A review by jomarie
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

We love broken & beautiful people. 🎤 

While I didn’t know much about this book going into it, I had high expectations based on what I had heard about the story. 

Since the book is set up to be a biography of the band, I guess it explains why it took a minute to focus on Billy and Daisy’s upbringing. However, I don’t feel like the story really started until 120 pages into the book. Once it did, I loved playing with the tension between Daisy & Billy. I thought their working relationship was fascinating & honestly kind of cheapened when the romance element was introduced.


Seeing their process of building out the album was cool, though I sort of wish the lyrics were included in the story & not just the back of the book so we could see exactly what they were talking about. In fact, I wish the format was played with a little more. It was certainly interesting to have it laid out as a series of interview transcripts. Perhaps that’s why I heard so many people say it worked well as an audiobook. As a print format, the style lacked the detail that would be included in an actual biography of a band like photos, articles, & the song lyrics I mentioned before.


As for the characters, my opinions of them shifted throughout the book, which is good so no one was just one thing to me. Daisy was tragic & beautiful and Billy was just tragic. I don’t feel like he got an actual win throughout the whole book. As the story progressed, I felt more invested in Karen & Graham. Then, the ending twist didn’t quite land for me as much as it could have & I think it’s because it’s such an easy edit in my mind that I’m annoyed it was written how it was.


Overall, I think this was not the best medium to tell the story the way it was. I’m curious to see how the upcoming TV show might do it differently & if the story hits a little harder for me then. If you like TJR or the OG rock scene, I can see someone enjoying this, but for me, it just wasn’t a hit.


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