Daisy Jones & the Six is the first audiobook I have ever listened to. It seems odd to say that in 2021. I’m happy I went with this one, because it is voice acted by an entire crew. I don’t know if “voice acted” is the right way to say that, but it’s exactly what it is. They aren’t reading lines, they are giving interviews with emotion and personality bleeding through every sentence read. It would be impossible for me to separate the characters from the voices at this point.
Basic Premise
This story is about a fictional historical rock band. It’s like the book version of Almost Famous, but with a different premise. The book starts with Daisy’s life in LA as she struggles with an early family life and gets hooked on drugs while young, because they offer her something her parents never did (care, attention, warmth). Drugs feel like love, that’s their hook, and Daisy bites in.
Eventually she starts singing and playing in bars. She writes plenty of her own songs, but at this point her manager refuses to sign her a record contract, because he doesn’t believe her songs are right for a rock audience. He asks her to sing for The Six, with no input or inclusion of her own music. The Six’s story gets the following chapter, where they are looking for a new band member who can sing. Daisy can definitely do that.
The band then gets together and their chemistry is immediately in question. What follows is a dramatic clash between band members, heightened romance and frequent explicit drug talk. Thankfully, we are spared the details of just how gruesome the drug addiction is.
Analysis and Criticism
It helps us to keep in mind that Reid usually writes into the romance genre. This helps spare her some of the judgment that follows. Before I expand on this, I want to add that the romantic context feels realistic. There isn’t a band in rock history that doesn’t involve messy relationships and sexual tension. The Six is no exception. The problem, however, is the narrative is spread out between members and ultimately focuses on the romantic aspects most. Reid writes in three separate relationship dramas, but also really focuses on this aspect.
When I read about a rock band, I want to read about the weird shows they perform, the way fans are generous and forgiving, or cruel. I want to read about how difficult it is to get the audience on board with an album following a hit record, or how burnt out the band members are from touring. I want to read about how sick they are of airplane food or never getting to see their families.
Rock history tends to involve more than these sexual tensions and drug escapades. I know Reid did her research and wanted the book to feel like hers at the same time. Ultimately, it does both of these, it just lacks depth into more aspects of a rock band.
Furthermore, I got a bit tired of hearing about how skinny and fucked up Daisy was. Yes, thank you, we know. She is “the most beautiful woman” any of them have seen. That’s nice. Expound on why this blonde twig with blue eyes and a problem with drugs is your epitome of beauty. This may be a book about the 70s, but it lingers with the same cultural problems we have to face in every area of media.
Favourite Parts of Daisy Jones & the Six
- The humour – the way you could hear one character say one thing and directly after another character would contradict it. It’s as if Reid wants us to understand the subjective lives they all lead, how just because one person’s truth is that they had a bigger part of one song doesn’t necessarily mean that they did. But it’s funny, too.
- I just love rock and roll stories. I love stories about artists in general. I feel like a cliche for this, being someone who grew up in the 90s and got to observe what it was like to be part of a cultural musical phenomena – something later generations never got to experience.
- I said this early on, but the voice acting in the audiobook is phenomenal. It really helps with something like this, where there are so many voices coming through rather than one narrator dominating the text. Jennifer Beals did an especially beautiful job with Daisy’s parts, but they were all so good!
- The album making process, the way they argue about who does what, and Karen talking about her keys getting turned up/down on the album. The musical parts themselves are the most interesting to a music nerd, I guess.
Rating: 3.5/5
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