(SPOILERS FOR DAISY JONES AND THE SIX)
The Daisy Jones and the Six miniseries is out today and I could not be more excited. Here's why.
I meant to review this book ages ago, briefly after Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and I remember my draft title was "Is Daisy Jones and the Six better than The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo?" Which A) would've been a mouthful, and B) shows you how much I liked it. My conclusion is probably not, because I think I slightly prefer the plot of Evelyn Hugo, plus I think the titular character is phenomenal, however, I do think that adapted to screen, Daisy Jones and the Six might be a more exciting prospect than Seven Husbands. Moreover, I think a miniseries is the perfect way of adapting the book, because a series would stretch things out too much, but the events and particularly the interview style of the book would take too long to fit into a movie. I'm planning to wait till most episodes are released and then binge, but for now, having re-read the book, I'm going to break down my thoughts on it.
Let's start with the style. It's so unique of Taylor Jenkins Reid to write the book in an entirely interview format with each band member, and it works so damn well. I think the most incredible thing is how it almost feels like as an interview style, it achieves everything it shouldn't be able to. Everything is being told in retrospect, yet it can still have you on the edge of your seat. It's a conversation about past events, so should be reasonably objective, but through simply recalling events through different points of view, you're able to get a sense of every character's personality, both perceived and genuine, and
it's easy to pick up on seemingly innocuous details that are actually very telling. Very early on, Billy and Graham Dunne recall the Christmas their mother got them a Stratocaster guitar for Christmas, with their father having left behind a Silvertone after abandoning them.
"BILLY: Mom saved up and bought Graham and I an old Strat for Christmas. Graham wanted that one so I let him have it. I kept the Silvertone.
GRAHAM: ...I wanted the Silvertone but I could tell it meant more to Billy. So I took the Strat."
You're supposed to visualise it as different people being interviewed about pretty much the same things, at different times. This makes for fairly amusing dramatic irony, and it's pretty telling about the characters. In all fairness, we don't really know whose account is accurate but you care enough to try to decide for yourself.
Now let's talk about the characters. Daisy isn't quite Evelyn Hugo (no one is) but cements herself as another iconic, tortured, deeply complex artist who semingly has it all but actually has a wayy more tragic life than people realise. Though in all honesty, hers could improve a lot more with some sleeping medication. She's definitely the most engaging member of the band, I feel like she'd be great to meet in real life, because the characters have very realistic responses to her. Some just think she's the coolest, some are jealous and dislike her ballsiness, some feel like because she strolls through life with a carefree attitude, always getting want she wants, this should make her easy to hate, but it actually achieves the opposite because Daisy's free-willed courage is pretty endearing and admirable. I feel like in real life I'd find this to be true and I'm interested to see how she is on-screen.
Billy is interesting. To make a slightly tangential point, the books where Taylor Jenkins Reid writes about celebrity culture are all set in the same universe, each get little nods to the others. The most prominent reccurance of a single character goes to Mick Riva, who's briefly mentioned in Daisy Jones and the Six, perhaps unsurprisingly given it's set in the music world with an overlap in time period, and is the father of the main protagonists in Malibu Rising; Nina, Jay, Hud and Kit. In Malibu Rising, you get a glimpse into Mick as a character, and you like him less and less with every promise he breaks and every disappointing time you think he's changed but then runs away again.
Billy is kind of like if Mick got the kick up the arse he deserved. Billy initially does a loooot of cheating on his pregnant wife, tries to run away from his responsibility as a father, not because he doesn't want to be there for them, but he's afraid of being a disappointment so becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy by turning to destructive coping mechanisms. As Warren eloquently puts it, at this point "I was getting laid, Graham was getting high, Eddie was getting drunk, Karen was getting fed up, Pete was getting on the phone to his girl back home, and Billy was all five, at once." But eventually Billy realises how badly he's screwed up and actually tries to fix his life, being mostly successful in at least being there for his family. I didn't realise how welcome that is in comparison to Mick's pathetic cowardice, leaving his wife, her drowning in a bathtub as their 14 year old daughter has to raise her siblings alone....yeah, Malibu Rising is a wild ride. But it makes Billy a compelling character, he's layered. He's a bit of a control freak with the band, he's done bad things but he actually tries to be a good person and it's quite engaging. I was also kind of relieved to realise Billy and Daisy's relationship was more a love-hate dynamic with a hint of romantic tension rather than just them not getting along, because at a certain point that's what it looked like. I'm deeply frustrated when TV shows make two characters we like hate each other for ages just....because, it becomes tiring to me very quickly, but with Billy and Daisy it's more unpredictable and has a lot of depth to it, which I appreciate.
As for the rest....Pete you don't even get an interview from so it's almost hard to tell what he's like because everything you know about him you see through a different lense. Graham and Karen I feel are less standout than Daisy and Billy, but I find them pretty interesting as dramatic foils to them, and their doomed romance was intriguing enough and did add something to the plot. Even if Graham makes an.....odd comment at one point that threw me off-guard in my re-read of it. Every band needs an Eddie, right? The person who knows they're overlooked and you feel bad for them because they shouldn't be, but also you totally get why they are and they can be pretty unreasonable at times too? That's Eddie. The worst character is Warren, obviously, and I don't think Taylor Jenkins Reid wants us to see him as anything more than basically a frat guy in a band. He's there, he's a drummer, he's uninteresting and so overtly 'chill' it's deeply aggravating, but he's harmless enough. That's the band, at least. The best character is Camila, easily, I know my editor would kill me if I didn't point this out. There are some interesting side characters sprinkled in, too.
I have to also gave Taylor Jenkins Reid a lot of credit for actually writing the songs she was....writing...about. It isn't easy! You can craft a beautifully written novel but not be able to write a single decent song lyric, but Jenkins Reid does both with Daisy Jones, the lyrics are fabulous. With that said, I haven't listened to the soundtrack because I wan't to experience it when I'm watching it!!! I can't wait to listen to the songs, though, Riley Keough and Sam Claflin sounded superb together in the trailer. Looking at the tracklist (not listening), I can see not all of the Aurora tracks from the book made it onto the show, being replaced by others I don't recognise, which is kiiind of a shame. I would've loved to hear someone attempt to translate the ethereal wailing sound of Impossible Woman into real life, but ah well.
The ending caught me off guard a bit in how generally uplifting it was, given it has so much of a fall in fortunes for Daisy and then an abrupt rise. It's actually interesting how uplifting many of Taylor Jenkins Reid's endings are. I've read 7 of her 8 books so far (I'm saving Maybe in Another Life for a summer read) and given my first introduction to her work was Seven Husbands, I think I expected a lot more of a tragic outlook on life, given how downcast Seven Husbands leaves you, with everybody you just got invested in dying except for one person who's still left traumatised by the knowledge she gained of the whole affair.
....why is that my favourite book again?
I digress. Most of her books have a fairly lighthearted ending! And not in a disappointing fairytale-esque way, usually it's not all happy smiley, because something shitty has probably happened. It makes for complexity, but usually I'd venture that the reader takes away a pretty happy feeling at the end of the book, but in Seven Husbands, the majority feeling was sadness, even if there was some happiness still remaining as well as a general appreciation for what you'd just read. Point is, DJAT6 (what is that, a license plate?) leaves you with an interesting sense of warmth. Everyone recaps, and despite the fact they all probably had to have a lot of therapy (Daisy actually jokes about this), and Camila has passed away, they've all had pretty good lives. Which I originally thought was slightly odd, but I think I almost get a surprisingly profound message from Taylor Jenkns Reid because of these positive outcomes. Yes, the band may have been iconic, people loved them, it was unique and they fact they split up so early ensured people would forever wonder "what if" with regards to them, but they weren't good for each other. Their lives got better after their split, so again just like with Evelyn Hugo, the world they were in is presented as exciting and desirable, but ultimately destructive. The difference is, this lot got out of it quicker than Evelyn did.
Anyway, Daisy Jones and the Six is a bloody fantastic read, it's got such a cool style and it's so engaging, not just the plot but the dialogue and the differing points of view and the songs! The commentary is strong as well and the realism of the events is so strong many people have to look up whether Daisy Jones and the Six is a real band. So go read it, then watch the show because I'm sure it will be an absolute blast. And please stay tuned for when I review it! There is still a chance this review will age like milk and the TV show sucks. Hopefully not, though.
P.S. I know I should stop referencing Taylor Swift in blog posts irrelevant to her but come on!! There's LITERALLY a song called Midnights on the band's best-selling album! In the book, at least. Okay, I'm signing off.
Are you going to watch the Daisy Jones and the Six miniseries?
yeahhhh
nah
maybe just to humour George, idk
Comments