Daisy Jones & The Six - how does it compare to the book?
Riley Keough and Sam Claflin star in the Amazon adaptation of the smash-hit novel.
Daisy Jones & The Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid's 2019 smash hit novel, depicts the rise and fall of a fictional 1970s rock band. The story, which is loosely based on Fleetwood Mac, catches up with the group three decades on from their sudden split after the mammoth success of their breakthrough album, with the various players reminiscing about that transformative period in their lives.
It has since been turned into a drama, with Riley Keough cast as Daisy Jones and Sam Claflin in the role of The Six's guitarist and singer Billy Dunne. The Amazon Prime Video series stretches the story across 10 episodes, covering the breadth of the '70s and its changes in music and society while exploring how a small family-led group became a global sensational.
But how does the show compare to the source material?
The good news is it's a largely faithful adaptation, which is unsurprising given Reid's involvement. But as with any retelling, some details have been altered, with certain storylines expanded and character arcs fleshed out.
The most obvious difference is the framing of the narrative. In the book, the majority of The Six’s story is told through interviews that take place in 2012, with the group reflecting on events. In the show, however, the interviews, while still serving an important role, bookend the episodes, allowing the action to predominantly unfold in the '70s.
Those conversations also take place in the late '90s, which allows the same cast to be used throughout – albeit slightly aged-up – rather than drafting in a new set of actors to play the different generations.
Daisy and the group's early years, which are covered in the first section of the book, are glossed over in the show, with original member Chuck losing his life in the Vietnam War. It makes total sense for the show to skip to the events that the interviews are concerned with, namely the band's sudden collapse at the height of their success. While Daisy's unhappy childhood is depicted in the show, it takes on a larger role in the book.
The length of the series also allows it to tap heavily into the culture of the time, chiefly the music that defined it, including the Beach Boys, Roxy Music, the Rolling Stones, Earth Wind & Fire and Fleetwood Mac. By spending significant time and care on building the backdrop to The Six, you really get a sense of their standing in the musical landscape of that era.
The nature of the group's meeting with prominent figures Rod Reyes (Timothy Olyphant) and Teddy Price (Tom Wright) differs somewhat, with it much more fleeting in the show. And Rod's role has also been reduced slightly, as has the role of Simone, Daisy's friend and fellow musician.
In the novel, there's more focus on her friendship with Daisy, particularly when she falls on hard times. In the source material, Daisy travels to Thailand, where Simone comes to stay with her and her husband Nicky, but the location has moved to Greece in the show, with the storyline extended to fill the majority of the episode, in turn fleshing out that moment. Nicky is also now Irish rather than Italian.
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Daisy Jones & The Six brings Read's much-loved novel to the screen in style, capturing the '70s rock 'n' roll scene in all its glory, warts and all, as it charts The Six at their highest and lowest points.
There are a number of departures from the novel, big and small, but the show never loses sight of what made it such a success: the dynamic between Billy and Daisy and, of course, the music.
Daisy Jones & The Six is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video. Try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days.
Taylor Jenkins Reid's original book Daisy Jones & The Six is also available now.
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