The Librarian's Husband's Book Club discussion

This area is for discussion about the June 2024 book selection, Daisy Jones & The Six, while we are reading it.

Please make use of the spoilers function ([spoiler]...[/spoiler] but replace [] with <>) as appropriate to be sure we don't ruin parts of the book for others.

spoiler: (view spoiler)[ It looks like this :) (hide spoiler)]

The interview format was unexpected, but I imagine that this book will be a quick read because of it.

I'm at Page 133 and have a hard time getting excited about this. While the telling of the story through interviews with the band members is a neat device it leaves out a lot of story potential. And, it also gives me the impression that the author is cheating a little. So, there's just conversational anecdotes as opposed to longer descriptions or passages.
If I wasn't participating in a group read, I probably would have shelved this as DNF. I'm hoping the story picks up and gets better soon. After all the hype about this book (and author) and best-seller lists, I'm a bit disappointed by this.

@Michael i had similar reservations at one point as well. dont give up on TJR yet

I liked the interview method.

Thanks, Devon & Tiffany for the words of encouragement. I'm going to stick with this, but will probably read in short doses as opposed to my usual methods.
There are several reasons why I'm not fully engaged just yet, in addition to the interview method I haven't warmed up to.
1) I'm a big music fan, especially mid to late '60's and early '70's rock, and probably have read enough band and artist biographies to find this not that original.
2) I haven't really bonded to any of these characters yet. Daisy and Billie just seemed too flawed and self-centered. Grace and Graham may be the two characters I can appreciate more.
3) Now at page 169, after Billie and Daisy have their first writing session together. These past few chapters to me seem to be a bit overdone, especially the soul-searching that Billie does that seems a bit melodramatic to me.

sometimes their personalities seemed a little on the bland side to me. But on the other hand i liked that they all weren’t hopeless romantics that were intoxicated 100% if the time, scorching every relationship they had with anyone. They still maintained some kind of friendship and business throughout. It was refreshing being a little untraditional for how i personally was expecting the rockstars personalities to go.

I just picked up this book this morning. I’m hoping it’s a good read.

@Michael J, can I be honest... I actually did the Audible full cast ensemble version of the book rather than reading a physical copy. I "think" I'd have been more inclined to feel how you are feeling if I tried reading it. I honestly asked my husband, who also loves music from that decade, the draw to the book. I wondered to myself, "Did they find all the terrible stories of all the rock bands and make that this book?" I did only give it 3 stars, and when I started and was in the first 1/3 of the book, I was leaning toward 2.

@Tiffany, yeah, I believe stories of rock bands from that era were an inspiration. Especially Fleetwood Mac. If I had to guess at what band inspired Taylor Jenkins Reid the most, it would be them - right after Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the band and subsequently the next two albums took off. They definitely changed the sound and direction of the band. Then, their album titled Rumours was their acknowledgment of internal squabbles, alliances, and affairs among the band members.
Also, you have a point. This probably plays out a lot better as an audiobook, especially if there are multiple voices for the characters.

I'm at Page 263 in the paperback edition, right where the Aurora World Tour begins. I'm committed to finishing this although I honestly don't care for it. I think a combination of interviews and narration would have worked better, maybe with the narrator beginning each chapter with a description of what was going on with the band and then following up with the interviews for evidence.
Also, I don't like Daisy (too self-centered and selfish) and Billie (his false modesty and feigned dedication to his family). No other characters I'm feeling warm towards either. (view spoiler)[ I had a feeling earlier in the book that Daisy & Billie would have an affair and break up his marriage. In spite of the squabbles between the two in the section I just finished, I'm still anticipating this will happen. (hide spoiler)]

I’m on pg 46 at the moment. It is a little slow, but I’m sticking with it.

I finished this and posted my review in the appropriate link on the Librarian Husband's home page.
The third act elevated this from a two-star ranking to three stars. Now I don't regret reading it. If you are finding it hard to get fully engaged with the story, have patience and wait for the end. Maybe it will conclude in an unexpected, uplighting way for you the same way it did for me.

I'm Just starting---doing the audio version. At this point, I do like the format---something different. It works well with a full cast on the audio version. I'm unsure how well the format would work if I read a paper version or if there was only one narrator.