“It’s like some of us are chasing after our nightmares the way other people chase dreams.”
– Taylor Jenkins Reid
I opened up this book, read the Author’s Note and then opened to the first section and thought “there is no way in hell I can read a book written in interview manuscript form.” I was so wrong. I absolutely loved this novel and I don’t think any other format would have worked at all. Every character was an unreliable narrator and this format allowed you to see situations from everyone’s perspectives while also seeing what else was going on in their lives that other characters had no inkling of. Every character had their own story to tell about how it all went down.
While Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne we undoubtedly the stars of the show and the side characters felt forgotten, they were anything but. Each played an integral part to story and the band. I can’t say I truly loved any character individually, but I loved them as a whole. They were real, flawed and relatable while also having this untouchable, unrealistic aspect to them that famous people usually have. Each was a mess, dealing with issues within themselves and then having those issues heightened by the sex, drugs and rock n’ roll lifestyle they had chosen. It felt real.
There was so much female empowerment from Daisy, Camilla and Karen. Daisy did whatever the hell she wanted when she wanted to and never apologized for being anything but herself. There are so many great lessons to take away from this book about being more than just an object for men, females being comfortable in their sexuality and not giving a damn about if it makes men uncomfortable along with how you can fit the female mold or not as long as you’re doing it your own way. All three women lead different kinds of lives but were strong in how they chose to do it, typical or not. They also had this great sense of camaraderie and friendship between the three of them that was so nice to read for once. Own who you are and what you want without putting other females down.
It took me less than a day to read this and I’m actually debating re-reading it since I now know who the “Author” is. I loved when small details from different characters about the same memory didn’t match up, it added this realness to the story. Reid did a great job of capturing that music era and of describing everything that would have been happening during that time that it was hard not believe that Daisy & The Six weren’t a real band.
Leave a Reply