Daisy Jones & The Six, about the rise and demise of a 70’s rock band, is written like the script for a documentary. I got the impression at first that it was trying to accomplish something like Jennifer Egan’s amazing A Visit from the Goon Squad.
In the beginning of the novel, we see the separate starts of Daisy Jones and of the band that became The Six. Daisy, a neglected 14-year-old, begins as a rock and roll groupie, while the band works its way up through the usual dances and bars. When they are each beginning to get a little attention, a record executive thinks it would be a great idea if they record a song together. They are a hit. The only problem is that Daisy and the band’s lead singer, Billy Dunne, don’t seem to like each other.
This novel does a pretty good job of depicting the drug- and sex-fueled 70’s rock scene, but I felt it was about 100 pages too long. It also signals where it is going a little too early. The format has its problems. It makes the reader separate from the book even while amusingly showing how different people’s versions of the same event can be.
Taylor Jenkins Reid seems to have ambitions to write more than chick lit, but this novel is essentially chick lit.
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I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, but it wasn’t really my sort of book. I loved the way she captured the feel of the 1970s music scene, but I agree that the format kept the reader at a distance from the story.
Yeah, I don’t’ think it was my kind of book, either.
Reading this and Helen, I don’t think it’s ‘my kind of book either, :)’, but if it crosses my path somehow, I may read it. I won’t go out of my ways to make room for it, though.
I just finished Daisy Jones and the Six – it was a struggle. You’re on the nose with ‘100 pages too long and, really, chick-lit.’
Well, thanks!
Really? You think this is Chic-Lit? I disagree, I don’t think it is at all that, because I would have hated it if it was. But hey… they say no two people read the same novel. My husband isn’t getting into this one at all. I loved it, loved the format, love the twist at the end that changed the whole feel of the book.
Yeah, I think in essence it was. It seemed to have more going for it, but in the romantic predictability of it, I would say it was chick lit. Some other bloggers have written agreeing with me.
Okay… we shall agree to disagree on that point, then. No problem!