' roll era of the late seventies, and an entire generation of girls wanted to grow up to be Daisy. But no one knows the reason behind the group's split on the night of their final concert at Chicago Stadium on July 12, 1979 . . . 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.

I'm not sure why but for whatever reason thinking about this book makes me think about colors. Background, specifically. What background would life have if it was this book? It would definitely be dark, and solid. Something to draw attention to its density, not letting you forget it was there, but also splashes of lightness, lots of them, to draw away and remind you it is not the only thing there. Black and gold. That is what I see when I think about Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne. It started with a quote but ended with a gold and black cloud of feelings that poured over every song they wrote and threatened to consume everything.

I’m not making sense, and I know it – I’m not trying to, really. What I am trying, is to put something that cannot be put in words on paper, to present this story of fame and pain and love so it doesn’t sound like a book, but a piece of art which it really is. I didn’t know what was I getting myself into when I started this book – it seemed like an easy read by one of my favorite authors, plus I lowered my expectations upon seeing an unpromising amount of negative reviews. I understand, the journalistic format in which it was written might not sit well with everyone, yet it was exactly what drew me in with such a forceful intent that I read the first 50% in something little more over an hour.

Jenkins Reid narrates her story from the perspective of an interviewer who researches the start, glorious rise, and notorious end of a legendary band Daisy Jones & The Six. The entire book is conceived as a set of statements told by the band members and people closest to them – arrayed so they capture their story in the most truthful manner – from each angle and perspective. From a small rock band with no money and little dreams, The Six rose in the world of artists and producers, making their climb in the world of 70s rock and roll. They were becoming big, but they knew, in order to become huge, that they needed Daisy Jones, eccentric, talented and beautiful singer and songwriter, on the same side as them.

Reading the lines of the band’s interview was a whirlwind of emotions, from start to finish, I felt so invested in this group of ambitious artists with nothing but big dreams and nothing but themselves to make them come true. If someone told me I would get so thoroughly attached to 5+ characters from a fictional band via excerpts from the interview, I’d laugh and wave goodbye because it usually takes a lot for me to form a connection with a single character, let alone an entire band. Jenkins Reid knows her audience, and she knows her craft, weaving the story through sets of monologues and rapidly switching perspectives that add up to the dynamics of the group – and that’s exactly what I loved so much about it. It follows the dissolution of a band and it does so in a way that the whole story is presented. And when I say whole, I mean everything – from beginning to end, good and bad, every thought and small detail, every interaction and seemingly inconsequential feelings that led to their end.

I still can’t tell you whether it’s a happy or a sad book, whether my eyes teared up from sadness or from joy. I guess it’s all there, it just depends on a reader can they find it. Jenkins Reid managed to put several lifetimes in a span of a 300-page book, and I honestly don’t know how can one stay indifferent after experiencing that ending. I felt anger for the world of fame that destroys the arts, I felt betrayed with the characters and their weakness, love for their flaws, and strength.

If they were real, Daisy and Billy would have been the kind of souls that are born once in a hundred years, ones that shine so bright they could move entire nations, yet their journey was one more of pain and constant struggle against the weight pulling them down, as it often is the case with great people who try to find their place under the light. Together they made something wonderful and unforgettable, and they knew if they let go and got together they’d end up down in the deep. It was their choice to become better people, so one day they could look back at their days in the band and feel nothing but pride and warmth. I can’t tell how many times I tried to search for a song because I so desperately needed to hear them sing, just to realize it doesn’t exist, for Daisy Jones & The Six aren’t real.

The reason I loved this book so much has probably a lot to do with how much I was able to project into certain characters. From Billy’s brilliance and arrogance, his mistakes, and redemption, to Daisy and her ambition and determination, I could really see myself, as well as the people around me. Even Graham and Karen whose relationship always sends a spark of sadness through me every time I think about them. Sometimes choosing comfort over love is a safe thing to do, but does it make the lifetime of the regret worth it?

But in the end, it’s not even about the band, it’s about these amazing people who were on top of something wonderful. Yes, they are actually assholes with hidden depths, but aren’t those always the best ones? There cannot be greatness without at least a bit of arrogance. Greatness has an expensive price to pay, and not everyone is strong enough to do it.

Also, this book is getting an adaptation (miniseries of 13 episodes), soooo guess what’s the only thing I’m looking forward to now…