Abandoned by Booklikes

So, I have to say that all in all, I really enjoyed "Daisy Jones & The Six." I am so glad many of my friends suggested I listen to this via an audiobook. I can definitely understand why many readers DNFed this book though. The interview style format would be a much to try to read. Same reason I gave up trying to read "War World Z" that's another book you have to experience by audio. The voice actors in this one killed it, and honestly that is what makes this book so compelling. Decades later you can hear the anger and hurt that still lives in some of these characters. Due to that, you can overlook some of the plot holes the book has and the lack of development some of the characters were given. If you view this book as a mockumentary though it makes more sense and you can just let go of most of the issues that may have with the book.

My big problem with this is that a friend who had already read this was going on and on about how this book is the best love story ever and also better than the latest "A Star is Born." That already filled me with trepidation cause I loathed the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's "A Star is Born." I won't get into the many reasons in my review, but that was not a damn love story, that was a codependent toxic relationship.

As I got further along into the audio book I kept texting with her since there were parts of the book she wanted to discuss. So we had a conversation this weekend where I had to break her heart by saying this is not a love story between two people. It's actually an overall story of addiction among a band. And heck all of the characters were addicted in some way or another. We had Billy addicted to booze, drugs, and sex, but also his family. You had Graham addicted to Karen Karen. You had Daisy addicted to booze, drugs, but also wanting someone out there to love her or see her. She wanted that high you get from a new relationship. You had Eddie addicted to wanting to be the lead, to be the go to person that decided things. He hated having Billy over him in anyway. So most of this book was just people describing their addictions. Besides Billy you don't get a sense of how some of these things were overcome. I wish Reid had delved into that a little more. And I honestly was not rooting for Daisy besides her overcoming her addictions, what I pointed out to my friend was if we play along with the book, Daisy is in her late 60s or early 60s now and she's still angry at Billy. You can hear her anger. Billy seems more grown-up and philosophical about things, but he owns his shit. Daisy still does not. I think that was the important takeaway for me at least. 

"Daisy Jones & the Six" follows the fictional band that apparently hit it big in the late 1970s. They had one stellar album, but broke up after one of their shows. No one knows until now why the band broke up. The narrator (interviewer) in this one is interviewing all of the former members of the band to see how they first came together (the Six) and then how Daisy Jones was brought in.

Daisy Jones read by Jennifer Beals. 

Billy Dunne read by Pablo Schreiber.

Graham Dunne, read by Benjamin Bratt.

Eddie Loving, read by Fred Berman.

Warren Rhodes, read by Ari Fliakos.

Karen Karen, read by Judy Greer.

Camila Dunne, read by January LaVoy.

Simone Jackson, read by Robinne Lee.

Narrator (no spoilers) read by  Julia Whelan.

What I will always find hilarious about this is that we don't hear from the sixth member of the band until the Then and Now section. Got to love Peter Loving (Eddie's brother) still not caring about the band enough to be interviewed much for it. 

So I have to focus on the voices right now. The voices for this book were phenomenal. I also have to say my favorite character was Warren. Warren saw though a lot of BS and was pragmatic about things. I maybe fell over laughing and had to rewind a few times when we get to the part of the story when a character gets married. Warren just wanted to make music and was cool with not making music. I loved how his story ends. 

Billy and Graham though are honestly the heart of this book. Two brothers abandoned by their father and they both want to make music. Billy is the one though that could write and sing and him being the older brother puts him in charge of things. When the story showcases how these two and the rest of the six ended up meeting up and forming their band I was really into it. I will say that the book starts to drag a bit when the story tries to also show us Daisy's story as well. I don't think it worked well when you see how the flow of the book slows. I think getting into Daisy's story when she first meets the Six would have been better, but that's my opinion. 

Camilla though ends up being another favorite character. Because just like Warren, she saw through people. I don't know if I could have done what she does in this book though. Billy keeps messing up, her focus on having a family with him I think was a surprise since it's the late 1970s and I though that "free love" was a thing at that point. Were people still in that time and place (talking about the rock and roll scene) trying to settle down, marry, have kids? This isn't my era or my music so this was all new to me. 

Beals makes you really get into Daisy's headspace, even decades later. You get her slow fixation after meeting Billy, trying to get him to pay attention to her. She's used to men staring at her, reacting to her, and him not doing those things made her react different to him. Though the two are at odds earlier on in the story (when they start writing the songs for the Aurora album together) you can still hear the jealousy in Beals's voice when Daisy is talking about how much Billy loved his wife Camila, how the album and the song Honeycomb was for her. You would think that after a few decades she would have moved on, but no, Daisy has not moved on, and some other people have not either. Looking at you Eddie. 

Eddie was a bitter boots from the beginning to the end. Nothing more to say.

There are other characters in this book, the record producer, journalists, etc. that help round out the book. 

The writing is great in parts, and repetitive in other parts. After a while the entire book slows down. I get it, Daisy is jealous, I get it Billy is tempted, I get it, Eddie is being an ass again, etc. I think that some of the book could have skipped ahead in parts to just focus on the big events as they were. At one point someone dies (no spoilers) and the book just grinds to a freaking halt. It felt like you are peddling in place at the point until you finally get to the big final concert in Chicago, on July 12, 1979. I maybe laughed, because the big thing was only not a surprise to people who have not read the book. The book laid things out in a pretty concise way, and you had some revelations on the way. I think in the end though one character telling another character to go didn't mean much cause the band was self-imploding at that point. 

I think the setting of the book (late 1970s) sounds about right on. You have the band touring the US by bus, and there's even a reference to dealing with the lack of gas and how the band didn't care or think about things like that. You also get references to the sex that everyone was having, and how no one knew that AIDS was right around the corner. I was also wondering how in the world half of the people in this book just didn't have an overdose? Reid pours it on with the talk of addictions to the point at times I thought I could smell smoke, booze, and dry sweat coming off of me.

The ending I thought was really good. Probably because I didn't see it the way that the other readers in the book did. I thought it was ultimately an ending about understanding and forgiveness. Not a prelude to a love story. Not when you listen to what Billy and even Daisy still has to say. I watched the show Modern Love this weekend (there's only 3 good stories in that show) and one of them follows Catherine Keener as she meets an old lover at her book signing. The old lover is Andy Garcia. Total aside, the man is still hot and that voice. Sigh. Anyway, she realizes that they didn't have a love that was true and tested so you would always think that it was perfect. If you don't live with the other person, see each other's best and worst traits, get through some storms together, I don't think you can turn lust (which is what I thought most of this was) or an addiction for someone else into a relationship. I think the sex will be fun, but eventually you are two people who grew up without each other and had other experiences that shaped you.