How Daisy Jones and The Six Gutted Me
One book with everything.
I’ve read this mind-blowing book from start to finish two times now, and its effect on me stays constant. The first time, I was in a library balancing a few books in my hand. My sister was getting irritated, which was expected because I’d dragged her there, and it had been an hour, maybe more, and we still weren’t leaving. I passed a section I’d never walked into, and it sounds irrational to give fate credit, but maybe fate was that unexplainable force that dragged me towards that shelf. It was there where I found Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, oblivious that this masterpiece would change my life and consume days of it.
At that time, I looked at it for a moment, contemplating. I heard about it before but had no idea what it was about. Then I thought whatever and borrowed it. It was the first book I read from that pile of library books, and though I passed by chances to return it time and time again, I only did it on the deadline itself. Why? Because I couldn’t get that damn book out of my head.
It had content that spoke about ‘right person, wrong time’. But I can’t help but feel that this book was my right person, right time. Or, more precisely, right book, but that isn’t the point. The point is that I was in a terrible place mentally at the time, told nobody about it, and this book was like my therapist. I felt so insignificant reading it, and I love that. The best books are those that have the ability to put you in your place, pluck you from reality and show that others are going through tougher shit.
It felt like the book said, “The characters in this book are struggling. Really struggling, just like millions of people out there.”
Right as I finished the story in a day, I just sat there for a moment. I was so inspired, in awe, and I couldn’t believe what I read. I was sucked into a world that was so impossibly real. It delivered more quotes that stuck with me than any other story out there, then shoved me back into the real world where I had to solve my own problems. And I did.
The words just kept replaying in my head. I had more than half of the library book’s pages dogeared, and I thought, this won’t do. Before I returned my borrowed book, I had bought my own copy of it. I went back to certain lines a lot during that time because I would randomly think of them. They were raw, real, and relatable words.
The second time I revisited it, I was thrilled. Many of the pages are tabbed, and the impact it had on me didn’t lessen by much. I had a vague idea regarding what would happen, but it’s not only the storyline that had me hooked. It was everything, and I loved it.
THE REVIEW:
This book is perfect beyond words. The capitalisation of topics that other books would steer clear of and the story’s formatting made my reading experience so refreshing and enjoyable.
The book just had everything, you know?
Drugs, sex, love, hot characters, fame, obsession, cheating, selfishness, selflessness, discovery, truth, life as a whole. Often, people adore books about life because they wish to relate. This book felt like that, except we don’t necessarily have to experience something in real life to relate because the book served the experiences.
You feel the emotions radiating as if the characters had genuine thoughts and emotions. It is the most authentic book I’ve ever read, and speaking about them behind their backs somehow feels wrong because I’ve come to see them as real people. It felt like finding a family, but then realising they were fictional. Tragic, but they seemed so realistic and so immersive that I drowned in their presence. Then, when I snapped out of it, I thought: wow. Life is so goddamn boring.
This book itself is a drug. Daisy claimed somewhere within the story that abusing drugs often and too much would eventually feel like watching the same movie repeatedly, reacting to a familiar plot twist, process, and ending. She claimed that it gets boring, but I doubt this book would ever become boring.
I first borrowed Daisy Jones and The Six from the library before buying a copy for myself, so I was not tabbing or annotating the book. I was folding the top to mark the page, and more than three quarters in, I halted and wondered, “Why am I doing this? I’ve just been folding every page I read.” Whenever I stumbled across a special scene, quote, or something I wanted to write about, I would fold a page. Turns out, the book was wholly special.
I kid you not. When I first read about Teddy’s death, I was utterly confused. I thought, “How did he die when he literally spoke a thousand times throughout the book? Wasn’t this a recorded interview of sorts after everyone disbanded?” Therefore, I flipped the book to the very beginning and began looking through them again. I read the names of about a hundred pages, and I couldn’t find his name with a colon next to it, sharing his opinions and personal feelings. I didn’t believe it, for I’d heard his voice in my head repeatedly, so much that I memorised it. And that’s about when I realised. I went, holy shit, this book is more than a masterpiece. This book now owns my heart because it managed to impact me so greatly that I hallucinated. Even now, I can barely believe that I failed to notice how he did not have lines.
It was then that I discovered how special this book is. Not only did I hear these people speak to me, enunciating their thoughts in this interview, but I also failed to notice that a man was dead the entire time, despite how apparent it was. Typically, I notice many things when I read. I can’t admit that I predicted every plot twist in all of the books I’ve read because I haven’t, but those stories didn’t make me fall into such a deep state of disbelief. This book was surreal. That is the perfect word for this perfect novel. Daisy Jones & The Six is definitely an all-time favourite.
There comes a time for readers when we don’t want the book to end. Perhaps, the writing is too flawless, we’ve gotten too attached to the characters, or the story is too stunning. Eventually, when it’s actually ending, we gradually begin to accept it. Because everything comes to an end, and a book is no different. However, when it came down to Daisy Jones and The Six, not wanting the book to end was different. It felt like nothing else would make much sense again, like you had seen the world in black and white and upon completion, everything was in colour. Everyone would reminisce about the time when they finally came to their senses. This was how reading the book felt. It opened my eyes to everything happening around me, and I would return to the story because it was somewhat like my form of discovery. I’m not returning for the plot, or character or writing specifically. I’m returning for the feelings. And it does come back, every damn time.
When I knew I was about to finish the book, I was unwilling to let go. It was like concluding the best vacation of my life, and despite that cliche suggestion, “Don’t Cry Because It’s Over; Smile Because It Happened,” I was upset. When I reached the end, and I looked at the lyrics at the back, I just couldn’t. You may call me the weakest bitch on this earth for breaking down over missing memories I never had, but it doesn’t change the fact that I felt the way I did. And I loved it.
Jonah Berg from Rolling Stone once described the ease of writing an article as a work that “just writes itself”. This was me with this review. I didn’t have to think much. I take about an hour to write longer reviews because I put a lot of thought into recommending books that I enjoy, just so potential readers can get a great sense of what the story is about. I didn’t have to do that with this review because writing this felt natural.