Key themes
- Creative partnership and the egos that destroy it
- Fame and the self it leaves behind
- The song that exists for only one person — and the career built on it
About this book
Told entirely through oral history — interviews with the band members, roadies and record executives — the story of Daisy Jones and The Six reconstructs the rise and sudden implosion of one of the greatest rock bands of the 1970s. Reid's novel is about creative partnership, addiction, ambition and who gets to own a shared story.
Published in 2019, Daisy Jones and the Six was inspired by a mix of Fleetwood Mac's history and Reid's interest in what it would mean to write a great album with someone you couldn't have. It was adapted into a streaming series in 2023.
Discussion questions
- The oral history format gives us multiple contradictory versions of the same events. What does this structure say about memory, perspective and the stories bands tell about themselves?
- Billy and Daisy's relationship is central to the music and to the implosion. How does Reid prevent this from becoming a simple love story — and what is the novel actually saying about what they were to each other?
- The band's success is presented as both a triumph and a kind of violence. How does Reid show what fame does to each member differently?
- The novel never includes the actual song lyrics. Why might Reid have made this choice — and what does the absence create?
- Daisy Jones was adapted into a television series. What does the oral history format do in print that couldn't be achieved on screen — and vice versa?
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