“He said, "I'm going to use that in something one day." And he wrote it down on a napkin and put it in his back pocket. I thought to myself, "What the hell makes you think I'm not going to use it in something once day?" But, of course, there it was in his next movie. That's how it was back then. I was just supposed to be the inspiration for some man's great idea.”
Oh my goodness let's sit down and chat so that I can tell you all about this book that I am in love with called Daisy Jones and the Six. Honestly. I have never ever read a book quite like this one.
“You have these lines you won’t cross. But then you cross them. And suddenly you possess the very dangerous information that you can break the rule and the world won’t instantly come to an end. You’ve taken a big, black, bold line and you’ve made it a little bit gray. And now every time you cross it again, it just gets grayer and grayer until one day you look around and you think, There was a line here once, I think.”
Wow.
It's a couple of weeks since I finished reading and I am still thinking about this book because it was so much fun.
Here's the thing. Taylor Jenkins Reid has written a lot - and I'm aware of her but I've never read any of her work so when I read the blurb for this, and saw it was by her I was super keen to get involved. I am also super glad I did. I loved it.
I LOVED IT.
So the deal, if you haven't read this book already is this: Daisy Jones and the Six are a fictional band from the 1970's. Think....Fleetwood Mac maybe, or The Rolling Stones with a female lead? Thing big. Think a big 70's rock band at the height of their fame. Imagine that all coming crashing down. Then, imagine that same band, perhaps some 30 years later doing a Behind the Music type tv show where all the members and their friends etc are interviewed separately so you get all these conflicting ideas about what their fame looked like and how it all fell apart. That is what this book is.
It's SO CLEVER.
It's written as a transcript - between an interviewer and whoever they're interviewing at the time so it moves back and forth between the members of the band and their manager and their significant others and it slowly builds up this picture of this group of people thrust into the limelight and it is extraordinary. It's kind of odd, because the way the story is told means it's all dialogue - you get very little description, you get nothing actually, other than the words of whoever is talking at the time and it does take a little bit of adapting to but once you do oh my God. I was lost I was totally caught up in the story of these people and this band and the real life sex, drugs and rock'n'roll lifestyle they were living. It's intoxicating. You follow them through their career, and, for a big part of the book they're working on this album so you get to know how all the songs came to be and then at the end of the book all the song lyrics are there and I am still dizzy with excitement.
“We write songs about women. Women will crush you, you know. I suppose everybody hurts everybody, but women always seem to get back up. You ever notice that? Women are always still standing.”
It touches on big themes: substance abuse features heavily if that's a trigger for you, as does abortion and infidelity, but it's also strong and unabashedly feminist and the characterisation is spectacular and the relationships these people have with each other are so complex and so raw. It's not dark a and heavy and brooding book even though it has a couple of dark themes. It's just....it's what a good book looks like, it's clever and original and refreshing and can you tell I loved it.
I'm not going to lie: I am such a fangirl for this fictional band. Give me all the band t-shirts, give me the merchandise, let me spend my money on the most expensive tickets to their tour because YOU KNOW I WOULD. I am such a groupie.
It's being made into a mini series apparently and WOW, this book was made to be adapted and I cannot wait to see what they do with it, I can't wait to meet Daisy, and Billy. I cannot wait to hear those songs.
This book is special, people, and I have already bought two copies to give as gifts.
“Let me take this opportunity to be clear about one thing: I never slept with David Bowie. At least, I'm pretty sure I didn't.”
