Review: Daisy Jones & The Six (Audio)

Summary: Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . 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. -- Random House Audio

I could barely contain myself when the novel DAISY JONES & THE SIX by Taylor Jenkins Reid showed up in Volumes. I absolutely love Ms. Reid's novels and this one sounded like it was right up my alley. I am not a huge listened of audio books, but I made an exception for this one. The cast was absolutely amazing, and I was hearing some pretty special buzz about the audio version.

DAISY JONES & THE SIX tells the story of the 1970s mega rock band, Daisy Jones & The Six. The band split up when they were the biggest rock band in the country, and no one knew why. This novel, written as an oral history of the band, finally tells that story.

Daisy was a young girl growing up in L.A. in the late sixties. From the time she was a teen, she was sneaking into bars and clubs, sleeping with famous singers, and even dabbling in drugs. She also figured out that she wanted to be a performer. She started to get buzz for her sexy voice, but it didn't hurt that she was absolutely drop dead gorgeous too!

Meanwhile, the band The Six, led by Billy Dunne and his brother, were also getting some attention. Right before the band was ready to head out on their big tour, Billy learned that his girlfriend was pregnant. Billy wasn't quite sure how to handle this news, and he ended up going a little wild. That's actually an understatement. Billy began drinking and doing drugs and actually missed the birth of his first daughter.

When a producer decided to introduce Daisy and Billy, the history of rock music was forever changed. These two had major chemistry... and I don't just mean on-stage! As the band began to gain fame, the bandmates, especially Daisy and Billy, had to deal with many issues and make some difficult choices about the band's and their own future.

I loved, loved, loved DAISY JONES & THE SIX! I felt as if these characters were real, and Ms. Reid brought their stories to life in the very best possible way. I adored both Daisy and Billy and their complicated lives (even though I felt like hitting them upside the head a few times), and I thought the supporting cast was equally well developed. The way the author captured the time period and the dynamics of the band were just so good! I honestly didn't want their story to end... although I admit that I loved how everything was wrapped up.

However, I think what really made this book extra-special to me was the performance of the narrators. I almost can't believe I'm saying this, but I know I preferred the audio version to the written one. This audio book will go down as one of my favorites ever because of performances by Jennifer Beals, Pablo Schreiber, Julia Whelan, and Judy Greer...although every narration was spot on. This was an amazing production, and I'd like to just list the entire cast because it was so special:

Daisy Jones, read by Jennifer Beals
Billy Dunne, read by Pablo Schreiber
Graham Dunne, read by Benjamin Bratt
Eddie Loving, read by Fred Berman
Warren Rhodes, read by Ari Fliakos
Karen Karen, read by Judy Greer
Camila Dunne, read by January LaVoy
Simone Jackson, read by Robinne Lee
Narrator / Author, read by Julia Whelan
Jim Blades, read by Jonathan Davis
Rod Reyes, read by Henry Leyva
Artie Snyder, read by Oliver Wyman
Elaine Chang, read by Nancy Wu
Freddie Mendoza, read by P.J. Ochlan
Nick Harris, read by Arthur Bishop
Jonah Berg, read by Holter Graham
Greg McGuinness, read by Brendan Wayne
Pete Loving, read by Pete Larkin
Wyatt Stone, read by Alex Jenkins Reid
Hank Allen, read by Robert Petkoff
Opal Cunningham, read by Sara Arrington

Book clubs should so read DAISY JONES & THE SIX! I am happy to say that there is an excellent discussion guide with 15 thought-provoking questions. Some of the themes you might want to explore include sacrifice, the role of women in society, drugs, addiction, family, finding one's self, sibling relationships, commitment, faithfulness, and memory. I truly think you could talk about this novel and these characters for hours!

I adored DAISY JONES & THE SIX and highly recommend it to fans of women's fiction!

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy on Volumes.