Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid - A Musical Journey in Love and Heartbreak
The Blog of a Bookseller
For June, my book club will read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but I don't want to talk about that book today - partly because I haven't read it yet and partly because I want to discuss another one of Reid's books - Daisy Jones & The Six.
Daisy Jones & The Six stand out when looking at Reid's work catalogue. In a very short time, it has become a defining novel for readers, becoming synonymous with the author's name and its aesthetic inspiring TikToks of 1970s clothing with clips from the audiobook playing over the top featuring an intricate guitar riff. It’s a good book, and it’s popular for a reason, and as a fan of the book, I am delighted to see the attention it is receiving. Unsurprisingly, a Television show adapted from the book premiered in 2023, starring Riley Keough, Elvis' Granddaughter, as the Iconic Daisy Jones herself! However, it is profoundly shocking to those not interested in 70s music to learn that the wild and intricate story featured in the book is inspired by an actual band - the true story of Fleetwood Mac.
Being a fan of Fleetwood Mac since my high school days in 2016, I have been craving media that gives a similar vibe to them and their story, so it is no surprise to anyone who knows me to learn I adore Daisy Jones & The Six. I read it every Summer as my ritual to signify that the seasons have changed - I do the same in Winter with The Secret History by Donna Tartt.
Told through a series of interviews by the members of the band 30 years after breaking up, the captivating and emotional story set in the 1970s is the perfect summer read for me - and not just because Fleetwood Mac is my ultimate favourite band, and that Daisy Jones is inspired by Stevie Nicks, an incredibly talented and strong woman, but because the eloquent connection to music each character has and how their ties, not just to music but to each other, changes throughout the novel.
They fall in love, out of love, and hate each other and fall in love once more. It's filled with music that bursts off the page and reflects their emotional places at that moment, drawing the audience into their world.
Music has always been important to me - I was raised in a family of music lovers. My Grandfather was The Rolling Stones, my Nan was Elvis, my Mum was George Michael, and I was Fleetwood Mac. To me, music has always been connected to Poetry. I vividly remember my English Literature teacher explaining how to analyse poetry by performing a dramatic reading of Single Ladies by Beyoncé to a class of 13-year-olds -while most classmates laughed at the sight of a 33-year-old man reciting the lyrics, to me, it made sense; what were songs but poems set to a beat? And Reid understood this, too.
Throughout Daisy Jones & The Six, we follow as members all try to write songs, and at the end of the book, we see the collection of lyrics they wrote, particularly those of Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne.
Daisy and Billy have an intense and tumultuous relationship over the novel, made even more complex because Billy is married to Camila with children; their relationship journey is documented in the songs they wrote. Their songs are a pull and push, a back and forth, a tug of war, a dance with emotions, a conversation hidden in metaphors.
Daisy wants to be known for her talent as a performer and songwriter. We are told she is beautiful and often called a muse by the men she dated. Still, she refuses to fall into that role, instead deciding to be an active participant in her life instead of a side character in someone else. She is the main character - the novel isn't called The Six; it is Daisy Jones & The Six for a reason.
It would be easy to call Daisy Jones a Mary Sue of a character, except that she is incredibly flawed and so flawed that she appears real. Daisy struggles with addiction and self-sabotage, which she uses as distractions from her childhood and her loneliness and to procrastinate her goals of making her name as a singer-songwriter. All the members struggle with their own problems and have flaws that make them feel real, making the book more poignant and powerful when experiencing it.
When our book club delved into Daisy Jones & The Six, some members were so engrossed in the narrative that they believed they were reading a non-fiction book featuring interviews with actual former band members. They were eager to find the album the book is framed around, Aurora, and listen to it. The collective disappointment was clear upon learning that Daisy Jones & The Six were fictional. Even though the TV Show released their version of Aurora, it wasn't the Aurora from the books - lyrics were changed, and songs were removed entirely. It is still a good album, and it is one I do listen to often, but I am still heartbroken I never got to hear a version of Daisy Jones singing to Billy Dunne: “And, baby, when you think of me / I hope it ruins rock' n' roll."