One of the reasons I have always respected the massively successful Stephen King is because he has never claimed to be more than what he is - a popular entertainer. And though my main motivation for reading is usually not to be entertained, books like Daisy Jones & The Six remind me how much fun it can be to just go along for the ride. Taylor Jenkin Reid's 2019 romp is wonderful on several levels, but mostly because it succeeds on its own modest terms, i.e. it is pure popular entertainment.
Written in the form of an oral history, the novel traces the fictional career of a 1970s band bearing some resemblance to the Stevie Nicks/Lindsay Buckingham iteration of Fleetwood Mac. But Reid's assured hand prevents her book from devolving into a cheesy tale with the stale whiff of rock n' roll memoir. The book has as its coda the lyrics to ten songs from the band's final recording (Aurora). Because each of these songs have previously been an integral part of the narrative, reading them as stand-alone pieces closes the book with a unique touch of authenticity.
Recommending a book like Daisy Jones & The Six is easy for the same reason as recommending much of Stephen King's work, or a film like Saturday Night Fever, or an album like Barry Manilow's Greatest Hits. Each shows attention to craft while aiming squarely at entertaining. And each succeeds, even with a snob like me.
What I enjoyed about Daisy Jones and the Six was that I felt a part of their rock and roll story. Reid's story telling was truly immersive. And to your point, Reid's decision of including the lyrics to songs made me feel that those songs were the efforts of the characters creativity.
ReplyDeleteMarisa; Good to see a comment from you. Immersive is a spot-on adjective to use describing this reading experience.
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