This is one of the books chosen by my library for my book club. I will do a separate article about my book club and transitioning to being supplied by the library at a later date, I’d like to have a few more months under my belt before I write anything.
When we handed out this book some people googled the title. We’re sort of in the older age group and some of us remember the music from the 1960s when this book is set. None of us remembered Daisy Jones & The Six as being a group. When we googled we found footage of the music by this group. It’s only on reading the acknowledgments at the back of the book that it’s stated that this book is fiction. Very confusing.
While reading I wasn’t sure if it was fiction or fact based, there are enough details that I remember, or know of, that feel right. It really took me till the acknowledgments for me to be sure of it being fiction. I don’t remember much of the 1960s, but this really does feel very like what I know.
This book is entirely made up of interview entries. There is no other narrative, the interviewer is not seen much. The author has cleverly woven various ‘interviews’ with the members of the band and their manager and others to tell the story of the rise and fall of a band in the 1960s. Sometimes we are given several paragraphs, while others it’s only one line. Reid has used whatever she needed to move the story on without lingering too much at any one time. It’s very cleverly done. Because of this format I was kept guessing until the very end.
I was engaged enough to keep reading as if it is fiction, yet it’s presented as fact and the feel of the storyline is like a memoir. It has the highs and lows of being in a band. We see the drugs through the eyes of people taking them and the damage it’s doing to them and to the people they love.
This is a story of he said, she said, they said. There’s all these different sides to the story and then there’s the truth. Nothing is ever black and white, it’s always something in the middle with shades of grey. It’s also a love story. One that is pushed aside by the drugs and alcohol and can only be realised by leaving the drugs behind. But getting clean is not easy and it’s so easy to slip back. I’m sure some recovering drug addicts or recovering alcoholics will be able to recognise what’s going through the minds of these people as they teeter on the edge of slipping back.
You can also find this as a series presented on pay TV. I’ve watched an episode or two and I’m wondering if I’ll bother finishing the entire. I mean, I know what happens. And I can’t see the appeal of these people. According to the book the two lead singer-songwriters are meant to be really appealing and I can’t see it. This works in book form because we see them through other people’s eyes. I’m wondering if it’s because I’ve read the book first and I have my own expectations, or if I just don’t see that kind of thing. I don’t see the appeal of David Boreanz as Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Anyway, going back to the beginning. The reason we found footage of the band was because they made a TV series and that was the footage we found. It was not because the band is real. If I haven’t specified that till now, well, I have now. It’s amazing what you can find on the internet.
I did enjoy this book. During the first half I kept wondering when we’d get some narrative action, during the last half I forgot about that as I was hooked. Many thanks to Glen Eira Library for their choice.