Daisy Jones & the Expectations Game

Daisy Jones & The Six

By: Taylor Jenkins Reid

70’s era drugs, sex and rock & roll by the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo… yeah, this was a a little high on my most anticipated reads list this year. Even the subject matter appeals to me so it hurts to admit…

It fell a little flat.

And if I were to pin it on one thing I’d go with the interview style format of multiple people telling the story to an unknown interviewer. It made it feel somewhat removed from the moment and lacking emotion. It’s people looking back on an interesting time in their lives but not really living it.

But first the stuff that worked…

Like I said I loved the subject matter. There’s also a lot of song writing in here and anything involving writing is like a hot beard on an otherwise average guy. Definite power-up.

Bonus points for the songs from the bands most popular album being included in the back.

I also appreciated how the drugs were handled in Daisy Jones. In we concentrate on Billy (the lead singers) getting clean for his family and trying to stay that way more than we see his using. Also Daisy is a huge user but (and I truly don’t mean this like it sounds because we do have moments of her falling apart) she’s a bit of a child of her times. She uses everything under the sun and then one day it’s like, “I’d like to get clean now.”

One of the characters also has an abortion and I thought that was well handled. Even if I did want to smack the boyfriend pretty sure you were supposed to want to smack him.

I did like Daisy. I think she’s a great, lively fun character and I couldn’t connect with anyone else in the band so yeah, thank God she was there. I was having a lot of Almost Famous flashbacks reading this.

And while I think a regular format would have brought the book to life even more there were a lot of things that reminded me of Evelyn Hugo’s story already; celebrity, creativity, self-destruction and love stories that I think would have been even more pronounced if the story was told the same.

Also this has nothing to do with the book but my copy has that Reese Witherspoon Book Club sticker on it- it’s not even a sticker. It’s actually part of the cover (plus its not even a pretty logo) and I didn’t realize that when I ordered it and it PISSES ME OFF every time I look at the book! I have issues with that particular club anyway and when did she become Oprah? Leave that crap off the books please!

Recommend: Yes. Despite my issues with it. Daisy Jones is also a fast summer read! But if you’re going into this “Oh my God, I loved Evelyn Hugo it was so amazing! I can’t wait to see how much I love Daisy Jones!” You may want to check your expectations a bit.