Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Published 2019 · 374 pages · 89,027 words · about 6 hours at an average pace · Arts & Culture, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction

How hard is Daisy Jones & The Six to read?

Daisy Jones & The Six scores 48 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 32 out of 100
The vocabulary is contemporary and accessible, with occasional music-industry terms (e.g., 'riffs,' 'demo,' 'single'). Compared to 'Beach Read,' the language is slightly more elevated, but it avoids specialized jargon or archaic phrasing, making it easily understandable for a wide audience.
Sentence structure: 38 out of 100
The sentences are generally straightforward and declarative, typical of contemporary fiction. While there are some longer sentences, they are easily navigable and do not feature extensive nested clauses. This style is similar to '1984' in its directness, though with slightly more variation in sentence structure.
Abstraction: 40 out of 100
The narrative focuses on concrete events and character interactions within the context of a rock band's rise and fall. While themes of love, addiction, and ambition are present, they are explored through the characters' actions and relationships rather than philosophical digressions. This is more grounded than 'Remains of the Day,' which has a deeper layer of emotional abstraction.
Information density: 42 out of 100
The book presents a moderate amount of information, balancing character development with plot progression. While there are multiple perspectives and timelines, the narrative remains focused and avoids overwhelming the reader with excessive detail. This is less dense than 'Austerlitz,' which features slow paragraphs and careful layering of information.
Narrative indirection: 60 out of 100
The story is told through an oral history format, with characters recounting events from their perspectives. Readers must piece together the truth from these often conflicting accounts, inferring motivations and hidden emotions. This requires more active engagement than '1984,' where the narrative is more direct, but less than 'Lolita,' where the narrator is explicitly unreliable.
Symbolic density: 50 out of 100
While the story is primarily character-driven, certain motifs and symbols emerge, such as music representing passion and connection, and addiction symbolizing self-destruction. These symbols are not overtly emphasized, allowing readers to interpret their significance within the narrative. This is less dense than 'The Great Gatsby,' where symbols like the green light are more central to the story's meaning.
Ironic distance: 40 out of 100
The oral history format allows for some ironic distance, as characters' self-perceptions often differ from the reality of their actions. However, the narrative generally maintains a sincere tone, with characters expressing their emotions and experiences directly. This is less ironic than 'Moby-Dick,' where Ishmael's humor provides a constant ironic framing of the tragic events.
Resolution withholding: 60 out of 100
The oral history format creates a sense of ambiguity, as the reader is left to reconcile conflicting accounts and draw their own conclusions about the band's breakup and the characters' ultimate fates. While the main plot points are resolved, the emotional and relational dynamics remain open to interpretation. This is less ambiguous than 'Lolita,' where the aftermath is known but the meaning remains open.
Structural complexity: 50 out of 100
The narrative structure is primarily chronological, but the shifting perspectives of the oral history create a fragmented and multi-faceted view of events. The story unfolds through a series of interviews, allowing for flashbacks and digressions that add depth to the characters and their relationships. This is more complex than 'Beach Read,' which follows a linear romance structure, but less so than 'Midnight's Children,' which features multiple timelines and extensive flashbacks.

How Daisy Jones & The Six is regarded

Daisy Jones & The Six holds a literary regard score of 26 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Where Daisy Jones & The Six sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (156 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, Daisy Jones & The Six scores 58 out of 100. A second mythos, comedy, pulls at it with a weight of 0.2. About the map of stories.

Mode: Low Mimetic
Imagine achieving your wildest dream and feeling empty inside.
Symbol: Formal
sometimes accounts of the same event differ.
Mythos: Tragedy iv (tragedy iv)
It was like I’d been playing with fire but somehow I was genuinely surprised when I burnt myself.
Genre: Novel + Confession
The following oral history is compiled and edited from those conversations, as well as relevant emails, transcripts, and lyrics.

Where the story of Daisy Jones & The Six takes place

  • An imagined rock band's rise and fall, 1972-1979 (1972 to 1979), the main setting
  • Pittsburgh and the Northeast club circuit, 1954-1971 (1954 to 1971)
  • Sunset Strip and Laurel Canyon, Daisy's youth, 1965-1972 (1965 to 1972)
  • Los Angeles and American tours, 1972-1979 (1972 to 1979)
  • Phuket and Rome, winter 1977-78 (1977 to 1978)

5 things that are true of Daisy Jones & The Six, with the passage for each

  1. The band's breakup happened on tour in Chicago on a specific date, July 12, 1979, stated in the author's note.

    what led to their abrupt and infamous split while on tour in Chicago on July 12, 1979.

  2. Chuck Williams, the original rhythm guitarist, drew draft lottery number 2.

    But Chuck Williams, born April 24, 1949, was assigned lottery number 2.

  3. Camila's ultimatum letter gives Billy a deadline of November 30, the day before the baby is due.

    You have until November 30 and then you’re going to be a good man for the rest of your life.

  4. Billy was sixty-three days into fatherhood when he met his first daughter.

    Julia was sixty-three days old when I met her.

  5. The interviewer is revealed to be Billy and Camila's daughter Julia.

    Yeah, go ahead. Call me Julia. Call my mom Camila.

Scenes in Daisy Jones & The Six that Frye would name

59 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Anagnorisis, untitled
He wasn’t gonna kill me but he would let me die. Daisy sees what her husband really is and walks out on him.
Pathos, untitled
Teddy had a heart attack. The father-figure producer dies and the band's order collapses.
Anagnorisis, untitled
Camila Dunne thought I was worth saving. Daisy's pivotal recognition of her own worth, delivered by her rival.
Pathos, untitled
She died on December 1, 2012, at the age of sixty-three from heart failure, a complication of lupus. Camila's death frames the whole oral history as elegy.
Alazon, untitled
And Wyatt pretended he wrote the whole thing. Wyatt Stone is an impostor who takes credit for Daisy's lyric.
Anagnorisis, untitled
And then I realize it’s my dad. Billy recognises the father who abandoned him, and the father fails to recognise his sons.

Books that share these scenes with Daisy Jones & The Six

About the author

Taylor Jenkins Reid