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Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins ReidPublished by Random House Audio on March 5, 2019
Format: Hardback, Audiobook
Source: Bought, Library
Amazon UK
Goodreads
Also by this author: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous break up.
Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the real reason why they 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 and 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.
Another band getting noticed is The Six, 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 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 going to talk about how I am late to the game reading this because it doesn’t need to be said, I have read it. Ok, I lie, I listened to it, I devoured it, I lived it!
I bought the book when it came out and I’ve been waiting for that moment when it was the right time to read it. I have heard all the praise, I did a bit of googling and I heard the best way to enjoy the book is by listening to the audiobook.
That audiobook! It’s pure genius and ecstasy to the ears!
You know the story, it’s a band in the 70s who have made it huge and they are telling the story, as they remember it, to what led them to their last ever gig in 1979. This is just immense.
Everything about the narration was spot on. I felt like they were real people being interviewed and everything they said sounded off the cuff and not that they were reading a book. The minutes where they had to add the laughter, the emotion, angry and then the moments where they struggled to speak, too choked up with emotion. My god, it got me and it broke me. The woman who played Daisy, my god her voice, it was perfection.
I didn’t want anyone to interrupt me when I was listening. I lost myself in that book, I was living the dream with the band. Everyone had their own demons, issues and quirks.
Daisy and Billy were battling demons, ones you knew were very real in that era. Making some poor life decisions as they try to muddle through. Daisy, yes she could be a bit of brat at times, but she was young, too young when exposed to the life but she grew up knowing her mind and what she wanted. Billy, he isn’t like the other men, well he is at the beginning but he met his love and he fought everything to keep hold of it. Yeah, he is a pain in the band, wants things his way but I admired him. Pair him and Daisy and the talent is off the wall but could also be explosive! Eddie, he was such an angry member of the band. Graham, Billy’s brother, struggles to understand a situation he does not want to be in. Karen, she was a woman, she knew her own mind and the rest of the supporting cast was superb. Camille, however, she just stole the show in her bits. She was a woman I could only dream of being like, such a beautiful soul. These were the main voices you hear, they told the story. I did love how everyone remembered things slightly different from each other. Like how they got their band name, what the lyrics mean in a song.
There were 2 endings I wanted but the one we got, well it was perfect. Made me sob. I had to go and sit in a room on my own for a few minutes to compose myself! Crazy I know but that’s how much the book affected me. I have a serious book hangover from this book, even once I have finished this review and my mind has cleared. I still won’t be over this book, no way.
Until next time xxx
This is the next one I have to read, but from the sounds of things I think it might be another audiobook listen – watch this space!
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
nickimags @ The Secret Library Book Blog says
Fantastic review! Wasn’t it an incredible audiobook, they all felt so real! xx
Zoé says
Oh my it was the most amazing book! I miss them already. I know, I felt like everyone was real. Just everything about that production was amazing. Xx
alwaysneedmorebooks says
I loved Seven Husbands. I read Daisy Jones but it sounds like the audio version was amazing!
Zoé says
Have you read Seven Husbands or did you listen to it? I fear Daisy Jones has ruined audiobooks for me now ? its just that amazing
alwaysneedmorebooks says
I read both of them! Did the Daisy audio actually have singing in it?
Zoé says
No I was hoping they would, but the way they took the breath, laughed or got all choked up with emotion just immense.
Kelly says
Daisy’s narrator is absolutely brilliant, that gravelly voice just like the book says she has ?
Zoé says
Oh my god wasn’t she divine! OMG I loved her. I can’t wait for the tv show!!!!!
Kelly says
TV show?! There’s going to be a TV show?! Oooooooo!!!!!!
Zoé says
Yes!!!! I’m not sure of the girl playing Daisy. But Sam Claflin will be Billy, I mean I love him but I am thinking more Bradley Cooper ? rough and ready
Kelly says
Bradley Cooper, totally!
Jules_Writes says
I’m even later to the game! I have it on my kindle but I’m tempted to listen to it as well 🙂 Great review.
Zoé says
Seriously listen to it!! It’s amazing!
Davida Chazan says
This is one of the few books I’ve read that I’m really tempted to listen to the audio version of – which wouldn’t be easy since I never have time to listen to audio books.The reading of it was fantastic so I can just imagine the audio version.
Zoé says
It doesn’t sound like a book and it’s the easiest audiobook to listen to, I absolutely adore this! I keep thinking I will listen to the sound track of the book but then I remember it’s not real!!!!
Davida Chazan says
I read somewhere that they were thinking of making this into TV miniseries. While it would be appropriate, I somehow doubt they could find a composer to bring to life the very complex mixing of the songs. I probably wouldn’t want to watch it because I’m sure the music would disappoint!
Zoé says
Yeah I have been reading about that. Not sure of the actress who is going to play Daisy. As much as I love the actor who will play Billy, not sure he can be as rough and ready as I imagined. I will still give it a go
Davida Chazan says
I’m not worried about the actors, I’m worried about the music. See, to be honest, I wasn’t overly impressed with the lyrics of the songs that appeared in the end of the print book (you probably didn’t get that in the audio version). Plus, I come from a very musical family and I have relative pitch, so I am very critical of music.
Zoé says
I have the book but haven’t read the lyrics yet. I think for the era it was set in, from what I can tell, they work. But i completely get that, I would be the same!
emmar says
I have this on my Kindle to read and I’ve heard so many great things – this summer, I’m reading it!! X
Zoé says
Psst…get the audiobook! I rented it from the library as I bought the hardback. But the audiobook, I just can’t gush enough it was just beautiful. I loved it x
emmar says
Really! I didn’t even know you could get audiobooks from the library!! Sadly though, until school/pre schools are fully reopen there are no solo dog walking expeditions to enjoy an audiobook ? Maybe in September! X
Zoé says
No I didn’t until it was mentioned it to me! It’s been a haven since mini me has gone back to school and I’ve been working. It’s so worth it xx