“Daisy Jones & the Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid quickly rose in popularity when it first hit the shelves in 2019. The fiction novel covers the rise and fall of the world-famous rock band’s chokehold over the music industry during the mid to late 1970s, and provides a glimpse into the life of rockstars, especially the battle against addiction, infidelity, and creative differences. Loosely based on real-life romantic conflicts and substance abuse struggles of the members of Fleetwood Mac, “Daisy Jones & the Six” tells the story of Daisy Jones, an eclectic and headstrong singer-songwriter, and her musical marriage to the band The Six. The plot heavily focuses on Daisy and Billy Dunne’s, a member of The Six, struggles with addiction, as well as their subsequent romantic journey.

The novel is a beautiful testament to the importance of family, trust, perseverance, and most importantly, music. However, the new television adaptation of “Daisy Jones and the Six” by Amazon Prime Video has proven to fall short of whatever quality made the novel so compelling to read.

Where in the novel we see a strong, determined Daisy, a woman who never backs down and always speaks her mind, we see a whiny and selfish shadow of the written woman in the show. Rather than evoking feelings of confidence, inspiration, and transparency, the show depicts Daisy as nothing more than a homewrecking drug addict.While the depiction of Daisy in the novel also shows these characteristics, her character is more fleshed out: We see far more of the neglect she faced as a child in the novel than in the show. In fact, Daisy’s lonely and abusive childhood is hardly depicted, and when it is, it does not emphasize its impact on her adult self as much as it should. This leads to the audience viewing her addiction as being born of boredom and frivolity, rather than from the severe depression and unstable lifestyle that her parental relationship gave her.

However, the show does beautifully paint the aesthetics of the 1970s: flowy crop tops, bell-bottom jeans, fringe bangs for the women, and grungy hair and beards for the male band members. The costuming for this show is truly exceptional, especially for the female characters. Daisy, Camilla (wife of Billy Dunne), and Karen (member of The Six) wear a wide range of eclectic 1970s outfits, as well as typical 1970s accessories. The party scenes of the show are also effective in demonstrating the reality of the drug culture of rock during this time period and how it impacted the lives of countless musicians and singers.

If you appreciate the fashion, band culture, or music of 1970s rock and roll, then “Daisy Jones and the Six” is the show for you. Despite its shortcomings with the character development of Daisy’s character, it provides an entertaining watch, as well as an introduction to a full album of catchy and well-written original rock songs. However, book fans will undoubtedly find that the adaptation fails to encompass the enigmatic individuality of Daisy Jones’s character.