By Crystal Olague || Staff Writer
For this week’s book review, I am going to talk about Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This book is one of my favorites and I decided to talk about it this week because Amazon just finished releasing all the episodes for the TV show adaptation and all I can say is that it is amazing. It also was the book of choice in F&M’s book club last week and I want to encourage all of you to stop by to see what happens!
This book tells the story of one of the greatest bands to ever exist (in this fantasy world). We learn about how these six people rose to sudden fame and how it only took two of them to destroy everything. The original band, The Dunne Brothers, start off as a “family” band since it was started by Billy and Graham Dunne, who are joined by four of their other friends. They started off playing weddings, graduations, and other small gatherings, thinking nothing would ever come from these gigs they play. That is, until Billy and Graham’s negligent father appeared at one of their shows, with no regard for how his sons handled his disappearance. This sudden appearance was enough to shock Billy and the betrayal that he felt when he saw his father was more than enough motivation for Billy to try and make something out of this small career. From this day on, the band decided that it would be their mission to do something great, so that’s what they did.
Over the next couple months, they moved from playing small shows, to booking larger venues to perform. During one performance in particular, there was a tour manager, Rod Reyes, in the crowd, who loved what he heard and decided to help them out by giving them some advice on how to improve. Out of everything he said, the main thing that stuck with them was that in order for them to reach their full potential, they needed to leave Pittsburgh and go to LA instead, which they did. At this point, however, the band had changed a little bit. One of the original members of the band ended up leaving because they didn’t see a future for themselves there and wanted to go to college instead. This allowed Karen Sirko, a brilliant pianist, to join the band and help to add more to the sound of the band. Another individual who joined the band was Camilla Alvarez. Unlike the rest of the band members, Camilla was “a part” of the band as Billy’s girlfriend and photographer. Despite this, she is still an integral and essential part of the band.
At first, it was a rough start for them to get themselves out there due to numerous reasons that are explained in the book, but the band didn’t let this stop them. The struggles that they faced in the first few months brought them closer together as a band and as a family. The story really begins after the band writes their first album, with their new manager Teddy, and after it takes off they end up meeting Daisy. Daisy is a firecracker, but her talent is unmatchable. Daisy had a hard childhood growing up and found an escape through music and drugs, the only two things that provided her with comfort. She ends up being the best thing that the band needed, but also the worst thing.
Now for this book, I don’t want to go too in depth about what happens in the book because it would be way too much for me to explain and I highly recommend for all of you to either read the book or watch the show, both are amazing. The reason why I love this book so much is because of the characters. Personally, I will always root for any woman in a book, but the women in this book, especially, were truly amazing. Camilla, Billy Dunne’s wife, is an incredibly strong woman and she went through so much will being married to Billy and despite this she was still an amazing mother to her daughter. She continued to be an amazing role model and as I read the book I felt pity for her. In my opinion, I wished she never went through any of this because she didn’t deserve to be treated the way she did. Karen Sirko is another woman who I look up to because of how secure in herself she is. I won’t fully explain what occurred to her near the end of the book because it could be triggering, but just watching her go through that experience was heartbreaking. Lastly, I want to talk about how much I love Daisy even though she is problematic at times. Daisy is such a strong woman who went through so much in her life and the only time she found her family, it was taken from her. It pained me to watch Daisy’s battle with drugs, though she wins at the end, because she was what was holding her and everyone who loved her back.
I don’t want to ramble on any further, but I do encourage you all to pick up Daisy Jones and The Six and give it a read or even watch the show. I hope you all have an amazing week and I will see you next week in Crystal’s Corner.
Junior Crystal Olague is a Staff Writer. Her email is colague@fandm.edu.