This is the first book I've read by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I had heard so many good things about it. I really, really wanted to love it. I mean, look at that cover! It's great, right? Like an old album cover of the latest rock singer that oozes sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. It's about music, I love music. Unfortunately, I didn't love this book. I didn't hate it either. It just was not what I had hoped for.
It definitely had a 70's rock band vibe to it and I did like that. The Eagles, Aerosmith. The Byrds, ZZ Top, Journey, Foreigner, Rolling Stones, and the only one I can think of off the top of my head with a lead female singer - Fleetwood Mac. Who is possibly cooler than 1970's Stevie Nicks? So, that's who was in my head as I began this book and I was hoping the answer to that question would be that Stevie Nicks might find a coolness rival in Daisy Jones.
Here's the thing, the book is written like the script of a documentary that is taking a look back at what the band, Daisy Jones and The Six has accomplished, what are some of the behind the scene stories and why did the band break up? That's all fine if you are watching a documentary and you know some of the people being interviewed. I would gladly (in fact I did) watch a documentary about The Eagles. I loved it. The Eagles have been a part of my life, their music has meaning to me, I can sing their songs and I want to learn more about them. That's the piece that's missing in this book, in my opinion.
I was essentially reading interviews of people I didn't know, talking about people I didn't know so the connection was lost. I do think that some of the stories told and the experiences of the band could be true to reality. The lifestyle, the group dynamics and complicated relationships all made sense and felt true. It just wasn't enough.
It was like someone who loves Broadway musicals gets told to just read the script. No music, no production, no acting, just read the lines. It's not the same and we would have less musical lovers if we reduced them to that.
I have heard and read that the audio book is way better than the book. This isn't a surprise to me as it has multiple voices and might be more like listening to the documentary on the radio. I think that would be a step towards filling in the gap I felt by just reading it off the page. That being said, I'm not sure I liked it enough to listen to it as an audio so my suggestion (although I haven't listened to it) would be to start with the audio. Let me know what you think.
Bookworm Rating: 🐛🐛🐛
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