Taylor Jenkins Reid: Daisy Jones & The Six, 9781984817792, Ballantine, New York, Paperback

(deutsche Ausgabe:  Daisy Jones & The Six, Ullstein, Hardcover

 

Taylor Jenkins Reid „Daisy Jones & the Six“  has been sitting on my book pile for some time, a much reviewed New York Times Bestseller and Reese Witherspon Book club pick last year. Finally read it and have to compliment the author on doing a terrific job imagining the life of a fictive rock and roll band in the Seventies,  with all the drugs and craziness of the music scene of that era. The tumultuous relationships within the band, that of bandleader Billy and lead female singer Daisy Jones in particular, was supposedly inspired by Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, a band whose music I loved in the seventies and still like. 

 One of the reasons why this novel feels so authentic, colorful and interesting is the style the author has chosen to tell her story. The entire novel is conducted as an interview with the voices of all band members, wives/partners, managers and producers telling  their personal  view and feelings of past events from the band’s start to the final split up. Jenkins Reid even includes the lyrics of the songs at the end of the book.  The part of the novel when the band members talk about their creative process of writing songs felt very interesting and real to me. We all know from the lives of many rock stars that such a fast paced life often causes emotional destruction or even death with the constant temptation and presence of groupies, drugs and alcohol as is the case with the struggling charismatic characters in the novel.   I really got sucked into the story of this fictive band and enjoyed it a lot, a perfect summer read, often felt like a throwback to my Twenties when wild stories of rock bands were the norm.  Following a very emotional ending, the last pages of the novel are dedicated to what happened to all the band members after their break up giving it a somewhat conciliatory ending.