Daisy Jones and The Six is a novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid written in the unconventional format of an interview. The novel follows the story of a band getting their ‘big break’ in the 1970s. But what makes it so interesting and why does it have such a strong grasp around so many people?
Within the first few pages, Jenkins Reid allows you to become immediately entranced with the life of a young girl, Daisy Jones, and the charisma she presents to everyone around her from the age of only fourteen. Despite her enigmatic nature, Daisy is human; while she is flawed due to her seemingly self-destructive nature, there is a relatability to her character. Jenkins Reid then introduces us to more characters, including brothers Billy and Graham Dunne who are fanatical about music and are obsessed with practicing as much as possible with their bandmate Warren and eventually Karen, Eddie, and Pete. The band ultimately merges to become Daisy Jones and The Six as Daisy and Billy become co-lead singers in the band whilst we follow their messy will they/won’t they relationship.
The book itself has been described as ‘pitch perfect’ by The Sunday Times and ‘addictive’ by Emerald Street and as it become a phenomenon and grew over social media platforms, with the proliferation of content sharing the novel on BookTok.
This rapid growth in popularity for the must-read book, which has developed since it was published in 2019, led to the novel being adapted into a TV show starring Sam Claflin and Riley Keough as Billy and Daisy. This has also led to an exceptional soundtrack being created of the band’s songs which is currently being released on streaming platforms and on vinyl, which reinforces the abundant popularity of this fantastic novel. One track, ‘Regret Me’, has already received over 2.1 million streams on Spotify while the fictional band also has 831,486 monthly listeners. It is a testament to the quality of Jenkins Reid’s prose that her novel has led to the establishing of such a mass audience for a band which exists in the fictional universe.
I first read this book in the Covid-19 lockdown at the beginning of 2021, desperate like many others to escape the mundane world of online learning. Like many, I was influenced by seeing glowing reviews of the novel online and thought I would give it a go myself. I began to read one morning before my lesson began on Teams and I am forced to admit that I became so entranced in the novel that I missed my lessons as a result. Sorry teachers. The tale of a fictional 1970s rock and roll band transported me so completely into their world and away from the reality of my own that once I finished the book, I immediately began to look for their music online. Only then did I remember that it was all fake; a made-up world that I had irresistibly fallen headfirst into. This music and the band themselves are now more than real for me and the recent adaptation of the TV show has only kickstarted my obsession once again.
Ultimately, this book draws you in and makes you feel like you are a part of this fantastical, fictional world through its comedic and heart-wrenching narrative. My only final words of advice are to read the book before watching the series. You won’t regret it.
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