This was an enjoyable read and a pretty good readalike for Daisy Jones and The Six, especially if you've added "stories on fictional bands" to your wheelhouse after reading said book. The opening sucks you right in and takes you for a wild ride.
My only complaint is that it feels a bit dragged out so it could have been cut shorter in my opinion.
Still a thumbs up from me. Would recommend.

When I read the description of this book, it reminded me of Daisy Jones and the Six, (which I absolutely loved!) The preliminary reviews of this book were amazing so I was so excited to receive an advanced copy. Unfortunately though, this book did not grab me and hold my interest like Daisy Jones did. I think I am one of the few people who feels this way and who gave this book only 3 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a free electronic ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

The book is formatted in an interview style (similar to Daisy Jones). The interviewer, Sunny Shelton, is writing a book about the epic rise and fall of Opal and Nev, a fictional Afro-Punk group of the 1970’s. Sunny also happens to be the daughter of Jimmy Shelton, a member of the band who had an affair with Opal and lost his life in a tragic event. The reader is introduced to a cast of characters through interviews that Sunny conducts with them. She also inserts her opinions or background information through her “editors notes”. The reader actually feels as though you are reading an actual interview and I had to remind myself often that this book and these people were fictional.

While the author’s use of this format is appealing and her writing is superb for the most part, I found myself getting bored at times. The plot isn’t nearly as exciting as I had hoped and the novel itself drags on for far too long. There are also numerous side stories that really have no relevance to the main characters and only serve to confuse the reader ... Hence my rating of 3 stars.

When I read the synopsis for The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, I immediately wanted to read this book. Anything with music is going to automatically draw me in. While reading like Daisy Jones and the Six, you get a novel of so much more than just music. It features a strong, black, female lead in the 70s, when race relations were strained, as they are now. This is a timely novel as it addresses important issues still present in our society today, including why the Confederate Flag has such a terrible history and why people are passionate about the removal of monuments and anger toward those who decide to don it casually. As someone who grew up (and lives) in the South, I really appreciated the way the history was written and utilized in the book. This novel may make you uncomfortable, but this is a good thing. It's an excellent piece in pushing against racism and sexism.

My criticism was that I wish it moved a bit faster. It took me a little while to get into the book, but once I did, I found my heart aching for the characters, upset that this is the reality for many, and also mourning the fact that Opal Jewel does not actually exist. She's one badass woman.

4/5 stars.

If you liked Daisy Jones & the Six, then you’ll probably also immensely enjoy this book. But if you wanted something more out of that book, if you were disappointed that it had nothing of import to say, then you will be floored by The final revival of Opal & Nev.

It is a book about identity, race, fame and the many complications and dire consequences that can come of it if you identify as a minority.
It provided commentary that is still relevant, especially in the current political scene and highlighted the many struggles of black people and stressed the importance of having a voice, taking your agency back and pushing back against racism and sexism. A great and important read.

S. Sunny Shelton is a music journalist and author of the oral history of the fictional rock ‘n’ roll duo, Opal Jewel and Neville Charles who rose to fame in the 1970s New York scene and now, more than 40 years later, are in the process of a reunion tour.

The Afro punk singer, Opal Jewel is Sunny’s complicated idol since she had an illicit affair with her father and the duo’s drummer at the time when a vicious incident on a live perform led to his disturbing racial killing.

Opal is an outcast black girl from Detroit with a strong will and belief in herself, in her music and most importantly in her values; with a stubborn, fiercely independent and vivacious personality, a clever and quick tongue and an eccentric appearance she tries to make a name for herself.

Nev is a goofy white English boy with a strong inclination towards music, who prompted by his mother’s dreams for him, decided to try his luck in New York. I cannot say much else about him, you’ll have to come to your own conclusions.

These two completely different people decided to take a chance on each other that led to success, many complicated relationships and grim secrets rooted to the peak of their popularity.

As you can imagine, with an author so personally and unexpectedly related to the duo, the writing is poignant and does not shy away from the gruesome reality of being a black woman in the spotlight in that period.

The interviews with various friends, family, work partners and even fans, provide the full picture of the duo’s early life, to their rise in fame and to their eventual divergence. Each character had such a unique voice and distinct personality that I could tell who was speaking without having seen their name on top. Also the relationships and especially the friendships were exceptionally well fleshed out and they warmed my heart.

The only reason I cannot give this book the full five stars is because there many unnecessary side stories and references to things that were not crucial to the development of the story. In fact made they made the book drag out a bit after the big revelation.

It is a fictional oral history of a musical duo, Opal and Nev, who rose to fame in the early 70’s and are in talks for a revival concert in the present day. A book is being pushed before the concert comes to fruition and a successful editor, S. Sunny Shelton, is in charge of getting the interviews. She is also the daughter of Opal and Nev’s early session drummer who was tragically killed during a race riot. The book mixes in historical music figures and events while exploring the tumultuous rise and fall of the band to the intimate strenuous settings of making a record and everything in between of being a famous musician. The most important focus throughout the book was race and gender. Opal is a Black American woman and Nev is a white man from England. Although they have things in common and both start off as strangers in New York, Nev will never fully understand Opal because of their differences. When the story is switched to the present day, it parallels the divided political climate of today. At times, it was a slow burn especially in the beginning but it gets very interesting once it picks up. Dawnie Walton did such an amazing job immersing the reader into the lives of musicians who each had their strong attributes and weaknesses. Opal and Nev were entertaining from the start. I was convinced these were real people. It is a book that discusses important issues and also one that musicians and music fans will appreciate.

Thank you to both #NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me an advance copy of Dawnie Walton’s historical fiction novel, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, in exchange for an honest review.

#TheFinalRevivalofOpalNev is an incredibly slow burn. I was stunned to see the number of five-star reviews after finishing it, but that may be entirely my fault since I dove in expecting to read something similar to Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Aside from the format and a tenuous connection to music, the two novels have nothing in common. Another shining example of fake plugs to increase book sales.

Regardless, that is not to say that #TheFinalRevivalofOpalNev is bad per se, but it certainly will not resonate with all readers; especially, not those who are searching for a strong link to the music of the 1970s punk era in NYC.

I’m still not entirely sure what to make of this story, but I do know that it is an important read as we continue to struggle with the racial divide in this country. My best advice to the reader is to go into this with an open mind and eye towards atmosphere, mood, and setting. Do not compare it to Daisy Jones because you’re not going to find the poetic language of tormented lovers or descriptive passages of how music sounds. You will, however, be moved by themes of race, injustice, and the cost of freedom of expression; unsurprisingly, there are more details about fashion than there are about music throughout the text.

Where the novel loses me is that the characters are not as well-developed as one would hope. I think the story could have benefitted from stronger characters and the themes could have come across even more powerful than they did. Instead, the characters felt like background music to me. This is partly due to the fact that the story is told through excerpts of Sunny’s research, who is the editor-in-chief at the music magazine Aural and happens to be writing her own novel. For instance, it would have been a full gut-punch had the reader had complete insight into Opal’s thoughts and emotions.

On the pro side, the novel shines because of its gritty nature and the simmering undercurrent of anger that eventually explodes at two separate climaxes (once during the highly anticipated scene when we finally learn what transpired the night of James Curtis III’s death, and again, at the Derringdo Festival when Opal & Nev reunite).

My other gripe is how the story wraps-up with more of a whisper than a bang in two small footnotes. It is almost as if the ending is inconsequential when really those are two of the most significant points of the story. Footnotes are typically meant to supply additional information about a specific topic in the text. The information that these particular footnotes contain deserve their own page and a stellar ending. Perhaps, the author/editor/publisher was fiddling with a new format, but readers tend to skip over footnotes. So, in this case, don’t! Or you will miss out on how Opal & Nev ends.

Again, I’m not sure what to make of this story, but I do know that it is important and should be heard. It can easily be categorized as a contemporary fictional narrative since it certainly resonates with the times, but historical fiction works well too because as the novel makes clear—we have been dealing these issues for too long and exposing them through story is only step one of how we can start to resolve them.

Thank you publisher for ARC. Put this book due out April 20 on your TBR now. 5 outstanding stars for a story so relevant to this very day. Similar in format to Daisy Jones and the Six oral history/book within a book, the similarities end there. Focused on a fictional 1970s rock duo — he’s British, she is Black whose rise to (and fade from) fame follows a deadly racial concert incident. This is a story about the systemic racism and ignorance in our country (and the music industry) and how we have marginalized women, Black women especially.

I knew nothing of Opal and Nev before reading this book. Their story is interesting and emotional. I loved the author's note at the beginning of the book. It took me a little while to get into the writing style but once I did, it was a quick read!

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’m judging a 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

I’m not sure exactly where this novel begins… is with the editor’s note? Either way I find it deeply compelling the idea that the author or the narrator depending on when the fiction begins and the auto-ends… is personally familiar with the characters The novel itself is described as a fictional oral history. I like what Walton’s done with the structure having each of the characters jump in and say their piece.

An oral history of a fictional rock duo, Opal Jewel and Nev Charles. All the usual rock n roll drama is here: wild performances, drug addictions, love affairs, creative differences. But the real conflict of the book revolves around race. Opal is a Black woman who started performing in churches in Detroit and Alabama. Nev is a British singer-songwriter with roots in folk. Both musicians are larger than life and their musical visions, worldviews, and egos inevitably clash.

What makes this book stand out is the voice of the oral history editor, Sunny Shelton, and the focus on how fans make meaning of music and its creators as much as the band and music executives do. Sunny's voice is the most fluid and compelling in the assortment of voices and brings the oral history into the present.

Full review forthcoming in the Historical Novel Review, May 2021.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for the eARC!

Oral history seems like such a natural vehicle for telling stories about pop culture. There is a Pop Culture Oral History list on Goodreads that well exemplifies this, with a sizeable presence from the world of punk rock. The Behind the Music documentary model also drives this trend.

It makes sense. In the art world, the feelings of the people recounting their role in the history say as much as the history itself. There is an indelible element of authenticity when history is captured expressly in the voice of participants. That too is heightened in the arts, where authenticity is so highly valued in itself.

In the real world, I recently read exhaustive histories of MTV and SNL told as oral history, and they were simply fascinating. In the world of fiction, last year's popular novel Daisy Jones &The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid tells the story of the rise and fall of a rock band told in the form of oral history, with the interviewer/editor becoming part of the story.

Dawnie Walton must have been shocked when that book came out last year. Based her afterword, she has clearly been working on The Final Revival of Opal & Nev for years. Then suddenly there appears a book built on the same idea -- an oral history of English songwriter Nev Charles and audacious singer Opal Jewel, interviewed by and written up by the daughter of their drummer, who was killed during a concert, the resulting race riot propelling Opal & Nev to fame.

But no worries for Walton -- Opal & Nev is every bit as good as Daisy Jones (which was a 5-star read for me). It stands on its own with unique characters and themes and writing style. If anything, it is more literary in the nuances and complexity of its character development. And it certainly tackles broader issues of gender and race that transcend character that Daisy Jones never begins to contemplate. While still handling the greater theme of artistic creativity.

Kudos as well to Dawnie Walton for having the courage to turn to writing novels later in life. Last year I published my first novel over the age of 60 -- but that doesn't really count, since I published it myself and only had a few family and friends read it. Walton has the real deal here, full traditional publishing, and what I hope and expect will be a bright immediate and long-term future as a literary novelist.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this forthcoming novel.

An excellent fictional oral history of a famed music duo, Opal and Nev. As the 1970's wear on, controversy haunts the popular group and elements of race and culture intersect with their music. Highly recommended for readers of non-fiction oral histories because it reads in that format, but tells the story in a rich and interesting way.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Dawnie Walton's debut novel is a five star read. In fictional oral history style, this novel resonates with many of the same issues that we are facing in 2020. The story of Opal & Nev is wrapped around race, flawed characters, rock n' roll and fictional bands set in a 1970's backdrop. There is humor, laughter, tears, and moments of pure inspiration. Dawnie's remarkable writing style makes the reader believe that they are reading a biography of this musical duo and not a work of fiction. Opal is a wonderfully proud woman with a soaring spirit and the heroine of this novel. She is unforgettable.
This will be a 'must read' for 2021 … and a sure-fire winner!

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a timely first novel by journalist Dawnie Walton involving a fictional rock and roll duo enmeshed in race relations during the 1970s and again thirty years later in 2016. The theme resonates even more deeply in 2020. It’s a captivating read with a compelling, iconoclastic heroine. The style is different and noteworthy. It reads like a true biography, and some readers will be tricked into believing that it is, indeed, fact, not fiction.

Wow. At first I thought this would be like a 60s Daisy Jones and the Six but oh this was so so so much more and better. Opal and Nev are flawed from the beginning and the narrator is clear about her biases. Yet, the way the plot unraveled was surprising and captivating. I gasped aloud at Chet Bond’s revelation and was unable to put the book down from that moment forward. This book was so much more than a backward glance at a past musical era. It was even more than a profile of a duo between a black woman and white man. It provided commentary relevant for our current world, political environment, and humanity. This is the first book I’ve given five stars in awhile. It really was great!

At first I wasn't sure what to make of this book, which is structured as both an oral history and a book within the book. I was wondering if the meta aspects of it would keep me at arm's length. But ultimately, they didn't. I dove down and felt the story deeply, at times near tears and at times laughing at its biting sense of humor. And Opal is one of those characters I'll never forget.

It's incredible how Walton captures so many different characters' voices. This story of rock-n-roll, wrapped up in race issues, unfolds powerfully--and clear connections are drawn between what was going on in the 70s with what's going on in the world today.

Favorite quote: "Many things can be true at once, and we must find inspiration in the materials we have."

Second favorite quote [ spoken by a fan of Opal's referring to her black-punk musical aesthetic]: "Yeah, a lot of her shit is challenging to listen to...but that shit is vibrating high on some other frequency, right? When you talk about challenging to absorb, so is Bob Dylan's whiny ass, in my opinion, and that fucking 'Ulysses' book I had to read in college... But aren't we supposed to be better and smarter because of the challenging art that makes us uncomfortable?"

Now that I think about it, both of these quotes apply to this novel.

Thanks, NetGalley, for an ARC of this book, which comes out in April 2021.

For lover's of "Daisy Jones & The Six," "The Final Revival of Opal & Nev" also uses the technique of oral history to tell the story of the rise of the unlikely rock & roll duo, the fateful night that catapulted them to relative fame, their potential reunion years later - and the ugly secret at the center of it all. Walton's characters are both real and complex, striking a perfect balance of human and celebrity. She builds the tension of the story in a way that leaves you holding your breath while you wait for the other shoe to drop, and the revelations of what really happened the night of the Rivington Showcase do not disappoint.
Especially poignant during this time of racial reckoning, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev explores what it meant to be Black in the music industry of the '70s, and the relative place of power one gained from being white. Walton does not shy away from this reality, facing it head on and shining light on the inequality and racism that Black musicians faced. A must read that you will be thinking about long after you turn the final page.

A double edged sword of a Netgalley book: I'm very glad I got a chance to read it early, and annoyed I can't tell all my friends to go read it right now. A book very reminiscent of Daisy Jones & the Six without being a retread, it tackles a very different kind of musician and a very different world than Daisy Jones inhabited. The two novels together create a fantastic genre of fictional bands that could stand up with the real acts from that era. A must-read for anyone who likes the crazy world of 70s music, and definitely recommended to anyone else who wants to meet a flashy, flamboyant, angry female artist who doesn't take any shit from anyone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC! Loved the history behind Opal and Nev. Learned a lot about Opal and Nev, never heard of the two before now. Would recommend this to others.