Force Me to Read… Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

After forcing me to read Scythe by Neal Shusterman in November, y’all sent me in a completey different direction in January with Daisy Jones & The Six. I was actually supposed to read it in December but thanks to both a reading and blogging slump it just didn’t happen.

Honestly, I was kind of hoping that any book except Daisy Jones would get picked because historical fiction is not my thing. When I said I would read whatever y’all told me to, though, I was serious – so I picked it up from my local library.

It’s time to force me to read another book! Elliott randomly chose these four from your suggestions. Now it’s time to vote for which one I’ll read in December!

See attached tweet for the books’ covers if you’re not sure what the titles are!

— mari 🤦🏻‍♀️ (@MusingsOfAGirl) November 23, 2019

I was apprehensive to say the least, but I tried to go into it with an open mind.

Title: Daisy Jones & The Six
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Release Date: March 5, 2019
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Pages: 355

Content Warnings: drug use, alcohol, abortion

This post does contain affiliate links. I will receive a small amount from any purchases made through Book Depository at no extra cost to you.

Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six: The band’s album Aurora came to define the rock ‘n’ roll era of the late seventies, and an entire generation of girls wanted to grow up to be Daisy. But no one knows the reason behind the group’s split on the night of their final concert at Chicago Stadium on July 12, 1979 . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ‘n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.

Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound

Right off the bat I was completely confused by the format. The entire thing is interviews put together? W H A T??? A couple Twitter friends said they had an easier time getting through the audiobook because of the format but the hold time at my library for the audio was ridiculous, so I decided to try and plow through it.

It literally only took about five pages before I was hooked.

Unfortunately, my son had a therapy appointment the afternoon I started reading so I wasn’t able to get very far in. You better believe I took the book with me to Elliott’s appointment and told him, “Okay, kid, you’re on your own for your appointment” and then read for the duration.

(I swear I didn’t actually abandon him. Once he was safely with his therapist I did read during his appointment, but he needed to go by himself because we’re working on his separation anxiety.)

That night, once everybody had gone to bed and I could finally dedicate a huge chunk of time to reading, I devoured the story. Everything about it was gripping and compelling and the characters were so lifelike. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing is just phenomenal.

That’s how it was back then. I was just supposed to be the inspiration for some man’s great idea.
Well, fuck that.
That’s why I started writing my own stuff.

Once I got around 150 pages in I turned to Google because I just had to know what Daisy sounded like. After thirty minutes of searching it finally hit me – none of the characters were real. Because of the author’s note at the beginning and the interview format I thought they were real people… *major facepalm*

I’m so glad y’all forced this one on me. I honestly don’t think I ever would have picked it up on my own and I would have missed out on a really incredible story. My husband definitely thought I was a little crazy when I told him about my idea to let people force books on me but so far it’s been a complete success – I’ve loved both Scythe and Daisy Jones!

It’s already been decided that next month I’ll be reading City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab! I’ve checked it out from the library and I’m ready to go. If you could force me to read any book, what would it be? Please only suggest one! Any suggestions will go into the TBR jar to be considered next month!