Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Synopsis (via Goodreads): 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.

“Do you know what you do with that level of trust? When someone says, 'I trust you so much I can tolerate you having secrets?' You cherish it. You remind yourself how lucky you are to have been given that trust every day.” 

Daisy Jones & The Six was an amazing and utterly breathtaking read. I started this book back in January when my #OTSPSecretSister gifted it to me, but then the audiobook became available at my library. I'd heard the audio was phenomenal, so I gave it a shot. Thank the stars I did! I loved it so much! Everyone had a very distinctive voice, and it's why I opted to finish the book on audio instead of physically reading the rest when my hold expired. 

“Men often think they deserve a sticker for treating women like people.”

I desperately wanted this band and their music to be real! The author wrote their story in a way that felt factual - -  like it was something that really happened in the 70's - - and not something she simply pulled from her head. I honestly thought this book was based on a real band until I Goggled them and their songs. The disappoint was real, friends. I could have cried when I realized the author hadn't based her book on anyone real. Reid made me want to know Daisy Jones & The Six. This story was both perfection and nowhere near enough for me. I could have easily read another book about this amazing group of people. They included an instrumental version of Honeycomb at the end of the audiobook, but it only made me want to hear more. I wanted their entire album to be real so I could play it on a loop.

“She had written something that felt like I could have written it, except I knew I couldn't have. I wouldn't have come up with something like that. 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 was really surprised with how the story played out, too. There were so many small details that accumulated over time, and I loved that everyone remembered their shared past differently. They all had this amazing experience together - - this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - - and their thoughts and memories didn't always align. It was such an authentic portrayal of people and how we all see and experience life in different ways. Billy would remember saying such and such to Daisy, but her story would be just slightly different. You get the truth as people remember it, so you don't know exactly what happened. You get an idea about a situation or conversation, but people's memories shift facts and feelings around over the years (and sometimes while they're happening, because people perceive things differently).

“But loving somebody isn't perfection and good times and laughing and making love. Love is forgiveness and patience and faith and every once in a while, it's a gut punch. That's why it's a dangerous thing, when you go loving the wrong person. When you love somebody who doesn't deserve it. You have to be with someone that deserves your faith and you have to be deserving of someone else's. It's sacred.”

I cannot wrap my head around how wonderfully written this book was! I was blown away by the storytelling, and the incredible characters Reid brought to life. They really lived within the pages of this book. I could see them as they remembered themselves, how they were in the present, hear their songs being played - - it was like I experienced this fantastic rollercoaster ride with them. I wasn't a bystander witnessing greatness, but an active participant in their lives.

“I am not going to sit around sweating my ass off just so men can feel more comfortable. It’s not my responsibility to not turn them on. It’s their responsibility to not be an asshole.”

There were so many quotable lines in this book, and I'm looking forward to highlighting the hell out of my physical copy when I do a reread (because there will be a reread)! I wish I could show you all of my favorites, but that would basically be this entire book - - no joke. The ending was unexpected, but beautiful and absolutely perfect. I fucking loved this book.

Narrators:

Daisy Jones, read by Jennifer Beals

Billy Dunne, read by Pablo Schreiber
Graham Dunne, read by Benjamin Bratt
Eddie Loving, read by Fred Berman
Warren Rhodes, read by Ari Fliakos
Karen Karen, read by Judy Greer
Camila Dunne, read by January LaVoy
Simone Jackson, read by Robinne Lee
Narrator / Author, read by Julia Whelan
Jim Blades, read by Jonathan Davis
Rod Reyes, read by Henry Leyva
Artie Snyder, read by Oliver Wyman
Elaine Chang, read by Nancy Wu
Freddie Mendoza, read by P.J. Ochlan
Nick Harris, read by Arthur Bishop
Jonah Berg, read by Holter Graham
Greg McGuinness, read by Brendan Wayne
Pete Loving, read by Pete Larkin
Wyatt Stone, read by Alex Jenkins Reid
Hank Allen, read by Robert Petkoff
Opal Cunningham, read by Sara Arrington