How a fictional band’s behind-the-scenes story rocked my world

     The description of “sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll” usually conveys some wild and rebellious attitude or message for me. This stereotypical mindset of mine, paired up with my usual preference for YA novels, left me looking over Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid as a possible addition to my TBR List. I don’t normally venture out into the world of adult fiction, but with everyone talking about Daisy Jones and the rave reviews it was getting, I just had to see what the hype was about.
       Spanning the 60s and 70s, Reid’s novel chronicles how the band The Six and Daisy Jones try to make it in the music industry, how their collaboration came to be, and their ultimate break up at the height of their popularity. With the whole story told in interviews and song lyrics, the novel digs deep into what happens when two dynamic music forces combine and the legendary, and volatile, events that can come from it.
​       This book is one of the best books I’ve read in quite some time. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read some amazing books lately, but this one just kind of hit me in a way that I almost can’t explain... It’s left me with a sense of satisfaction, but I also want to read the whole thing over again because I don’t want this story to end. The interview style of narration was executed perfectly. The story flowed at a continuous pace and it didn’t leave the reader confused by who was talking.  I think the fact that the whole narrative was in interview is what made the story work.  To be able to see different characters experiencing the same events and having such different reactions to them is something that couldn't have been as effective if it would have been just third person narration. The characters were written complexly and beautifully and the dichotomy between Billy and Daisy was remarkable. The reader was really able to see the many different sides of one cohesive story and it blended together perfectly! Each character had their flaws exposed and even more so because of the interview-style writing and everything being referred to in the past tense.
     The ending was the pièce de résistance for me. It was everything I could’ve asked for! I was shocked, amazed, and all together just floored by Reid’s amazing narrative skill. She created a story that from start to finish left me wanting to know what was going to happen next. I almost wish Daisy Jones & The Six were a real band! I would love it if I could just listen to the Aurora soundtrack and really hear the emotions trying to be conveyed through the music. Reading the song lyrics and hearing how the music was created made me feel like I was there with the band in the 70s.
     I am absolutely in awe of this story and think that everyone should read it. As I mentioned before, I don’t think this story could’ve been told any other way. I think the combination of the writing style, the attention to every small detail, the story being told in anecdotes and past tense, and having so many different perspectives, is what really makes this whole story so unique and different from anything else I’ve ever read. Whether you like adult fiction or not, whether you’re from the 70s or not, whether you like rock and roll or the music industry, I promise you, this book will not disappoint! This is definitely going to become one of those books that I just constantly recommend to people regardless of their book preferences.
      I can’t think of a better way to summarize my review of the book than with a quote directly from it: “Which is what we all want from art, isn’t it? When someone pins down something that feels like it lives inside us? Takes a piece of your heart out and shows it to you? It’s like they are introducing you to a part of yourself.” I think that this is exactly what Daisy Jones & The Six aims to do: show us the true meaning of art and move us in an intimate and personal way.

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