'Daisy Jones & the Six:' Book Versus Show
*Contains spoilers for Daisy Jones & the Six*
Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & the Six has taken the world by storm. The novel's rise to popularity has led to a television show adaptation on Amazon Prime that stars Sam Claflin as Billy Dunne and Riley Keough as the titular character Daisy Jones. The show has won the adoration of many fans. Because of this, many fans of the new show haven’t read the original book. The television format, especially with only 10 episodes, doesn’t allow the same amount of depth as a full-length novel. This means that not every storyline or detail is able to be translated into the show, nor do the showrunners want to use the exact same plotlines. With that being said, here is a guide to some of the biggest changes from book to show.
The Song Lyrics Have Changed
From the drop of the very first single, before the show had been released, fans of the book noticed immediately that the lyrics of many of the songs had been changed. Jenkins Reid wrote lyrics for each of the songs on the Aurora that were included in the book, but showrunners wanted to bring in professional songwriters to help give the songs a more authentic feel. With big names like Pheobe Bridgers and Marcus Mumford, it’s clear that the rewrites were in good hands. Despite the lyrical changes, the overall air and vibe of each of the songs remain pretty true to the source material.
Pete Loving and Chuck Williams Aren’t In The Show
In the original novel, Pete Loving is a former bassist of the band who left to start a family with his wife, and Chuck Williams is a former rhythm guitarist who got drafted for the Vietnam War and died during his deployment. Neither of these characters exists in the show. Instead, we are given Chuck Loving (leaving little to the imagination as they just combine the two names together), who leaves the band during its Dunne Brothers days to become a dentist. Fortunately, neither of the original characters added a lot to the plot, so, for the most part, this change doesn’t do much for the overall arc of the show.
Julia Dunne Is An Only Child
The child of Billy and Camila, Julia, plays an integral role in the plot of both the show and the book, but her younger twin sisters, Maria and Susana, are noticeably absent. While Billy misses the birth and first months of Julia’s life due to his stint in rehab, the novel allows Billy to experience this time with his twins. This distinction helps to show Billy’s growth. In the show, however, he doesn’t get to experience this at all.
Simone Is Explicitly Queer And Gets Her Own Love Story
In the books, Simone’s story largely focuses on her friendship with Daisy, but her storyline gets a major revamping in the show. She is given a love interest, a DJ named Bernie, and her own standalone episode. This development of her character just adds to the experience of the show, and making her explicitly queer just makes so much sense. She is meant to be a pioneer of disco, and the queer community made disco what it is. This also allows for a more in-depth exploration of what it meant to not only be a Black woman in the music industry in the 1970s but what it meant to be a Black queer woman.
Daisy And Billy Kiss A Lot
Daisy and Billy’s love story is consistently treated like a “what if” story in the books. Depending on how the individual reader interprets it, Daisy and Billy essentially only come close to kissing, with Billy deciding to stay loyal (despite emotionally cheating essentially the whole time Daisy is around). However, in the show, the two kiss on three separate occasions. Because the nature of the book is that it is set up like an oral history, each of the narrators is somewhat unreliable. This means that we will never really know for sure if they kissed in the books, but it’s certain that they kissed on multiple occasions in the show.
Camila Cheats With Eddie
When Camila lunches with her high school prom date in the book, it is heavily implied that she is cheating on Billy (I mean, who takes four hours for lunch). This lunch never happens in the show, though. Instead, we see Eddie pine for Camila’s affection constantly throughout. One night in particular, the two accidentally end up in the same bar. Eddie, who has already been flirting with one woman that night, immediately leaves her when he sees that Camila is upset because of Billy and Daisy. This leads to one night of the two together. When Eddie tries to continue the affair, Camila immediately shuts it down. While this doesn’t change much in terms of Camila’s plot, it changes how viewers see Eddie. In the book, he hates Billy a lot because he thinks his ego is out of control, but this makes his motivations in the show much more self-centered.
Regardless of all of the changes, both the book and the show are beautiful representations of love, loss, and rock and roll. This story, despite being set in an extremely particular era, is something that far transcends time and will continue to be relatable for generations to come.
Writer and Artist: Olivia Madrid
