Daisy Jones & The Six

I don't usually do audiobooks, but my commute recently increased and I've been in a reading slump, so I decided to try to force myself to read while driving. And folks, it worked. It worked so well.

The production of the audiobook itself gets eleven stars. It lives up to the rave reviews. The actors? characters? readers? have such perfect voices for their roles. Raspy, passionate, almost (I'm kind of embarrassed to use this word) sultry. They sound like singers, if that makes any sense.

The book itself kept my interest and included multiple gasp-aloud twists, especially at the end. It's a book about addiction, to both things and people. Like [b:Little Fires Everywhere|34273236|Little Fires Everywhere|Celeste Ng|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1522684533l/34273236.SY75.jpg|52959357] or [b:Such a Fun Age|43923951|Such a Fun Age|Kiley Reid|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557181911l/43923951.SY75.jpg|63995465], things just slowly turn into more and more of a mess as peoples' lives overlap and relationships become simultaneously more intertwined and dysfunctional.

I have hang ups, though they are abstract. Is Daisy Jones a manic pixie dream girl, or does she face that accusation head-on and upend it? Is Camilla boxed into the (I believe actually dangerous) idea that the love of a good woman can reform a man with selfish, destructive tendencies? Does the book present Daisy and Camilla in reductive contrast to one another, one as someone who accepts Billy as he is, but the other as someone who believes that he can be a better version of himself? Does Daisy only become worthy of Billy when she becomes sober like he did, and do both of them only become sober because of Camilla, who is killed off unceremoniously to provide a chance for Daisy and Billy to try again?If Billy is going to be so prominently featured, why is he so boring (I sound like Eddie lol)? Is that intentional, to make him more static and reactive than the two women in this weird love triangle?

Anyway. This is a flawed but compelling story about flawed but compelling people. I'm not sure how much I would have enjoyed it in print, but in this format it really shines. If, like me, you don't think you're an audiobook person, start with this one.