If You Liked this Movie, Read this Book: Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody, the 2018 film about the legendary band Queen and its famous lead singer, Freddie Mercury, was a hit bringing in 889.3 million dollars in the box office. It was nominated for 61 awards and won 29, including four Oscars. Bohemian Rhapsody goes through the Freddie Mercury and the band’s humble beginnings to their famous 1985 Live Aid performance. The movie shows all the ups and down the band has with personal issues and with the music. The mixture between focusing on the band’s music as well as the personal lives and struggles of the members pulls on one’s heartstrings and leaves the viewer feeling multiple emotions.

I had obviously heard many of Queen’s famous songs before viewing this movie, but my knowledge on the band was very limited and I ended up deciding to watch the movie because I heard so many good things about, not because of my personal interest in the band. I ended up loving it and now I kind of want to learn more about Queen. I was also looking for other movies and books that left me with a similar feeling that Bohemian Rhapsody left me with.

I found this similar feeling in Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I originally heard about Daisy Jones on bookish social media. It seems like everyone that is a part of the community has been reading it and loving it. While all of this buzz had me intrigued, it wasn’t until my book club announced this as their book for March that I decided to pick it up and I was not disappointed.

Daisy Jones and The Six follows the formation and then the disbanding of a 70s rock band. It is told in interview format and you get the stories from all the different band mates about how the band came together and how it fell a part in the end. It also deals with all the band mate’s personal struggles with things such as drugs, relationships, and drinking. It is very explicit and hard-hitting so not for the faint of heart but definitely leaves an impact on the reader.

When I first started reading Daisy Jones, I immediately thought of Bohemian Rhapsody. Both are similar in that they deal with the formation of bands in the 70s and how the different members of the bands have their struggles but after that they are completely different. Daisy Jones and the Six is a completely fictionalized band but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t read like real events. At the end of the book, I found myself wanting to look up information about them and to listen to all the different songs but unfortunately, they don’t exist. Also, the band dynamics are different which makes it a completely different story.

Overall, if you enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody, regardless on if the reason was because you love Queen and wanted to learn more about them or if you decided to watch it just because of the awards it won, I think you will enjoy Daisy Jones and The Six. If you don’t think the interview format will work for you, try out the audiobook which I have heard is amazing. Taylor Jenkins Reid personally cast the audiobook and so all the different characters sound like how she imagines they sound and if that’s not awesome, I don’t know what is. Give Daisy Jones and The Six a try and I’m sure you will love it.