My Thoughts on "Daisy Jones and the Six" and Discussion Questions

What's this?  Two blog posts in two days and I finished a book for the first time in about a month?  I know, this is complete madness, but, like I said yesterday, I'm really trying to get back on track with things.

Daisy Jones and the Six was voted best historical fiction novel of 2019 on Goodreads, but it never really called out to me.  I thought the plot sounded somewhat interesting, but not enough to actually get me to read the book.  Then I read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which is by the same author, and I completely fell in love with the book.  I knew I had to read Daisy Jones, even if it takes place way before my time and deals with music that isn't really my style.

The book tells the story of the fictional band, Daisy Jones and the Six, and its rise to fame.  Then, at the peak of their stardom, they broke up, right in the middle of a world tour.  That was it, the band never performed together again.  Similar to Evelyn Hugo, this is the band's first time baring their souls and telling the rest of the world what happened between them.

What makes this book unique is its format.  It's written as an oral history.  That's right, the entire book is written as one big, long interview.  At first, that was a little off-putting to me; I get enough of reading stuff like that for grad school.  Once I started reading, however, I couldn't imagine the book written any other way.  The way Reid wrote the book, it felt organic, like you actually listening to an interview on VH1 or MTV.  I imagine that the book could have been written in a more traditional format, but it would have lost a little of its authenticity.  One thing I really enjoyed about the book were the inconsistencies that came with oral history and recounting events forty or so years after the fact.  At one point, one member of the band said, "We finished recording our album in May", then another said, "We finished our album in November."  That shows you the problems with memory and the fact that everyone remembers things a little bit differently.  There weren't a ton of inconsistencies like that in the book, but there were enough that you definitely noticed.

As much as I loved this book, there was something that bothered me immensely.  It's going to sound petty and weird, but just bear with me.  So this book is about a band, and Reid even goes so far as to include lyrics from their top selling album, Aurora, in the back of the book.  What I wanted was to be able to hear the songs performed.  It's one thing to read the lyrics (they're pretty much poems), but it's another thing to experience the songs with the instrumentals, the various voices, etc.  I wish they got together a band that had the same sound as Daisy Jones and the Six to record all the songs as an album.  I know the book is being made into a tv mini series, so maybe then we'll get a taste of what the music sounds like.

That's pretty much all I can talk about without giving away too many spoilers.  So, as always, if you haven't read the book or want to avoid spoilers, this is probably where you should stop reading.  If you're using this book for a book club and need discussion questions, those can be found at the very bottom of this post, but they might contain spoilers too.

There isn't a whole lot I want to talk about in relation to spoilers, just my thoughts on the end, and a little bit about Daisy's relationship with Billy.

First of all, at first I thought the ending was extremely abrupt; it just stopped without warning pretty much.  When I stepped back and thought about it, however, that's how the band ended.  They were in the middle of their tour, and they just stopped after one performance, that was it.  They had just released a record breaking album, they were in the middle of a world tour, and everything fell apart in the blink of an eye.  It was supposed to feel sudden because it was.  I imagine their fans were confused as to what happened, and so to help convey that in the book, Reid ended things pretty abruptly as well.  She did a great job of leaving the reader wanting more, just like the fans probably did as well.

What did bother me more than the abrupt ending was Daisy and Billy's relationship.  It felt very awkward, and I couldn't really get a good sense of it.  It was like, sometimes they hated each other and wouldn't even talk to each other, other times they were head over heels in love in this star-crossed type of way.  It was weird, and, honestly, it gave me whiplash.  It also left me feeling conflicted, because Billy obviously loved Camilla and his daughters more than anything, so I couldn't figure out what drew him to Daisy.  She really was like a lightning rod for him, and no matter how much he tried to stay away, he just couldn't.  I could never figure out why, although I feel like it had something to do with the fact that she reminded him of himself, and he wanted to fix her.  I don't know, I'm just speculating here.

Minus those tiny little issues, I really did enjoy this book.  I thought the format was unique and worked extremely well given the content.  I also thought that Taylor Jenkins Reid once again showed that she's a force to be reckoned with when it comes to writing strong women in history.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.  Whatever it is, you can rest assured that I'll buy it and blog about it after I read it.

I didn't say this before, but this is actually a book one of my book clubs picked.  Unfortunately, I have plans the day of that meeting, so I can't go.  Oh well, such is life.  This was still a book I wanted to read, so I started it a little early, but it took me a while to read.  I did create a list of book club questions, so if you're using this book for your book club, feel free to use some of my questions below.

1. How did Daisy's childhood allow her to become famous?
2. What impact did Camilla have on the band?
3. Why was this band able to make it big when so many others failed?
4. How did the inconsistencies throughout the band's memory add to the story?
5. Why did Billy struggle the most with drugs and the rock and roll lifestyle?
6. Daisy said she had no idea what it meant to truly suffer (page 80).  Is that true?
7. Daisy refers to herself as "the cool new jeans" while Billy is "the pair you've had for years" (page 88).  Is this an accurate description of them when they first started working together?
8. In what ways was the band more about Billy than Daisy?
9. What were the major turning points in the band's history that put them on the road to success?
10. How did miscommunication and misunderstandings lead to problems in the band?
11. How did Daisy change the dynamic of the band?
12. How did Billy and Daisy bring out the best and the worst in each other?
13. Why do you think Karen didn't want the band to know about her and Graham?
14. Did the drug use have a positive or negative effect on Daisy's song writing and singing?
15. At what point did Daisy lose control of her life?
16. Did Daisy care that her life was spiraling out of control?
17. How did the fact that Billy and Daisy were "the Chosen Ones" cause stress among members of the band?
18. Daisy said about her marriage to Niccolo, "I regret that marriage, but I do not regret that dress" (236).  How does this sum up her personality?
19. Did Eddie take things too personally?
20. Did the size of the band contribute to its problems?
21. Did Karen make the right choice having an abortion?
22. Was Daisy jealous of Camilla?  If so, why?
23. Was the band's break up caused by one event or a perfect storm of smaller events?
24. Did Daisy leave the band for herself or for Billy?
25. Were you surprised that Eddie stayed in the band as long as he did?
26. Why did Julia decide to write the story of the band?
27. Would this book work if written in a more traditional format?
28. This book is going to be made into a television mini series.  Do you think it will translate well into that format?
29. What drew Billy to Daisy in the first place?
30. What would their relationship have been like had Billy and Daisy gotten together?

Read More

My Thoughts on "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" and Discussion Questions

First of all, wow.  I really need to start going outside my comfort zone with books and read ones I thought I wouldn't like and kept passing over on Amazon and Goodreads.  I bought Taylor Jenkins Reid's other book, Daisy Jones and the Six and kept seeing this one, but I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about it.  On a whim, however, I decided to buy it.  It was in my pile of books to read in 2020, but I picked it up looking for a book, and I read it in two days.  I absolutely couldn't put it down!  I'm so glad I bought it and have it in my life.  It's definitely a book worth reading.

This book focuses on the life of classic film actress, Evelyn Hugo.  As the title implies, Evelyn was married an astounding seven times.  All of her marriages were different and helped her further her career in some capacity.  Getting up there in age and having outlived all her husbands and lovers, the mysterious Evelyn Hugo has decided to divulge the secrets of her past.  Rather than pick a famous and well-renowned writer, however, she picks Monique, who is a virtually unknown journalist for a magazine.  Monique has absolutely no idea why Evelyn has selected her, but she sees this as the perfect opportunity to help her fledgling career.  Over a series of several weeks, Monique meets with Evelyn in her grand apartment and listens as the actress holds nothing back and discusses her colorful past, including a string of seven husbands, scandalous film choices, becoming a mother and a forbidden love that she clung to for her entire life.  The whole time, Evelyn is keeping a secret, a connection between her life and Monique's that the young journalist never saw coming and will change her life forever.

As I previously stated, this book was absolutely amazing.  Even though Evelyn Hugo is a fictional character, I thought she lived an amazing life.  What I found most fascinating was the amount of thought that went into every decision she made.  Each and every marriage, yes, all seven of them, had some sort of pay off for Evelyn, even her briefest marriage (which was only a few days).  It absolutely blew my mind.  This brief marriage made me think of Britney Spears when she married a childhood friend in Vegas in 2004.  At the time, it was seen as poor decision making on the part of a former child star, but now I'm having some second thoughts.  Spears' marriage could have been a way to manipulate the public in some capacity.  This book has completely changed my perception on celebrities.

What else I loved about this book was Evelyn's character.  From early on, she took complete control of her life and career.  She knew exactly what she wanted and didn't care what other people thought about her choices.  This was a huge part of her personality, as she emphasized that while she didn't always make the best decisions, she had absolutely no regrets in her life, which says a lot about her since her decisions weren't always the best.  If she had been a real person, I would have seen Evelyn as incredibly inspirational.

I do have to say, as I read the book, I kept thinking that this would make an absolutely amazing movie.  It has everything movies are looking for: colorful characters, twists and turns, conflict and fantastical locations.  I do think Hollywood would struggle with making this into a movie, however, because it does pull back the curtain on some of its secrets.  Even so, it would make an amazing movie.  One can hope that, eventually, Hollywood will agree with me and make it into a movie.  If you've read this book and can give me some ideas as to who you'd like cast, leave a comment and let me know!  Also, if there's a book you've read that you'd love to see made into a movie, leave a comment with that as well.

Okay, now I want to talk about some events towards the end of the book.  There were some twists and turns the last few pages that I think I'm done processing through, and I'd love to share my thoughts on them.  So, if you haven't read the book, this is probably where you should stop reading.  I also have some book club discussions questions as well.

First of all, wow.  I knew there was some sort of connection between Evelyn and Monique before Monique began alluding to it, but I definitely didn't see that coming!  I definitely felt blindsided when Evelyn revealed that Monique's father had been gay and killed in the car accident that also killed Harry.  As soon as I read that, I put the book down and took a few minutes to process through the information and shock.  For the life of me, I couldn't figure out the connection between Monique and Evelyn, but I knew it had to do with her father since he was involved in Hollywood.  The fact that he was gay and Harry's lover absolutely took me by surprise.  I completely get why Monique got upset about the news, for a variety of reasons.  First of all, she learned that her father was cheating on her mother, and with a man, causing her to doubt his sexuality in the first place.  Additionally, she always thought her dad died after getting behind the wheel of a car drunk, which was something she though he'd never do.  To make matters worse, he was blamed to protect the reputation of a far more famous man from Hollywood.  It's a lot for anyone to take in, and I don't blame Monique at all for getting upset.  What surprised me the most, however, was the fact that, somehow, Monique was able to move past all that fairly quickly and return to Evelyn's apartment fairly quickly for the magazine photo shoot.

The other huge surprise was Evelyn's decision to end her own life.  After reading the book, however, and getting a sense of Evelyn's personality, it doesn't surprise me at all.  She's the type of person who likes to be in control of everything.  Additionally, she's known for her looks and appearances, so for her to waste away from cancer would be incredibly difficult for her.  This was Evelyn's way of taking control of her life one last time and saving herself from the suffering she had to watch her daughter endure as she died from cancer earlier.  It was definitely a sucker punch though, and it was even more emotional turmoil for Monique who was still getting over the news about her father.

Even though I didn't read this book for book club, I decided to come up with some book club questions.  Usually when I write book club questions, I write them as I read.  Since I decided to write these questions after the fact, however, they might not be as specific.  I hope you still find them useful.

1. How was Evelyn's decision to end her life her taking control of her life?
2. In what ways did this book change your perceptions of Hollywood?
3. If this was made into a movie, who would you cast?
4. Why was Celia a more award winning actress than Evelyn?
5. Do you think Evelyn selecting Monique really had nothing to do with her father's death?
6. In what way did Evelyn deny herself to become successful?
7. Of all of Evelyn's marriages, which one was the most "real"?
8. How did Monique's life mirror Evelyn's?
9. In what ways was Evelyn a woman ahead of her time?
10. Do you agree with Celia's decisions to leave Evelyn both times?
11. In what ways was Harry Evelyn's most stable marriage?
12. Although Evelyn appeared to be in control, to what extent was she actually in control of her life?
13. Where would Evelyn had ended up if she hadn't gone to Hollywood?
14. Would Evelyn's life and career choices been as scandalous if she'd been a young actress today?
15. How did Evelyn's roles reflect her desires for her life?
16. Do you think Monique will ever tell her mom the truth behind her dad's death?

If you've read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, let me know what you thought of it in the comments below.  If you haven't read it, I hope you pick it up and check it out soon!

Read More