Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I love this book with the entirety of my being, and still a little bit more. I was expecting to pick up this book and like it, but not love it. Hyped books scare me sometimes and believe me, this is a hyped book and if you haven't heard of it.... you must be living under some kind of rock (no offense).
This book was written in a format that I was unsure of. I didn't know going in if I was going to love the interview style format, and I believe that if I had not listened to audiobook while physically reading I probably would've enjoyed it less. The reason the audiobook makes the writing style enjoyable is being there is a full cast of characters, therefore every person that talks in the book has a different voice. That made it easy for me to remember some of the side characters, while also still enjoying the main characters.
As I said, I think the audiobook is a must. Whether you choose to just listen to it by itself or if you choose to read physically while listening, you need the audiobook. I heard from popular Booktubers and people on Goodreads that they all loved the audiobook and that they probably would've enjoyed the book less without it (I agree, like I previously said).
The story man! I didn't think I was going to become as attached to all the characters and the plot as I did. As you can tell I went into this thinking I wasn't going to enjoy it, and ended up enjoying everything, maybe that is my trick with hyped up books... hmmm. Anyways, this is not a story where you only care about the main characters, you care about Daisy and Billy, Graham and Karen, Camila and Julia, Pete and even Eddie. There was something enjoyable about all of them, even if it was just their general irritation with the other characters (@Eddie).
The time setting of this story intrigued me even more. The 60s to late 70s seem like such an interesting period of time and while I know some details, this provided me with a completely different perspective. It showed the drugs, sex and rock & roll. But it showed not only the glory of all of those things but also the struggles. There is drug addiction, infidelity, and the ups and downs of living the rock & roll lifestyle. We got the inside scoop, not just what would've been written in the Rolling Stone. We knew about Daisy and Billy and their complicated relationship. We knew about how Graham and Karen were maybe more than just friends, but we also knew their different opinions on important topics. We knew Camila and how she, no matter what happened, would never give up on Billy. And finally, we figured out the interviewer was Julia. I feel like many people could've predicted something along those lines, that it was someone connected to the story, but that isn't me so it was a complete surprise.
I'm still just in a state of shock almost about how much I love this book. While I've explained that I loved the characters and the story, there is still just this unnamed aspect that I can't fully explain that I love about it. It kind of reminds me of A Star is Born (the new one with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper) and I really hope that doesn't offend anyone, but that also might be why I enjoyed it. The overall chemistry between Daisy and Billy as real as Gaga and Bradley, and it's real but that's a different discussion. So if you are feeling iffy on this book because of the hype or because it doesn't seem like something you'd be into, I would recommend it to you anyways, but I would extra recommend it if you like A Star is Born because, to me, there are a lot of similar aspects.
I could go on and on and ON, about how much I love this book. But I've reached the limit on my coherent thoughts so I've leave you with that. And that I recommend it to absolutely everyone because it will pull on your heart strings.
Comments